Higher Education Brief: Classic Learning Test Concordance with the SAT

July 13, 2023

College Board has received questions from our higher education members about the Classic Learning Test (CLT). We’ve put together this fact sheet to address inquiries specifically related to the concordance published by CLT. 

Executive summary

The College Board recognizes the role that the Classic Learning Test and other assessments can play in a diverse educational landscape.

In April 2023, Classic Learning Initiatives, LLC, published a paper that includes a concordance between the Classic Learning Test and the SAT—The Concordance Relationship Between the Classic Learning Test (CLT) and the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). While the paper makes statements about comparability between the SAT and CLT, the study does not meet industry standards (as developed jointly by the American Educational Research Association, National Council on Measurement in Education, and the American Psychological Association) for an acceptable concordance.

College Board was not involved in the study. Without addressing several methodological and comparability issues, we cannot validate the interpretation and use of concorded CLT-to-SAT scores for high-stakes decisions, like admissions and scholarship awards, based on the published study.

We welcome the opportunity to evaluate the process of conducting a joint and valid concordance study with both ACT and CLI. The results of that study would produce critical information on whether the CLT and SAT are comparable.  

Why valid and accurate test concordance matters 

When scores from different tests are being used to consider students for scholarships or college admission, the scores must be able to be reliably compared to each other to ensure that students taking different assessments aren't advantaged or disadvantaged. A well-formulated concordance links two different tests and allows scores on different exams to be used in a comparable way. College Board and ACT have completed concordance studies together for years using technically sound best practices.  

The concordance study published by CLT does not meet psychometric and industry standards on multiple dimensions. 

Core methodological issues with the published CLT study 

The study does not use a representative sample of test takers.  

• The study uses 4 different samples totaling about 5,000 students. The report does not cite the demographics of the participants or controls used to ensure representation of all test takers. For comparison, the most recent concordance between the ACT and SAT included 589,753 students, and the sample was nationally representative.
   
• In addition, the study did not control or minimize the time between when the CLT and the SAT were taken—students could have had multiple years of learning between the 2 tests, which negates the valid comparability of scores.  

The SAT score data were not verified by College Board.  

• The study indicates students largely self-reported SAT scores, and over 20% of scores used in the study were different than the scores colleges had on record. 
   
• For the most recent concordance study between ACT and SAT, ACT and College Board provided official, college reportable scores obtained in official, secure administrations of the exams.  

Comparability between the SAT and CLT

A core requirement for a valid and reliable concordance between two tests is that they measure similar content at similar levels of rigor. Analysis of available information about the development and design of the CLT raises questions about the comparability between the two assessments.  

• The SAT is an achievement test that measures the knowledge and skills students learn in high school that are needed for college and career success. The CLT is aligned to a “classical curriculum.” When 2 tests are constructed around different curricula and standards, a rigorous joint study must be performed to determine if there can be concordance.
   
• The SAT is a proven, valid predictor of college performance, based on years of published and accessible research and data. CLT has not published evidence of validity or predictiveness of college performance.
   
• Our preliminary analysis of the skills and knowledge tested on the CLT indicates that the CLT and SAT do not test math at the same grade level. In reviewing a published CLT practice test, we found that 25% of questions were below high school grade level. For example, statistics concepts are not tested on the CLT. As a result, scoring very well on the CLT may not necessarily indicate an equally high score on the SAT, which is aligned to high school grade levels represented in state standards.

Appendix: Comparison of concordance study methodologies