Tennessee is just one of the states where the College Board, a nonprofit with $1 billion in annual revenue, is trying to stop the expansion of the Classic Learning Test (CLT), run by a small company with about $10 million in revenue. While the College Board justifies its attack with criticism of the test’s quality – claims CLT leaders reject – underlying the controversy appears to be a fierce competition for market share.
The battle over the CLT also reflects the profound forces transforming K-12 education. As growing numbers of Americans seek alternatives to traditional public education, an infrastructure of charter, private, and home schools has expanded to support them. The CLT, which grew out of the classical education movement, is a recent addition to that infrastructure, a bridge between high school and college.
“The CLT is another option for students that tests a different aspect of education,” said Chester Finn, an expert on assessments and president emeritus at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. “It has merit as a test for college admissions.”
For decades, the College Board’s SAT and its chief rival, the ACT (which was bought last year by a private equity firm), have dominated the college admissions market. They are not simply exams – they are touchstones of academic achievement that have extraordinary influence on education, giving shape to what students study in school and strive for in life. High-performing schools display their students’ SAT and ACT scores online as a badge of honor.
