EducationThere's a New Standardized Test — but Should Your Child Take It?What’s going on: Most of us suffered through the SATs and ACTs in high school (bonus points if you still remember your score). While students still tackle these, a new standardized test has entered the chat: the Classic Learning Test (CLT). Like the SAT and ACT, it has math and verbal sections, but that’s where the similarities end. It doesn’t allow calculators (our personal hell), and offers an at-home testing option. But the real talker is its verbal section: The passages largely focus on Western philosophers and writers and include religious texts from Christian theologians and priests. Despite the inclusion of writers like Karl Marx and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, CLT is largely based on the “Catholic Intellectual Tradition,” which the test’s creator hopes is “front and center.” Conservatives and the Trump administration fully support it. Is this the new SAT?: Before you google “CLT prep near me,” keep in mind that most schools don’t accept it, and the SAT is still prom queen. More than 350 colleges — most of which are private Christian schools — accept the CLT. (Didn’t we all agree that standardized tests suck?) But there’s a push from state Republican lawmakers for more schools to accept it: Indiana now legally requires public state universities to consider CLT scores, and North Carolina’s university system (including Michael Jordan’s alma mater) is open to the new test. Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Wyoming will also take a CLT score for state scholarships. Even the Pentagon accepts it. Still, many education leaders are hesitant, citing limited data on whether the test accurately measures student ability. Related: Trump Wants To Cut the Education Department’s Budget Down Even More (EdWeek) | 
