HIGHER EDUCATION BUBBLE UPDATE: The Upstart ‘Classic Learning Test’ Gets a Testy Welcome From the SAT.
The battle over [the Classic Learning Test (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 [Classic Learning Test (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.
William Slater, Tennessee lawmaker: “I’m not going to allow a monopoly to keep us from doing good education policy in Tennessee.”
As CLT founder Jeremy Tate sees it, those tests have played a role in making education overly utilitarian and job-focused. It has lost its soul, leaving students bored and uninspired with learning, says Tate, a former public school teacher in New York City. He is not surprised at all that public education is afflicted with sky-high absenteeism and record low achievement.
Tate is a central figure in an educational revival that aims to restore some of the wonder in learning. The great books of Western civilization and a focus on big questions of virtue and justice form the centerpiece of classical instruction. Science, math, and technology are important, too, but as pieces within the broader classical approach.
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