<em>­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­</em>Florida Becomes the First State to Approve an Alternative to the SAT and ACT

Florida will now allow the controversial Classic Learning Test, or CLT, for admissions to its 12 state universities starting this fall. The CLT is a humanities-focused alternative to the SAT and ACT that was created in 2015 as part of an effort by conservatives to revive classical studies in America. To date, it has been used mainly by Christian colleges and select private institutions like the conservative Hillsdale College. Florida is the only state thus far to allow its public colleges to accept CLT, but the move implies further seismic shifts in the admissions world that have already included the U.S. Supreme Court’s rejection of race-conscious admissions practices, and the diminishing dominance of the College Board, which administers the SAT and has had run-ins with Governor Ron DeSantis. CLT test scores are accepted by more than 200 colleges and universities, or about one-tenth of the four-year institutions in the country. About 25,000 students have taken the CLT for college admissions. By contrast, 1.9 million students in the high school class of 2023 took the SAT, including 205,000 students from Florida, and 1.4 million took the ACT.