BELOIT, Wis. — Starting this fall, students in the School District of Beloit will be able to enroll in what the district bills as the first AP African American Studies class in Rock County.
The class, which will be open to all students, will cover a variety of topics ranging from the African American diaspora to enslavement, freedom, resistance and societal movements, the district said in a news release Wednesday. Nicole Powers, the co-chair of Beloit Memorial High School’s social studies department, will teach the class.
“Our students will experience and learn from a curriculum that elevates voices, stories, and history of African Americans,” Superintendent Dr. Willie Garrison, II, said in the release. “This course will also enhance our students’ critical thinking skills and broaden their understanding and exposure of the African American experience and its significance today and historically.”
The class is currently in the midst of a nationwide pilot program, according to the College Board, the nonprofit organization behind the Advanced Placement Program. The first pilot launched during the current school year at 60 schools across the country; next school year, the course will be offered at hundreds more high schools.
For the 2024-2025 school year, all schools will be able to offer the program, with the first exams being held in the spring of 2025.
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