by - Florida officials are in talks to use the CLT as an alternative to the SAT, according to the Miami Herald.
- Jeremy Tate, the founder of the CLT, told the Herald that the SAT had become “more ideological.”
- The discussion comes under a new test and the Gov. DeSantis floats state support for AP courses.
Florida’s top officials are in talks with the founder and chief executive of an educational testing company that supporters said is focused on the “great classical and Christian tradition,” according to The Miami Herald.
The potential of such a test being used in Florida has become closer because Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has been in discussions with the College Board in recent weeks regarding the curriculum of his Advanced Placement (AP) African-American Studies pilot course, with the governor on Tuesday floating the idea that the state might pull his support. for the intensive, college-level AP courses.
The Classical Learning Test, billed as “content that is more intellectually rich and rigorous than other standardized tests and college entrance exams,” is widely used in private schools and home-school environments.
Founder Jeremy Tate told the Herald that the test was intended to be an alternative to the SAT, which is administered by the College Board and has long been the standard in US high schools for students who take application to colleges and universities. (In recent years, many universities have made the SAT optional, especially after the coronavirus pandemic.)
Tate told the newspaper that the SAT had become progressively more “ideological” because it had “censored the whole Christian-Catholic intellectual tradition”.
On the testing company’s site, it stated that Tate was working as a high school English instructor when he concluded that “transcendental, moral and ethical ideas had been erased from the classroom,” and high-stakes testing was part of the reason.
Tate told the Herald that he had meetings with Ray Rodrigues, chancellor of Florida’s state university system, and lawmakers to see if they could make the test more readily available to high school students in the state.
“We’re really happy that they like what we’re doing,” Tate told the Herald. “We’re talking to people in the administration, again, actually, almost every day right now.”
DeSantis did not specifically mention the Classical Learning Test as one of the sources he had in mind as an SAT alternative, but said he would like to look at “other vendors.”
Florida Department of Education Senior Chancellor Henry Mack expressed interest in the use of the Classical Learning Test on Thursday.
“Not only do we need to rebuild by going back to the foundations of our democracy, but CLT also gives all our colleges and universities the opportunity to get their priorities right,” he added. said on Twitter.
Rodrigues confirmed to the Herald that he had talks with Classic Learning Test this week so he could get more information about the test.
“As you know the State University System is the largest university system in the country that still requires an entrance exam as part of our admissions process. We currently take the SAT and ACT. Adding an alternative to our some students,” Rodrigues told the Herald.
Tate told the Herald that conservatives might prefer the CLT, but he did not want the assessment to be ideological.
“We don’t want to be a Trumpy or a conservative,” he said.
DeSantis’ office did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
