Oklahoma’s latest move to reshape its education system has ignited a nationwide debate, as the state prepares to require teachers relocating from California and New York to pass a new ideological exam before they can step into a classroom. Branded by state officials as an "America First Test," the exam is designed to filter out what they call "woke indoctrination" and ensure that incoming educators promote American exceptionalism while adhering to Oklahoma’s conservative values. But critics, including major teachers’ unions and education experts, have slammed the measure as a political loyalty test—one that could worsen the state’s already acute teacher shortage and stoke deeper divides in American public education.
On August 18, 2025, Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters announced that applicants for teaching jobs from California and New York would soon be required to pass the new assessment. The test, developed by PragerU—a conservative nonprofit based in Oklahoma—features 50 questions, with the first five focusing on foundational American concepts such as the first three words of the U.S. Constitution and the importance of religious freedom to American identity. According to Walters, the exam will be rolled out within two weeks of the announcement, and other states like Connecticut, Illinois, and Minnesota could be added to the list in the near future.
“As long as I am superintendent, Oklahoma classrooms will be safeguarded from the radical leftist ideology fostered in places like California and New York,” Walters declared in a statement reported by the Associated Press. In a subsequent interview with The New York Times, Walters elaborated, “If you come to Oklahoma, you will abide by our state law, you will abide by our standards and teach those in the classroom.” He emphasized that the test is meant to ensure that educators align with Oklahoma’s values, particularly on issues such as gender and American exceptionalism, which he characterized as "completely a 180" from the norms in California and New York.
PragerU, short for Prager University, is known for producing digital videos that promote conservative perspectives on politics, economics, and history. Marissa Streit, CEO of PragerU, told CNN that several questions on the assessment are specifically aimed at "undoing the damage of gender ideology." The nonprofit also helped Oklahoma draft its revised history standards, which have themselves been a source of controversy for their inclusion of conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election and a sanitized approach to racial history, as reported by The Hill.
While Walters and his supporters argue that the test is necessary to protect Oklahoma’s students from indoctrination, opponents see it as a thinly veiled attempt to impose partisan litmus tests on educators. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), one of the nation’s largest teachers’ unions, condemned the move. “This MAGA loyalty test will be yet another turnoff for teachers in a state already struggling with a huge shortage,” Weingarten said in a statement to the Associated Press. “His priority should be educating students, but instead, it’s getting Donald Trump and other MAGA politicians to notice him.”
The criticism doesn’t end there. Tina Ellsworth, president of the nonprofit National Council for the Social Studies, expressed concern that the test could deter qualified teachers from applying to Oklahoma. “State boards of education should stay true to the values and principles of the U.S. Constitution,” Ellsworth argued. “Imposing an ideology test to become a teacher in our great democracy is antithetical to those principles.”
State Rep. John Waldron, chairman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party and a former teacher himself, called the test "political posturing" and a "sad echo of a more paranoid past." Waldron noted that, in practice, very few teachers from California or New York actually seek certification in Oklahoma. According to data from the state’s Commission for Educational Quality and Accountability, only 19 out of 573 out-of-state applications since 2020 came from those two states. Most applicants hail from neighboring states like Texas, Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas.
James W. Fraser, emeritus professor of the history of education at New York University, told The New York Times that while states often impose additional certification requirements on out-of-state teachers, Oklahoma’s explicit targeting of two specific states is "very unusual." He warned that the policy could further segregate American education along regional lines, exacerbating a situation where "young people are increasingly unable to talk to each other and understand each other."
Legal questions also loom. Megan Oftedal, executive director of the Office for Educational Quality and Accountability, said her agency was not involved in the test’s development and is currently reviewing its alignment with existing legal and regulatory frameworks. The Commission for Educational Quality and Accountability was likewise left out of the process, raising concerns about oversight and transparency.
The debate over Oklahoma’s new test comes at a time when the state faces a near-record teacher shortage, despite recent salary increases. According to The Hill, college enrollment rates in Oklahoma have already declined by 20 percent over the last decade, with only about one-third of high school graduates now going on to attend college. Critics warn that policies like the America First Test could drive those numbers even lower, as teachers and students alike seek opportunities elsewhere.
Fox News covered the controversy in an August 20, 2025 segment, noting that critics describe the new exam as a "MAGA loyalty test." The network highlighted concerns that the policy is more about scoring political points with the White House and conservative voters than about improving educational outcomes.
The test isn’t Oklahoma’s only recent foray into culture-war education policy. In the past 14 months, Walters has ordered all public schools in the state to teach the Bible and proposed rules requiring schools to collect students’ citizenship data. The state board of education has also pushed for lessons on alleged "discrepancies" in the 2020 U.S. presidential election and attempted, unsuccessfully, to open the nation’s first religious charter school—a plan halted by the Supreme Court in May 2025.
Supporters of the new test argue that it is a necessary corrective to what they view as left-wing indoctrination in American schools. PragerU released a statement saying the exam’s goal is “to ensure that teachers coming from progressive states are literate in basic American history, civics and common sense.” But critics, including education historian Jonathan Zimmerman of the University of Pennsylvania, warn that institutionalizing PragerU as a gatekeeper for teacher certification marks a "watershed moment" in the politicization of education. “Instead of Prager simply being a resource that you can draw in an optional way, Prager has become institutionalized as part of the state system,” Zimmerman told the Associated Press.
As Oklahoma prepares to implement the America First Test, the eyes of the nation are watching. Whether the policy will achieve its stated goal of protecting students from "radical ideology," or simply deepen the state’s teacher shortage and political polarization, remains to be seen. For now, the battle lines in the culture war over American education run straight through the Sooner State’s classrooms.
