Walters still to require testing despite legislative rejection

Superintendent of Schools Ryan Walters appears to be moving ahead with a requirement that prospective teachers pass a U.S. Naturalization test even though the Legislature rejected the idea.

The Senate rules committee rejected the proposal in May, concerned it would deter qualified teachers from working in the state.

But the Department of Education began requiring the test Aug. 1 for all new teacher certification applicants, according to its website. The initial rule also applied to renewals, but the agency’s website says it won’t apply to teachers certified before Aug. 1.

Department of Education spokesman Quinton Hitchcock didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The U.S. Naturalization test is a civics quiz for immigrants seeking U.S. citizenship. Oklahoma high school students are required to pass it to receive a diploma.

Walters said his agency is also imposing an America-first test developed by PragerU on teachers from New York and California who apply for certification in Oklahoma. Only 19 of the 573 out-of-state applications since 2020 were from California and New York, The New York Times reported. That test contains questions about U.S. government, religion and gender, and applicants have to answer all 50 correctly.

That test garnered national attention this week, with headlines on CNN and The Washington Post. One critic, education historian Jonathan Zimmerman said Oklahoma’s decision to administer a PragerU exam to teacher applicants represents a new level of power for the organization.

PragerU isn’t a university. It’s a nonprofit organization that produces conservative videos on political and economic topics.

“Up until now, every use of Prager materials has been optional,” Zimmerman, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, wrote. “Now it’s required —not for students, but for the people who will instruct them.”