Over the next eight years, the num-
ber of CLT test-takers was de mini- mis. Although more than 200 colleg- es agreed to accept CLT scores for admission, they were almost all small religious schools, limiting the test’s appeal to students. The CLT broke out of its religious
bubble in 2023 when Florida became the first state to approve its use in high schools and public universities. The test suddenly became a more
serious player in the market, firing a shot across the bow of the powerful College Board. Thanks to Florida, the number of
CLT test-takers soared sevenfold, to 182,000, last year. The biggest sur- prise was that the surge in Florida came mostly from public school stu- dents, evidence of the CLT’s broaden- ing appeal. Now, as Arkansas, Iowa, Oklaho-
ma, Tennessee, and Texas are con- sidering CLT legislation, the College Board is trying to stop the momentum. It has deployed lobbyists to the state
capitols to block the bills for reasons that it posted in a brief on its website in May: “New external research shows that the CLT is not predictive of col- lege performance or success and has no relationship to student outcomes.” That’s a damning assessment, espe-
cially since the very purpose of a col- lege admissions test is to predict how students will perform. CLT leaders say the College Board’s
assertion is false. To date, there is no completed research that addresses the
predictiveness of the CLT. Last year, Tate’s company began
a longitudinal study — tracking the same students over a long period — to determine the CLT’s predictive power, and the results are not in yet. “Absolutely the College Board is try-
ing to undermine the CLT,” Tate said. “It’s part of a duopoly and so it makes sense that they don’t want to have competitors in the space.” Like the SAT, the CLT is a multiple-
choice test of literacy and numeracy. But the two tests differ significantly when it comes to reading content. This difference became more pro-
nounced last year when the College Board rolled out the digital SAT in the U.S., calling it more student-friendly and less stressful. The digital SAT is partly a response
to the large number of colleges that have become test-optional, posing a challenge to the CLT and ACT, too. With an eye on preserving market
share, the College Board said its goal is for the digital SAT to be the only test that students take. In addition to cutting the SAT test-
ing time to two hours and 14 min- utes, the reading passages have been significantly shortened to between 25 and 150 words. The College Board said the shorter
passages are a better fit for the digital format and are just as challenging. The brief passages also seem to nod
at social media, which has transformed how students consume information. CLT leaders say the SAT’s new
approach demands less thoughtful- ness from students. The CLT’s longer passages of 525
words are drawn from classic works in history, literature, science, philoso- phy, and religion. The CLT’s attempt to expand
across the country faces a daunting challenge. “Most state lawmakers have never
heard of the CLT, or if they have, they don’t realize they need to make policy changes so students can take the test for state university admis- sions,” said Michael Torres, CLT’s legislative director. “It’s definitely a big education hur-
dle, but there is significant interest from lawmakers.” What’s more, for over half a cen-
tury the SAT and ACT have cemented their positions in state law as the gold standard of tests, providing a techni- cally complex service that’s hard for newcomers to match without a team of Ph.D.s and ample resources for research studies and lobbying. The College Board also has been
adept at maintaining the SAT’s posi- tion as the No. 1 college entrance exam, spending $830,000 on lobbying in 2023. But this year, a wave of bills to add
the CLT to the list of university admis- sions tests has emerged in a handful of school choice-friendly states, follow- ing Florida’s lead. State wins are essential for Tate to
reach his goal of 500,000 annual CLT test-takers in three years, or more than twice the 2024 number. By his logic, as the number of CLT
students grows, selective private uni- versities will eventually also come on board because they want more applicants to keep their admissions rate low. “I think people know that we need disruption in this testing market, that the College Board needs to be chal- lenged,” said Tate. “And we have a lot of grassroots enthusiasm behind the CLT that’s helping us make some big gains.” — RealClearInvestigations
MAY 2025 | NEWSMAX 39
STUDENTS/MONKEYBUSINESSIMAGES©ISTOCK
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