Luna: Criticisms of Common Core based on misinformation

State Superintendent Tom Luna addressed concerns about Common Core standards while he was in Idaho Falls on Tuesday.

Luna said 45 states have adopted the standards, which focus on English and math, and ensure the same standards are held from state to state.

He said education leaders nationwide got together to come up with a way to compare students in different states. To do that, they all had to be on the same page, and the result was Common Core.

“What you’ll see is a lot of concerns based on misinformation,” said Luna.

He said it’s not about the feds trying to take over education of our children and creating mediocre students.

“There’s no federal dollars. We don’t have to adopt (the standards). We could walk away today, and nothing would change in our relationship with the federal government or our local school districts. This is a state-led effort. I’m convinced it will take us a huge step down the path of (ensuring) that when our students graduate from high school and go to college, they don’t need remediation when they get there, or when they go into the workforce, they are prepared. Currently, the standards that we have are not preparing them for that level of academic success.”

He emphasized that Common Core is a state-led effort, and said he has always been one to push back against federal intrusion.

Another point of concern from parents is “data mining,” or collecting abstract information on students.

“It’s very clear in Idaho law and federal law the kind of information schools can collect and what they can share,” said Luna. “And what I think is important for Idaho parents to know is that schools are not collecting any more data today on individual students than they were before we adopted Common Core, and so there has not been this increase in the amount of data we collect.”

Luna said every piece of data the state currently collects on students is available on Idaho’s education website, http://www.sde.idaho.gov.