Florida’s New College Entrance Exam: The CLT

Gabriela Danger | Contributing Writer

There is a new standardized testing option for incoming college students, and it may put Governor Ron DeSantis at odds with the College Board once again. 

Passed by the Florida Board of Governors, with DeSantis’s support on Sept. 8, the CLT, or Classical Learning Test, is a test meant to gauge students’ abilities in writing, grammar and quantitative reasoning, according to its website. 

It is a third option for students to take, besides the SAT and ACT, and is the first alternative test to be accepted by any state in the country. Instead of the regular three hour exams, like the ACT and SAT, this test clocks in at only two.

According to Jody Glassman, Assistant Vice President of Enrollment & University Admissions at FIU, it is “another option for applicants; it’s not a replacement for the SAT or ACT, it’s something that first-time college applicants can choose to take if they are Home Schooled or if it’s offered at their school.”

The CLT’s mission is to “reconnect knowledge and virtue by providing meaningful assessments and connections to seekers of truth, goodness, and beauty.” 

Supporters of the test say that it returns to classical themes in literature and education that have had a lasting impact on Western society. It steers away from more contemporary American legislation and trends. 

Meanwhile, critics of the test say that there is not enough evidence in scores to reflect the test’s validity.

Some students expressed some initial concern about how the test may affect the incoming student population at FIU, a university with a diverse student body. 

In a statement not associated with SGA directly, SGA Cabinet member Stephen Pella said, “I cannot know for certain how diversity will be affected on campus, but I can assume that the test will skew admissions towards those who have a classical education, this will likely statistically limit diversity.”

Another detractor is the College Board itself, which published research that found that “CLT has not published evidence of validity or predictive news of college performance”.