For Oklahoma teachers, the next job requirement may not just be about their credentials, but their values.
State officials are preparing a teacher certification exam called the “America First Test,” created in partnership with PragerU, a conservative media nonprofit. The test would apply to applicants from states such as California and New York — jurisdictions that State Superintendent Ryan Walters argues have advanced a liberal or “woke” ideology.
To Walters’s supporters, it’s a way to keep classrooms anchored in values they say are under attack. To his critics, it’s a political litmus test that risks pushing even more teachers out of the profession.
Either way, the fight over this assessment reflects a broader struggle beyond hiring rules. Here’s what you need to know.
Walters singles out blue states — and California Gov. Gavin Newsom
Oklahoma has recently attracted roughly 500 new teachers through recent initiatives, including a $20,000 signing bonus for out-of-state special education hires. But Walters has made clear his priority isn’t just filling classrooms — it’s keeping them free from what he calls “radical leftist ideology.”
In a statement, he singled out California Gov. Gavin Newsom as an example of leadership he believes has taken education in the wrong direction, vowing that Oklahoma schools would be “safeguarded from the radical leftist ideology fostered in places like California and New York.” This isn’t the first time Walters has taken such steps — last year, he ordered public schools to incorporate the Bible into lessons for grades 5 through 12. (It’s worth noting that Walters has also faced controversy for his own behavior in the workplace. School board members reported earlier this month that explicit nude images played on a TV in his office during a meeting.)
Supporters say the America First Test will help ensure that new teachers reflect what Walters calls “traditional American values.” But critics such as American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten reject it as a “MAGA loyalty test,” contending it prioritizes ideology over ability.
The exam was developed by PragerU — short for Prager University — a conservative digital media company. Despite its academic-sounding name, the nonprofit isn’t an accredited school, though it has supplied animated videos to public and private classrooms. The clips have drawn controversy for promoting a conservative agenda with distorted information.
One portrays Booker T. Washington rejecting racism as a significant barrier to success, while another casts Christopher Columbus in a positive light — calling slavery “as old as time” and “better than being killed,” and urging viewers to judge figures by the standards of their era. Critics say such portrayals minimize slavery’s brutality. Founder Dennis Prager has also been criticized for defending use of the N-word, while other presenters have sparked outrage with claims such as Karlyn Borysenko’s assertions that Jewish people chose to be killed in the Holocaust and that Adolf Hitler went to heaven.
For educators, the concern runs deeper: They warn the exam could worsen Oklahoma’s teacher shortage.
“Oklahoma students and families are already facing severe teacher shortages, and educators here are among the lowest paid in the nation,” Tina Ellsworth, president of the nonprofit National Council for the Social Studies, tells Katie Couric Media. “By creating additional barriers for those who want to teach, leaders are ultimately hurting the very students who deserve a high-quality education.”
Jena Nelson, a former teacher in the state and Oklahoma’s 2020 Teacher of the Year, adds that state leaders are ignoring the education crisis. “Walters really needs to take a reality check because we have a huge shortage right now,” she says. “Teachers from New York and California and other places are not going to come to Oklahoma because he has created a statewide hostile work environment.”
What’s on the new Oklahoma teacher test?
State officials haven’t released the full 50-question multiple-choice exam. But they have provided a five-question sample focused on civics basics, with questions about the Constitution, Congress, and religious freedom. One question asks for the first three words of the Constitution, while another highlights why freedom of religion is central to America’s identity. The rest cover the two chambers of Congress, the number of U.S. senators, and why some states have more representatives than others. PragerU CEO Marissa Streit told CNN that the Oklahoma superintendent had asked for a test “that is more wholesome and in line with the Oklahoma parent body.”
Alongside those civics questions, Walters has signaled a push into more-contentious territory, saying the test will also cover “biological differences between males and females.” For example, one sample obtained by The New York Post asks applicants which chromosome pairs determine biological sex. Streit defended the inclusion of such material, also telling CNN that the goal of those questions is to “undo the damage of gender ideology.”
Still, state officials caution that the exam remains a work in progress. Oklahoma State Rep. Gabe Woolley stressed that the exam isn’t finished yet, so it’s too early to know exactly what it will look like. “This assessment is not complete,” he tells Katie Couric Media. “Once it is, I hope the legislature can review the full exam, have conversations with people about it, and then we would go from there.”
At the same time, Woolley signaled support for the effort, pointing out that Oklahoma is a deeply conservative state — Trump carried all 77 counties in 2024. “The questions that I’ve seen for this assessment so far align with those principles and those values of Oklahoma that we’re trying to maintain,” he says.
But education advocates warn that even a test centered on civics could backfire. “Oklahoma already has classrooms going unfilled by qualified teachers, and teacher quality is one of the strongest predictors of student success,” says Ellsworth. “This test risks turning away strong candidates over a single missed question, even though it’s unclear how answers will be judged.”
Is this test part of a broader push toward conservatism in schools?
Oklahoma’s ties to PragerU go beyond the new teacher exam — the state has also approved its videos for classroom use. And the Sooner State is not alone: Louisiana, Florida, New Hampshire, Montana, and Arizona were among the first to partner with PragerU, with South Carolina and Idaho joining more recently.
The materials have drawn criticism for factual inaccuracies — from promoting climate change denial and anti-LGBTQ content to downplaying slavery. For instance, one animated lesson shows abolitionist Frederick Douglass agreeing that the Founding Fathers were right to “compromise” over slavery — a portrayal historians say distorts his legacy, since Douglass consistently condemned both the institution and the concessions that sustained it.
Supporters, however, describe the videos as a conservative counter-narrative to what they see as liberal dominance in schools. Laura Meckler, a national education writer for The Washington Post, noted that The New York Times’ 1619 Project — published on the 400th anniversary of the first enslaved Africans arriving in America — framed slavery as central to the nation’s story and became a flashpoint for the right. “A lot of conservatives objected to that — to the idea of framing American history in such a negative way,” Meckler told Vox.
Still, educators and historians have criticized PragerU’s videos for presenting ideology as fact, warning they risk misleading students. “This is completely detrimental to our children’s education,” Nelson says, adding that it sets them up to misunderstand history and the diverse world they’re living in. Nelson, now running for Congress in Oklahoma’s 5th District, says parents she’s spoken with aren’t on board with the conservative shift in schools.
“They’re absolutely appalled,” she tells us. “They want stronger investments in public education, more affordable higher education, and they’re deeply worried about the kind of education kids in this state are getting.”
Woolley, a former teacher in the state, emphasizes that the PragerU videos are optional rather than mandatory, so their use has been uneven and limited. Still, he says he used them in his own classroom, arguing they felt safer than YouTube or other platforms, where his students once stumbled across a Victoria’s Secret bikini ad. As for criticism that the videos push an ideology, Woolley, a conservative himself, sees them as presenting “facts and information.”
Meanwhile, PragerU’s influence is stretching well beyond state lines. With the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) shutting down after decades of supporting public media, PBS and other outlets face an uncertain future — leaving room for groups like PragerU to expand their reach. Just months before CPB’s closure, the Trump administration tapped PragerU for its Founders Museum exhibit, which features A.I.-generated Founding Fathers delivering patriotic histories of the American Revolution. In one, an A.I. John Adams channels conservative pundit Ben Shapiro, stating, “Facts do not care about our feelings.”
Supporters argue that’s the point: PragerU is filling a vacuum left by public institutions they believe abandoned traditional values. Critics counter that the expansion only deepens the risk of students receiving ideology instead of education.
Whether through certification requirements or classroom videos, the fight in Oklahoma underscores a fiery national debate: In American schools, who gets to define our values?
