Oklahoma will require applicants for teacher jobs coming from California and New York to pass an exam that the Republican-dominated state\u2019s top education official says is designed to safeguard against \u201cradical leftist ideology,\u201d but which opponents decry as a \u201cMAGA loyalty test.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan Walters,<\/a> Oklahoma\u2019s public schools superintendent, said Monday that any teacher coming from the two blue states will be required to pass an assessment exam administered by PragerU, an Oklahoma-based conservative nonprofit, before getting a state certification.<\/p>\n \u201cAs long as I am superintendent, Oklahoma classrooms will be safeguarded from the radical leftist ideology fostered in places like California and New York,\u201d Walters said in a statement. <\/p>\n PragerU, short for Prager University, puts out short videos with a conservative perspective on politics and economics. It promotes itself as \u201cfocused on changing minds through the creative use of digital media.\u201d<\/p>\n Quinton Hitchcock, a spokesperson for the state\u2019s education department, said the Prager test for teacher applicants has been finalized and will be rolling out \u201cvery soon.\u201d<\/p>\n The state did not release the entire 50-question test to The Associated Press but did provide the first five questions, which include asking what the first three words of the U.S. Constitution are and why freedom of religion is \u201cimportant to America\u2019s identity.\u201d <\/p>\n Prager didn\u2019t immediately respond to a phone message or email seeking comment. But Marissa Streit, CEO of PragerU, told CNN that several questions on the assessment relate to \u201cundoing the damage of gender ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n Jonathan Zimmerman, who teaches history of education at the University of Pennsylvania, said Oklahoma\u2019s contract with PragerU to test out-of-state would-be teachers \u201cis a watershed moment.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cInstead of Prager simply being a resource that you can draw in an optional way, Prager has become institutionalized as part of the state system,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no other way to describe it.\u201d<\/p>\n Zimmerman said the American Historical Association did a survey last year of 7th- to 12th-grade teachers and found that only a minority were relying on textbooks for day-to-day instruction. He said the upside to that is that most history books are \u201cdeadly boring.\u201d But he said that means history teachers are relying on online resources, such as those from Prager.<\/p>\n \u201cI think what we\u2019re now seeing in Oklahoma is something different, which is actually empowering Prager as a kind of gatekeeper for future teachers,\u201d Zimmerman said.<\/p>\n One of the nation\u2019s largest teachers unions, the American Federation of Teachers, has often been at odds with the Donald Trump administration and the crackdown on teacher autonomy<\/a> in the classroom.<\/p>\n \u201cThis MAGA loyalty test will be yet another turnoff for teachers in a state already struggling with a huge shortage,\u201d said AFT President Randi Weingarten. <\/p>\n