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Oklahoma is taking action to root out “woke” ideology in public school classrooms by integrating a new form of testing for incoming teachers, according to multiple reports.
The state will reportedly implement new testing administered by PragerU – a conservative education organization – and assess whether teachers seeking work from California and New York are sympathetic to what may be described as leftist ideology.
According to CBS, passing this test will be a prerequisite to receiving state certification to teach. It is unclear if this test will apply to in-state teaching applicants or those from states other than California and New York.
Oklahoma Public School Superintendent Ryan Walters has led the charge on this issue, recently slamming blue states like California for allowing “woke social justice warriors” into classrooms.
“Keep them in California!” he wrote on X.
The assessment from PragerU may be seen by many as an “America First” test. It will determine teachers’ knowledge of the U.S. Constitution, whether they have an understanding of binary gender (male and female), and knowledge or understanding of American exceptionalism, according to a July report from Fox News.
“Teachers from California & New York: If you want to teach in Oklahoma, you’d better know the Constitution, respect what makes America great, and understand basic biology,” Walters said.
This newest test comes as the state of Oklahoma has been working hard, with Walters at the helm, to prioritize patriotic education in the public school system.
This month, Walters released a statement welcoming Oklahoma children back to school for the Fall semester. He said that the state had worked for the past year to update history standards in school and to end federal end-of-year testing requirements, replacing them with benchmark assessments.
“We have also been recruiting the best America First teachers, certifying over 4,000 new educators who are committed to putting students before woke politics, and our summer learning programs have been a tremendous success,” he said.
