Rep. introduces legislation to make classical education test a new standard for US service academies
The bill would also require the 161 federally operated secondary schools to administer the CLT to all 11th-grade students
A new House bill would make the Classic Learning Test (CLT) a permanent fixture in the U.S. military academy admissions process and a federal requirement in secondary schools operated by the Department of Defense and Bureau of Indian Education.
The CLT is a standardized test rooted in Western and Christian texts, developed as an alternative to the SAT and ACT.
Introduced by Rep. Mary Miller (R-IL), the Promoting Classical Learning Act would codify an earlier Pentagon directive requiring all five U.S. service academies to accept the CLT beginning in 2027.
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The bill would also require all 11th graders at over 160 federally operated schools to take the CLT.
The test, launched in 2015 as a conservative alternative to the SAT and ACT, emphasizes reading, writing, and arithmetic through the lens of classical education.
It draws heavily from the writings of thinkers such as Plato, Augustine, and Jefferson, in contrast to more modern assessments.
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Backed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the CLT has become a centerpiece in the Trump administration’s broader effort to realign American education away from progressive curricula and toward traditionalist values.
The bill represents a significant step toward reshaping the academic pipeline into elite institutions, including the military, by replacing legacy entrance exams with values-based alternatives.
