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Education · The Classic Learning Test

A Better Admissions Test

Raising the Standard for College Entrance Exams

Edited by Brian G. Daigle · Second edition

Eleven essays by classical educators, college presidents and homeschool leaders on what entrance exams do to schools, and why the Classic Learning Test was made.

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“A must read for anyone in education or admissions who is brave enough to admit that things aren’t quite right in higher education any more.”
Robert Bortins, CEO, Classical Conversations
About the book

Tests have consequences

“This book exists because there is not only a specific need to reform standards of standardized tests; there is a broader need to reform standards of education in general.” So writes Brian Daigle in his introduction.

The essays argue that the SAT and the ACT shape, and narrow, what schools teach; that no standardized test is neutral; and that the Classic Learning Test, built on the great books and on moral formation, is a better measure of a student. Part I sets the stage: the history of entrance exams and the SAT, Chesterton on modern education, a homeschool mother’s story, and Aristotle on virtue and happiness. Part II questions the standard, and includes a conversation between a parent and a college president on the liberal arts. Part III shows how tests drive curriculum, gives test preparation that begins with books at home, and closes with the CLT’s founder on why he started it.

Praise

What educators say

“The Classic Learning Test is in the traditions of the best entrance examinations ever made; it reveals how well prepared the students are to engage the greatest minds in our Western intellectual tradition.”
Laura Berquist, author of Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum
“What should a college entrance exam look like? This work takes the question further to rethink the very essence of education.”
David Goodwin, President, the Association of Classical Christian Schools
“…we applaud the Classic Learning Initiative and affirm the Classic Learning Test as a robust and relevant answer to our culture’s obsession with modern standardized college entrance examinations.”
Ralph E. Enlow, Jr., President, the Association for Biblical Higher Education
“Everyone I know is dissatisfied with college entrance exams, especially religious people and those who love the liberal arts and the classics of our civilization.”
Michael Novak, former United States Ambassador
Look inside

Eleven voices

The contents: eleven chapters, eleven contributors, Contents
The contents: eleven chapters, eleven contributorsContents · 1 of 6
The full contents11 chapters · 183 pages
  1. Introduction, Brian G. Daigle1
  2. Part I · Setting the Stage
  3. 1A Brief History · Daniel Foucachon9
  4. 2Homo Viator vs. Homo Superbus: G.K. Chesterton and Modern Education · Joseph Pearce27
  5. 3Where Wonder Leads · Ruth Popp49
  6. 4Happiness and the Moral Dimension of Education · Michael Bors55
  7. Part II · Questioning the Standard
  8. 5No Neutrality: The Myth of Objective Standardized University Admissions Tests · Roy Alden Atwood69
  9. 6By What Standard? · Brian G. Daigle91
  10. 7It’s a Wonderful Education: A Conversation about the Liberal Arts between a Parent and a President · William Fahey103
  11. Part III · Tests Have Consequences
  12. 8Testing Drives Curriculum · Jennifer Courtney133
  13. 9Test Prep that Works: It’s Not About the Test · Janice Campbell147
  14. 10A Liberating Test · Andrew Seeley161
  15. 11Welcome to the Future · Jeremy Tate175
  16. Appendix: Further References for Chapter 5181

Publishing information

Editor
Brian G. Daigle
Format
Paperback, 5.5 × 8.25 in · 183 pages
Edition
Second edition, 2023 (first edition 2017)
ISBN
978-1-944482-82-4

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A Better Admissions Test

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