Classic Learning Test Earns Multiple State Policy Victories

Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas now accept the Classic Learning Test (CLT) for college admissions, breaking the SAT/ACT duopoly and expanding student choice.

ANNAPOLIS, MD, UNITED STATES, May 29, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Lawmakers in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Wyoming, and Texas have passed assessment choice legislation during the 2025 legislative session, altering laws that had previously protected the SAT/ACT duopoly. These states join Florida in allowing for free and fair competition in the college admissions exam landscape after the Sunshine State adopted the Classic Learning Test (CLT) in 2023.

The CLT was created in 2015 by a former teacher and SAT test prep company owner who saw firsthand how the traditional duopoly drained joy and meaning from education. Rather than aligning with modern pedagogical fads, the CLT is aligned with a classic approach to education. The CLT’s reading passages are sourced from classic texts of philosophy, science, and literature — from Plato to Fredrick Douglass, from Isacc Newton to Albert Einstein. And the CLT Quantitative Reasoning section has a rigorous focus on complex arithmetic, geometry, and trigonometry, with no calculators allowed.

“We at the CLT are honored by the lawmakers in Texas, Arkansas, Wyoming, and Oklahoma who took a stand in favor of competition among college entrance assessments,” said Jeremy Tate, founder and CEO of CLT. “The old duopoly has been protected by state government policies for decades, allowing for stagnation and a departure from rigor. We look forward to serving students in these states by providing them with the opportunity to prove their academic achievement through our rigorous, excellent exams.”

In Arkansas, the CLT was included in Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ priority Arkansas ACCESS Act as well as ACT 724, sponsored by Rep. Keith Brooks and Sen. Jim Dotson. The ACCESS Act requires that all public universities accept the CLT to the same extent as the other exams. ACT 724 allows public school students to choose one state-funded administration of the Pre-ACT, PSAT, or CLT10 and of the ACT, SAT, or CLT.

Oklahoma lawmakers passed HB 1096, sponsored by Rep. Toni Hasenbeck and Sen. Adam Pugh. The legislation allows for all three exams in several policy areas. Critically, it allows students to use the ACT, SAT, or CLT to qualify for state-funded scholarships such as the Oklahoma State Regents' Academic Scholars Program.

Texas lawmakers passed SB 1241, sponsored by Rep. Terri Leo-Wilson and Sen. Mayes Middleton, Thursday. The legislation eliminates the SAT and ACT from the state law governing admissions to Texas institutions of higher education and allows the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to determine which exams and which scores on those exams students may use to qualify for admissions.

The Wyoming Department of Education approved a change to the Wyoming Hathaway Scholarship Program to allow students to qualify for the scholarship with a CLT score, Wednesday. The department determined that the CLT meets the state-mandated standards and satisfies “equi-percentile linking” with the ACT.

Classic Learning Test (CLT) exists to reconnect knowledge and virtue by providing meaningful assessments and connections to seekers of truth, goodness, and beauty.

CLT Facts

The Test
The CLT is a proven, valid, and reliable college admissions exam.
The exam uses industry-standard psychometric methods to provide a highly rigorous and consistently scored exam across all student groups.
The CLT has three sections: Verbal Reasoning, Grammar/Writing, and Quantitative Reasoning.
Students, parents, and educators are provided with in-depth analytics that provide insights on strengths and weaknesses in 15+ academic domains.
Classic Learning Initiatives, LLC, also provides 3rd-8th grade assessments and the CLT10 (a Pre-ACT and PSAT alternative).

Scale:
The CLT is accepted by over 300 colleges and universities nationwide, including the entire State University System of Florida.
More than 180,000 CLTs were administered in 2024, and we project to administer 200,000 in 2025.
When lower-grade exams are included, more than 225,000 CLT exams were administered in 2024.
As of 2024, a majority of CLT test takers were public school students.
All public colleges and universities in Arkansas will begin accepting the CLT in the fall of 2025.
Several other states are currently considering policy changes that will allow for further use of CLT by public institutions of higher education, including Texas and Oklahoma.

Rigor:
Only 1 student has ever earned a perfect score on the CLT.
The CLT offers a renewed focus on literacy by requiring students to contend with long passages from some of the most complex and influential texts ever written.
The CLT offers a rigorous test of students’ mathematical achievement by requiring an objective measure free from technological assistance in the form of calculators.

Michael Torres
Classic Learning Test
+1 443-782-3733
info@cltexam.com
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