Pentagon ordered to push untested exam in military schools
S. 1747 — Promoting Classical Learning Act of 2025 · Filed by Jim Banks (R-IN) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced May 13, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill requires the military service academies (West Point, Annapolis, Air Force Academy, etc.) to accept Classical Learning Test (CLT) scores alongside SAT and ACT scores for admissions. It also mandates that Department of Defense schools and Bureau of Indian Education schools administer the CLT to 11th-grade students. The bill benefits CLT as a testing option and potentially expands its market reach into federal school systems.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is to mandate institutional adoption and administration of a specific commercial standardized test (CLT) in federal schools and military academies. This is functionally a market-access guarantee for CLT, not a student-centered educational reform.
What the text implies
- Mandating CLT administration in DODEA and BIE schools creates recurring testing costs and administrative burden for those systems without appropriations language to fund the mandate.
- CLT gains institutional legitimacy and student-exposure pipeline through federal schools, potentially shifting market share from SAT/ACT without evidence of superior educational outcomes.
The full analysis lists 4 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
Classical Learning Test (CLT) company/operator; Testing administration vendors