The letter sent by Mr. Rosser last Thursday was more than just an administrative announcement — it opened an administrative door for an exam still controversial over its reliability, even as scientific data on the exam remains thin. For Vietnamese American families in Houston and other Texas cities with children in homeschool or private school — the primary target group for CLT — this decision could change how they choose which standardized test to prepare for college admissions starting next school year.
The letter did not mention the differences that the study had found among the three exams.
The numbers left out of the letter
According to an independent report by the Texas A&M Public Policy Research Institute conducted at the request of state law, when comparing the ability to predict college academic performance, CLT achieved only 1.4 out of 4 points, while ACT scored 3.8 and SAT achieved the maximum score. Notably, Mr. Rosser's letter did not mention the differences that the study had found among the three exams, but only stated that all three were "sufficiently rigorous and reliable" for use in admissions. This is an important information gap: parents reading the letter from the education agency might mistakenly believe the three exams are equivalent, when the original report actually says otherwise.
One reason CLT received a low score, according to the organization operating the exam, is that Texas data is too limited: CLT submitted data from only about 259 students at five private universities, compared to more than 117,000 students at 14 public universities that College Board (the organization managing SAT) provided. This is CLT's explanation, not an independent conclusion from the research — and the gap in data scale itself is a reason for parents to be cautious before betting their children's college future on an exam lacking large-scale evidence.
Why this matters to Vietnamese American families
CLT emphasizes classical texts — from Plato, Aristotle to Christian philosophy works — and does not allow calculator use, quite different from SAT and ACT which use modern passages and allow calculators. For Vietnamese American students accustomed to preparing for SAT or ACT at tutoring centers in Little Saigon or Vietnamese communities in Houston, shifting study preparation toward this classical literature approach requires changing entire study strategies, not just choosing a different test. This is something that CLT founder Jeremy Tate publicly views as a goal: encouraging schools to use classical texts to train the intellect, not just to achieve test scores.
What makes the situation even more uncertain is that the final decision still rests with each public university, and students outside the top 10% — the group facing tougher competition for admission — will be directly affected if some schools begin accepting CLT scores starting this admissions season. According to Houston Public Media, the new report shows CLT has less evidence for predicting college success than SAT or ACT, but Texas could still expand the use of this exam — a contradiction that parents should note when advising their children.
What to watch next
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has not yet officially approved using CLT, and the final regulation will apply starting fall 2028 admissions. Before that time, parents with children entering grades 11-12 should ask each target university directly whether the school accepts CLT scores, rather than relying on the general interpretation in the state agency's letter.