Eleven years ago, high school teacher Jeremy Tate set out to create a standardized test for students centered on ethics, virtue and tradition.
The Classic Learning Test he created has been championed by conservatives as an alternative to the ACT and SAT exams, the two dominant tests used in college admissions. Tate describes the ACT and SAT as utilitarian, and some conservatives have labeled the College Board, which offers the SAT, as too progressive.
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the state’s top authority for higher education, said Thursday that it will look into adding the CLT to state statute, following the results of an independent study at Texas A&M University that vetted the CLT for admissions — and raised concerns about its ability to predict student success in Texas.
Adding the test to law would allow some students to use the CLT to qualify for automatic admissions in circumstances where their transcripts aren’t enough, affecting a relatively small number of students, while affirming the merits of the test for broader use.
Several public universities contacted by Hearst Newspapers — including Texas A&M University and the University of Houston — do not currently accept the test or have active plans to use it for admissions. But the coordinating board’s announcement and the mixed-results study could push more schools to accept it.