State Superintendent Ryan Walters sits at the head of the table during an April 24 meeting of the Oklahoma State Board of Education in Oklahoma City. Walters has said he intends to require teachers to take an “America First” assessment if they are moving from a progressive state, like California or New York. (Photo by Nuria Martinez-Keel/Oklahoma Voice)
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma State Department of Education likely would contradict state law if it implements an ideological test for teachers coming from certain states, said the leader of another state agency that oversees teacher assessments.
Requiring an “America First” assessment for teachers moving from progressive states like California and New York, as state Superintendent Ryan Walters pledged to do, would step outside the authority Oklahoma law grants to the state Department of Education, wrote Megan Oftedal, executive director of the Office of Educational Quality and Accountability, in an email to her agency’s governing board on Monday…