Oklahoma’s PragerU Exam for Out-of-State Teachers Branded a “MAGA Loyalty Test” Amid Worsening Shortages

Oklahoma’s decision to require teacher applicants from California and New York to pass a PragerU-administered exam has sparked outrage among educators who see it as a direct attack on academic freedom and teacher diversity. Superintendent Ryan Walters defended the move, saying, “As long as I am superintendent, Oklahoma classrooms will be safeguarded from the radical leftist ideology fostered in places like California and New York.”

The exam, crafted by PragerU, includes questions such as the opening words of the U.S. Constitution and why freedom of religion is “important to America’s identity.” Yet its intent is far from neutral. PragerU itself admits that parts of the test focus on “undoing the damage of gender ideology,” making it clear that this is less about competence and more about ideological conformity. As historian Jonathan Zimmerman noted, “What we’re now seeing in Oklahoma is something different, which is actually empowering Prager as a kind of gatekeeper for future teachers.” For a state already struggling with shortages, raising new barriers rooted in political loyalty feels like an attack on the profession.

National education leaders have echoed these concerns. American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten called it a “MAGA loyalty test,” saying it will only push more educators away from Oklahoma. “His priority should be educating students, but instead, it’s getting Donald Trump and other MAGA politicians to notice him,” she said of Walters. Tina Ellsworth of the National Council for the Social Studies emphasized that “imposing an ideology test to become a teacher in our great democracy is antithetical to those principles.”

Link: AP News