OSDE set to expand ‘woke’ test mandates

Murray Evans

The Oklahoman USA TODAY NETWORK

The Oklahoma State Department of Education now says all teachers moving to the state must take its so-called “woke” test, even though the agency isn’t allowed under Oklahoma law to administer such a test as a requirement for teacher licensing. The agency – led by state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters – has posted the test on its website, after weeks of denying it had a copy of the test. Walters has said the test would apply to teachers moving from politically liberal states, namely California and New York.

Without notice, the agency appears to have expanded the pool of teachers who are required to take the test, which has brought national attention to Walters’ politically conservative agenda for Oklahoma education.

“Oklahoma has introduced a new requirement for educators seeking licensure from out of state,” reads a web page explaining the test. “All applicants must now pass the America-First Assessment, developed in collaboration with PragerU.”

The state agency website directs

teaching applicants to a standalone site, oklahomateachertest.com. That page features the test followed by dozens of links to additional PragerU content.

PragerU is a California-based, politically conservative nonprofit that is not an actual university. Walters has worked with PragerU to inject far-right politics into Oklahoma’s school system.

To take the test, applicants must provide personal information to PragerU, including name, address, email address and phone number, and agree to the following statement: “By taking this test, you agree to PragerU’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and consent to receive emails from PragerU and the Oklahoma State Department of Education.”

The site says the “Teacher Qualification Test” was created “to reinforce foundational civic knowledge and promote traditional American values as part of the state’s commitment to educational excellence. This policy reflects Oklahoma’s broader initiative to align classroom instruction with patriotic principles and ensure that incoming educators uphold the state’s values in education.

“While many states – including California, New York, Illinois, and Massachusetts – continue to embed Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) frameworks into their education processes and statutes, Oklahoma has taken a distinct path by banning such practices.”

The test will not allow a person taking it to advance to the next question until the person provides what the testmaker believes is the correct answer – essentially making it impossible to fail. The test includes questions about biology and gender identification, political viewpoints, civics, patriotism, the Constitution, U.S. Supreme Court decisions and key U.S. historical figures and dates.

While Walters has touted the test for months, agency officials have repeatedly declined to provide a copy of the test to The Oklahoman or other news outlets.

The Oklahoman made five requests in August, including three formal open records requests filed though the state agency’s website. Each time, the agency responded that it did not have a copy, even after national cable news network CNN reported on some of the questions that appeared on the test.

On Aug. 28, the agency responded to one request by saying “please be advised that after conducting a thorough search, we have been unable to locate any documents responsive to your request.”

That same day, oklahomateachertest. com was registered as a website through a private proxy, according to online domain records.

The content of the test was not widely revealed until Aug. 31, when PragerU paid for a pair of advertisements in The New York Times. One ad featured all 34 multiple choice questions on the test, which PragerU said it wrote at the request of Walters.

Under the publication’s deadlines, the content of the test must have been submitted by Aug. 28. Elizabeth Young, a spokesperson for the Times, said in email that it does not disclose advertising rates.

Young said the Times’ advertising standards “are designed to keep our advertising space open to all points of view.”She said every ad is reviewed, and ads containing false or fraudulent information are not allowed.

One day after the ads were published, The Oklahoman requested a copy of the test for a sixth time from the state education agency. On Thursday, the agency responded by saying: “Please be advised that the records you are seeking are publicly available on our website,” followed by a link.

Walters appears to be tracking how many people take the PragerU teachers’ test, saying on the social media site X on Tuesday that the more than 16,000 people who had completed the assessment “are apart (sic) of the LARGEST recruitment effort of teachers in history.”

Days later, he said on X that the state would also require teachers from Washington and Oregon to take the test. He said he was adding Oregon to the list in response to a suggestion made by Marissa Streit, the CEO of PragerU.

Walters did not address the webpage saying the test was required for all “educators seeking licensure from out of state.”

Walters has contended his decision to implement the test doesn’t need the approval of the state Board of Education, a contention that drew pushback from other board members. Board member Ryan Deatherage asked Walters for legal documentation as to why that would be the case, but Deatherage said he hasn’t yet received that explanation.

The legality of Walters’ agency administering the test also has been called into question. The Oklahoma Office of Educational Quality and Accountability oversees teacher assessments and its executive director, Megan Oftedal, sent an email to her agency’s commissioners noting that.

“This is not the first instance in which (the state Department of Education) has acted in ways that appear to exceed its legal authority, and the pattern raises ongoing concerns about governance and the proper exercise of statutory responsibility,” Oftedal wrote in the email, obtained by The Oklahoman through another open records request.

According to state law, the Commission for Educational Quality and Accountability – and not the Oklahoma State Department of Education – has the responsibility for adopting competency tests for teachers to become certified in Oklahoma.

“(S)tatutes are clear that applicants holding valid out-of-state teaching certificates must be issued an Oklahoma certificate without being required to complete additional competency examinations, provided they are applying in the same subject and grade levels,” Oftedal told her agency’s commissioners.

Megan Oftedal

Executive director, Oklahoma Office of Educational Quality and Accountability