Oklahoma’s short-lived “woke-proof” classroom could still leave a mark

Oklahoma has become a testing ground for reshaping general school curriculum to reflect conservative viewpoints Make America Great Again priorities and a push for Christian nationalism in the classroom Oklahoma s former state mentoring Superintendent Ryan Walters oversaw several controversial instruction policies in latest years including mandating in that all Oklahoma society teachers incorporate the Bible into their lesson plans Walters resigned from his position in September to lead Mentor Freedom Alliance a conservative advocacy group that opposes teachers unions One unprecedented move Walters made was adopting a mentor assessment called The America-First Assessment designed by PragerU a conservative nonprofit media company Walters announced the purpose of this exam which went live in August was to screen out woke indoctrination By authorizing this assessment Walters signed off on a conservative and far-right political organization having a say in which prospective teachers from out of state receive their Oklahoma teaching licenses The exam was short-lived Walters replacement Lindel Fields released at the end of October that Oklahoma would no longer use this assessment Fields also rescinded the Bible mandate for Oklahoma schools But other states could still adopt the exam free of charge The exam and its dispute offers a window into the current politicization of state development systems this time with respect to the licensing of teachers As an instruction researcher I have written about other mentor assessments and specific of the issues surrounding them such as screening out Black teachers Walter s anti-woke trainer exam is a unique kind of experiment The test was not made by a professional assessment company and does not legitimately assess professional knowledge related to the subjects teachers teach A politicized test for teachers The America-First exam consists of multiple-choice questions that ask about the U S Constitution establishment religious liberty history and Supreme Court cases One question asks What are the first three words of the Constitution Another question asks What does the Second Amendment protect Other questions inquire about gender and sex with questions like What is the fundamental biological distinction between males and females and Which chromosome pair determines biological sex in humans Walters made the political purpose of the exam clear We have to make sure that the teachers in our classrooms as we re recruiting these individuals aren t a bunch of woke Marxist activists Walters stated in August Walters has also reported the exam was designed to specifically root out liberal trainer applicants who might fill trainer vacancies in Oklahoma and bring progressive training on race and gender with them or what Walters called blue state indoctrination When the test went live in August it expanded to all teachers from other states trying to get a license to teach in Oklahoma An exam you cannot fail The America-First Assessment is not like the typical licensure exams made by professional assessment companies These other exams cover the specific subject matter teachers should know to do their job math for math teachers science for science teachers and so on Instead of a subject-specific focus the America-First Assessment is mostly aligned with President Donald Trump s America first talking points particularly through its focus on gender and sex The the bulk striking aspect of the exam however is that it is impossible to fail If you don t know the first three words of the U S Constitution you can guess answers until you get it right In fact the test will advance to the next question only after you register a correct answer Everyone who finishes the test will get correct As a product as certain observers have pointed out the exam resembles a political ideology test and not a legitimate assessment of professional knowledge Unlike the SAT which considers its content proprietary legally protected information a great number of of the America-First Assessment questions are publicly available Further unlike established exams such as the SAT and GRE the America-First exam has no technical information about how it was designed or what the questions are supposed to measure As a conclusion the exam resembles a MAGA loyalty test according to American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten Related Conspiracy theories Warning lights on the dashboard of democracy A conservative media company expands into professor assessment The America-First Assessment s unique format and political content reflect the priorities of PragerU the conservative media company that created it Conservative radio host Dennis Prager founded PragerU in The company produces educational and entertainment videos rooted in conservative ideology PragerU s more than online videos include short segments such as Make Men Masculine Again How A multitude of Radical Islam Sleepers are in the United States and America Was Founded on Freedom Not Slavery Prominent far-right influencers including Ben Shapiro Candace Owens and Charlie Kirk have appeared in videos PragerU s primary YouTube page has more than million subscribers Scholarly analysis of PragerU videos have discovered the content minimizes the impact of slavery and promotes misinformation on topics including situation change In its children s video Frederick Douglass The Outspoken Abolitionist the fictionalized cartoon of Douglass warns children to stay away from radicals who want to change the American system rather than work within it Our system is wonderful and our Constitution is a glorious liberty document We just need to convince enough Americans to be true to it he concludes In the company launched PragerU Kids an offshoot targeting school-age children and educators with lesson plans worksheets and other learning materials tied to its videos Various other states including Florida New Hampshire and Montana have approved PragerU s videos as curriculum for their inhabitants schools to consider using since The company s move into educator assessments in expands its influence beyond curriculum into who can earn a teaching license A doable strategy for other states Both Walters and PragerU CEO Marissa Streit pitched the exam as an option for all pro-America states at its launch in August Certain conservative procedures analysts have also praised this strategy s goals of ridding inhabitants schools of all woke teachers As a impact it is unlikely this is the last people will hear of PragerU or other private media companies trying to screen teachers Emery Petchauer Visiting Professor Teachers College Columbia University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license Read the original article Read more about this topic In red states GOP lawmakers revive an incredibly regressive push to treat abortion as murder It s not being looked at as a crazy thing Emboldened Republicans 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