Students in Oklahoma public schools may soon see PragerU materials in the classroom as part of a new partnership between the state and the educational nonprofit.
PragerU Kids offers free lesson plans for grades K-12 that cover a range of topics, including civics and financial literacy. The organization says its lessons meet multiple educational standards and “provide scaffolding to close classroom learning gaps and support more advanced instruction” while uniting teachers, students, and parents.
State Superintendent Ryan Walters celebrated the new partnership and its potential benefits for students and teachers in Oklahoma.
“This expansion of our available resources will help ensure high-quality materials rich in American history and values will be available to our teachers and students,” said Walters in a statement, per OKC Fox. “We will work together to find ways for PragerU to create content that will enrich the education of Oklahoma students.”
Oklahoma’s Department of Education lists PragerU Kids as part of its approved social studies curriculum. The nonprofit media company's materials are described on the department’s website as “engaging, educationally sound, and classroom-friendly while being grounded in traditional American values that inspire self-reliance, patriotism, and resiliency.”
Worksheets, lesson plans, books and magazines created by PragerU kids are all available online.
“We are proud to announce that PragerU Kids will have an ongoing educational partnership with the State of Oklahoma,” PragerU said in a statement. “Now, many more American students will have the opportunity to learn from PragerU’s wholesome, patriotic, and age-appropriate content.”
Florida was the first state to approve PragerU Kids material for use in schools this summer. The materials are supplementary and teachers are not required to use them.
“The Florida Department of Education reviewed PragerU Kids and determined the material aligns to Florida’s revised civics and government standards. PragerU Kids is no different than many other resources, which can be used as supplemental materials in Florida schools at district discretion,” said a spokesperson for the state’s DOE in a statement, per The Hill.
The decision was widely denounced and PragerU Kids was accused of indoctrinating minors.
The leadership of the League of Women Voters of Sarasota co-authored an opinion piece telling parents to protect their children from PragerU materials.
“PragerU is a partisan advocacy media company named after self-proclaimed conservative talk show host Dennis Prager. PragerU is not an accredited university and it publicly says the group is a ‘force of good’ against the left,” the women wrote. “The League of Women Voters of Sarasota County believes that most parents and voters would be hard-pressed to ignore the hypocrisy on display because PragerU videos are created for the purpose of indoctrination.”
The group advised parents to opt their children out of any lessons that use “PragerU’s unsubstantiated curriculum.”
Several members of the Texas Board of Education vowed to prevent any PragerU Kids curriculum from being approved for use in state schools during a press conference on Aug. 29.
