The Classic Learning Test (CLT) is marking one year since its approval by the Florida Board of Governors as an official college entrance exam option for all public universities in the state. Since September 8, 2023, more than 120,000 Florida students have taken the CLT, which now serves as an alternative to the SAT and ACT.
Like the SAT and ACT, the CLT evaluates key skills such as reading comprehension, writing, and mathematics. However, the CLT distinguishes itself by emphasizing foundational logic and reasoning skills, drawing from classic and historical texts that have stood the test of time, rather than adapting to modern educational or cultural trends.
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“Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz and the Florida Board of Governors made a bold decision a year ago to make Florida the first state to expand college entrance exam opportunities for students beyond the conventional duopoly,” said Jeremy Tate, president and CEO of CLT. “It is an honor to have since had the opportunity to provide a classically inspired testing option to more than 120,000 Florida students and we look forward to helping many thousands more students to further their education in the years to come.”
This expansion of college entrance exam options was made possible by the leadership of Governor Ron DeSantis and the signing of House Bill 1537 in April 2023, which allowed Florida high schools to offer the CLT to 11th graders as part of the state’s graduation requirements. The law also enabled students to use their CLT scores to qualify for Florida Bright Futures and Medallion scholarships.
Since then, students from over 50 Florida school districts have taken the CLT, with more than 1,540 students achieving the required scores to qualify for Bright Futures scholarships. Hillsborough County Public Schools, one of the districts participating in the program, reported significant success.
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“Following the state’s authorization allowing Florida school districts to administer the CLT alongside the SAT and ACT, Hillsborough County Public Schools proudly added the CLT as an option for our students,” said Christie Raburn, executive director of high school education for Hillsborough County Public Schools. “We are pleased to report that 1,331 of our juniors and seniors who took the test achieved a concordant score for the Grade 10 ELA assessment, and 3,544 earned a concordant score for the Algebra 1 End-of-Course exam. These results underscore the value of offering diverse testing options to meet the varied needs of our students.”
In April 2023, CLT published a concordance report mapping its scores to the SAT and ACT, demonstrating that while the CLT takes a unique approach, its scores align with traditional testing metrics.
“For decades, high school students have had to take college entrance exams that are both utterly boring and rife with ideological bias,” Tate said. “The CLT, on the other hand, transcends today’s controversies with its focus on the world’s greatest works of literature and philosophy. It is our sincere hope that through this focus the CLT can be more than just another standardized test for students. Instead, we hope that it helps to spark a lifelong yearning to learn.”
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