We are inundated with requests for our feedback. Your Walmart receipt asks, “Give Us Feedback.” Your Dunkin receipt offers you a “free classic donut” for your feedback. The requests are so pervasive that I tend to ignore them. I am guessing you do as well.

Assessment is my life. I am currently in the middle of my third assignment as co-chair of Grove City College’s reaccreditation self-study. Grove City College is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Middle States’ current published accreditation standards include the word “assessment” (or some form thereof) 37 times. While my doctoral degree was in Social Psychology with an emphasis on statistics and assessment, there are dedicated Ph.D. programs directly focusing on assessment. Perhaps upon my retirement I might be replaced by a graduate of one of these doctoral assessment programs.

Yes, assessment is my job. Hence, you might think that I am more likely to fill out these feedback forms, because I know how important they are in my line of work. Yet, like you, I tend to ignore them. I have no interest in filling out another feedback form—unless something was seriously wrong. I am too quick to complain and too slow to reinforce positive behavior.

As I collect assessment data to satisfy these 37 assessment targets, it has become evident that college students are experiencing survey fatigue. Response rates have fallen precipitously. For the 2011 Senior Exit Survey, 87% of our seniors responded. In 2025, the response rate had fallen to 40%. Across our society, we are experiencing this survey fatigue.

Nevertheless, assessment data can and should be used to inform changes and improvements in our policies and practices. I suggest that if Cracker Barrel had gathered more assessment data on its planned rebranding, the restaurant would have gone in a different direction.

Although surveys can be written and disseminated in a matter of minutes, quality predictive exams undergo considerable testing of their reliability and validity. Do tests like the SAT, the ACT, and the CLT provide consistent measures as they seek to predict first-year college performance?

The Classic Learning Test (CLT) rolled out in December 2015 as an alternative to the SAT and ACT. Among the goals of the new test was to employ more rigorous academic standards and to emphasize the engagement with foundational classic texts.

Grove City College began accepting CLT scores as an alternative to the SAT or ACT scores in 2018. This decision was made on a trial basis, pending the assessment of how well the CLT would predict college performance. The assessment data would suggest whether it would serve as a reasonable alternative to the recognized college prep exams or would be a failed attempt to compete with the prevailing status quo. The pilot testing would assess the validity (or accurate prediction) of the CLT as a required component of the prospective student application.

Standardized testing experienced a notable change due to the lockdowns that occurred with the COVID pandemic. Many colleges became “test optional” rather than requiring standardized test scores. A few institutions have resumed requiring standardized tests, but Grove City College, for now, remains “test optional.”

Grove City College recently announced, however, a new scholarship that is based in part on standardized test scores. Students who submit stellar test scores and meet certain other requirements will be awarded this new scholarship. Grove City College defined exceptional scores as an SAT score of at least 1400, an ACT score of at least 31, or a CLT score of at least 100.

While Grove City College began accepting CLT scores in 2018, and some other institutions have followed suit, many institutions are still awaiting convincing assessment data that the CLT is a valid predictor of college student performance.

I undertook this study this summer. Grove City College needed to complete its trial pilot testing of the CLT. Is it a valid predictor of first-year college performance? Using data starting with required test scores from 2018, and including data up through optional test scores in 2024, the college had data on 235 students who had submitted CLT scores, matriculated at the college, and completed at least their first year of study. The technical report can be accessed here: https://www.gcc.edu/Portals/0/CLT-Report_1025.pdf

That report concludes with the statement, “In a landscape where the value of traditional standardized tests is increasingly debated, the CLT emerges as more than just an alternative; it represents a meaningful restoration of intellectual substance in college admissions. For institutions like Grove City College, and others committed to academic excellence, the CLT has proven itself to be an invaluable tool. The results of this study strongly support its continued and expanded use as a primary means of assessing collegiate readiness.”

Assessment data has confirmed and informed our choice to continue using the CLT as one component of the college application process.

Dr. Gary L. Welton is assistant dean for institutional assessment, professor of psychology at Grove City College, and a contributor to the Institute for Faith & Freedom. He is a recipient of a major research grant from the Templeton Foundation to investigate positive youth development.