Extending the Curriculum: Teacher Goals and Liberatory Practice in Advanced Placement African American Studies

This honors thesis investigates the goals, motivations, and experiences of high school teachers delivering the Advanced Placement African American Studies course (AP AAS). Drawing on interviews with AP AAS teachers, the AP African American Studies curriculum framework, and data on student experiences, this study explores how teachers define their pedagogical, content, and personal goals and navigate the barriers and facilitators to implementing Black Studies in secondary education. Using ross and Givens’ 5 Commitments to Black Education Studies and a Black Critical Theory (BlackCrit) framework, this project foregrounds how teachers extend, challenge, and humanize the curriculum to create liberatory learning spaces. Through thematic coding and comparative analysis, this research reveals how Black educators, in particular, continue a long tradition of educational resistance and the networks of support that help them carry out this work. These findings offer insights into how schools, communities, and school districts can better support the expansion of Black Studies in secondary schools and sustain the teachers leading this work.