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CV NEWS FEED // By offering high schoolers a standardized test grounded in the liberal arts, a relatively new college entrance exam is challenging the duopoly of the ACT and SAT and may be gaining more traction this year as it garners support from elected state officials.
The Classic Learning Test (CLT) came onto the academic scene in 2015, through the efforts of CEO Jeremy Tate, according to the CLT website. A high school English teacher at the time, Tate was struck by the idea of American education being “utilitarian” partially due to the current standardized testing system.
Michael Torres, the CLT Exam Director of Legislative Strategy, told CatholicVote in a March 28 interview that the SAT and ACT have dominated the college entrance assessment marketplace since the mid-1900s.
“Both companies have been protected from competition by state laws like the one in Texas that we are trying to change,” Torres said. “As the recurrent controversies over admissions exams continue and as both exams continue to reduce their rigor, it is beyond time to allow for fair competition.”
Tate decided to work to remedy problems on the testing front by spearheading the new test.
“The demand among families for more classic approaches to education, especially thanks to school choice, shows that a test that is based in the same pedagogical philosophy and a very high standard of rigor is much needed,” Torres said.
Torres said the word “Classic” in reference means “tried and true.” Both the SAT and ACT lean on Common Core in their assessments; conversely, the CLT is based in the liberal arts tradition, using complex passages from classic texts in its Verbal Reasoning and Grammar/Writing sections. The CLT heavily focuses on geometry and trigonometry in its Math section.
Torres told CatholicVote that from 2015 to 2022, the majority of students who used the CLT were students at non-public schools, who could take the exam as an admissions test into private universities. The CLT’s popularity among this academic demographic saw an uptick over the years, but a new wave of momentum came in 2023 when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis raised questions about the College Board’s AP courses containing progressive content.
Torres credited DeSantis with the successful passage of Florida House Bill 1537, which authorized public school districts to choose the CLT for certain students. The bill also allowed students who take the CLT to be eligible for a taxpayer-funded scholarship, the Bright Futures Scholarship, to state universities.
Following this legislative development, officials with the state university system approved CLT for admissions to colleges and universities across Florida. At about the same time, the University of New Mexico approved using the CLT for admissions. Earlier this year, Arkansas adopted the CLT for state admissions and state-funded scholarships after Republican Gov. Sarah Sanders signed the ACCESS Higher Education Act. Not including Arkansas’ state universities, 293 colleges and universities across the country are using the CLT, Torres said.
Texas is the next state that could make a move in favor of the CLT for state university admissions. Republican Rep. Terri Leo-Wilson’s HB 4701, which is coupled with a bill underway in the Senate, would include the CLT in the automatic admissions process at state universities, Torres explained. The bill also expands the program that allows public school high schoolers to take the ACT or SAT for free to also cover the CLT, Torres said.
If passed, the legislation could have a huge impact on the CLT’s presence in the Lone Star State.
“This bill would put us at parity with the other exams in key ways, allowing for fair competition in one of America’s biggest states,” Torres told CatholicVote. “Given that Texas is in the process of enacting school choice, we see the enactment of assessment choice as equally important to ensure that students are held to standards that validate the pedagogical choices made by their families who will take advantage of the school choice program.”
There are two current issues with the ACT and SAT exams that make the CLT an important alternative, Torres said. First, leaders at the College Board, which creates the SAT, “have become increasingly more blatant in their left-wing political advocacy.”
He cited reports from Goldwater Institute and the City Journal to recount several examples signaling the leaderships’ dubious priorities.
“In sum, the organization’s leadership have professed a desire to advocate for ‘anti-racism,’ they have supported race-based admissions and filed briefs in opposition to the fair admissions SCOTUS ruling, and include blatantly progressive content in the AP Courses,” Torres said.
He noted that leadership at ACT historically has “been less politically active,” though they do support Pride Month and youth-targeted “transgender” initiatives.
Also, to increase the number of students who get good scores in AP courses, College Board leadership has changed how the AP courses are scored, Torres said.
The second issue is with the tests’ decreasing difficulty, Torres said. In 2024, the SAT’s rigor was reduced, and the ACT appears poised to follow suit. The ACT is set to undergo significant changes starting in April, according to Torres, who added that the ACT’s changes will likely mirror the SAT’s. The ACT was purchased by a private equity firm in April 2024, changing the organization from a nonprofit to a for-profit. Torres posited that the changes coming to the ACT this month appear to be a business decision.
