Texas’ higher education board is considering expanding the use of an alternative to the SAT and ACT, the Classic Learning Test, in public university admissions.
The “traditional” admissions test has been labeled as being favored by conservatives and is accepted at the U.S. military academies, the Florida public school system and a handful of other schools, largely private religious universities.
While it’s worth studying the test and evaluating alternatives to the College Board and ACT duopoly that has its grip on college admissions, the political framing attached to the CLT is exactly what Texas should avoid.
College campuses have become increasingly polarized and hostile toward students and faculty who present viewpoints inconsistent with what has been accepted in higher education spaces, but college admissions tests should be about predicting students’ success, not politics.
The test uses reading passages from classical and historical texts. In contrast, the SAT and ACT typically use shorter, more contemporary reading passages.
In a letter, Texas’ higher education commissioner wrote that the SAT, ACT and CLT “are of sufficient rigor and reliability” to be used in college admissions.
This isn’t the complete picture. An independent study from the Texas A&M Public Policy Research Institute found all three tests met the threshold for continued consideration, but the CLT is “less mature than SAT and ACT for statewide high-stakes Texas admissions use.”
That’s not to say the CLT couldn’t evaluate students just as well as the SAT or ACT, but it’s too early to tell, and the potential for the test to be used in admissions by 2028 is presumptuous.
In the Texas A&M study, the CLT submitted evidence from 259 students at five private Texas universities, while the College Board, which administers the SAT, submitted data for over 117,000 students at 14 public universities.
That’s too small a sample to say for sure that the CLT meets the high bar for college admissions.
This doesn’t mean the test should be dismissed. Texas should continue to study the CLT and how it predicts student outcomes.
Concerns about the influence that the College Board and ACT exert over admissions are legitimate. Many schools that dropped test requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic have been slow to pick them back up.
Many high school students dread taking the SAT. But for others whose schools didn’t offer AP courses, or who didn’t hold a club leadership position or weren’t captain of a sports team because they worked a job after school, took care of an aging family member or had something else going on, these tests can help students show what they are capable of that other parts of their application may not capture. Requiring standardized tests for admissions again could give more students the opportunity to show their potential.
Study the CLT. Give it an opportunity to prove itself. The bottom line is that admissions tests must help universities identify students who can take on the rigor of college — not bend to one political camp or another.
Have an opinion about this? Send a letter to the editor using our letters form or email letters@dallasnews.com. Letters should be no more than 200 words and include the first and last name of the writer and city of residence.