CLT Founder Accuses College Board of Dirty Tricks

Jeremy Tate, the founder and CEO of the Classic Learning Test (CLT), has launched a series of social media attacks against the College Board, which administers the SAT. He has specifically denounced the $2.3 million compensation of College Board CEO David Coleman in 2024.

Tate's campaign escalated last week with what he called a "public warning." He accused the College Board of submitting a public records request in Texas to obstruct the spread of his alternative standardized test and threatened a multistate Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) war in retaliation.

The Accusation and Denial

"For every one of these you throw at us we will throw five back at you," Tate wrote in a social media post. "I can’t imagine what we could uncover from the decades College Board has spent wining and dining elected officials."

However, College Board's executive director of media relations, Massie Ritsch, told Inside Higher Ed that "College Board has not filed records requests in Texas re: CLT and has not directed anyone working on our behalf to do so." The individual who filed the request, former journalist Casey Claiborne, stated he acted independently, saying, "Just trying to see if there’s a story there."

Tate admitted to the publication that "We don’t have hard, technical proof" linking the request to the College Board but said he is "99 percent" sure based on suspicions from people "in the know." He called College Board officials "pathological liars."

The Content of the Records Request

Texas lobbyist John Colyandro, representing CLT, provided documents showing the request was submitted to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). It seeks documents related to the board's "review or consideration of the CLT for use in Texas public higher education admissions or related policies," including validation materials and internal correspondence.

Colyandro said CLT is objecting to the release of records that "pertain to highly sensitive aspects of our internal business operations, proprietary information regarding our products, or data security practices." He argued release would cause competitive harm and could assist "bad actors."

A Broader Battle for Acceptance

The public spat highlights Tate's push to broaden acceptance of the CLT, which focuses on passages from the Western canon, in a market long dominated by the SAT and ACT. Several states have begun accepting the test for public university admissions or state scholarships.

In July, Texas higher education commissioner Wynn Rosser said public institutions could consider CLT scores for certain freshman admissions, international students, and returning students, with plans to expand acceptance later.

Reactions and Broader Context

Ritsch of the College Board also criticized the CLT directly, stating it "lacks the evidence required for a credible college readiness assessment-and even falls short of affirming high school achievement in math." He argued it gives students "a false sense of accomplishment."

Harry Feder, executive director of the test-opposition group FairTest, commented on the feud. "Both should be FOIA’ed," he said, calling for transparency from both organizations about their lobbying and the psychometric validity of their tests. "A pox on both their houses," Feder added, criticizing the reliance on single standardized tests.

Noah Tyler, CLT's CFO and head of its legal team, indicated the company is not currently planning retaliatory FOIA requests based on this single incident, despite Tate's earlier threats.

The dispute unfolds as many institutions reinstate test requirements, with FairTest noting roughly 90 percent of the 2,200 bachelor’s-degree institutions it tracks still do not mandate scores.