Idaho’s Common Core Education Complications

In 2013 the children of Idaho walked into their classrooms under the new umbrella of federal intrusion into education called “common core”. After several years of discussions and decisions, Idaho’s House and Senate Education committees voted to adopt the standards in 2011. The implementation came in 2013 and ever since then the State of Idaho has been under the federal government’s thumb on education.

If you are curious what the typical standards are for common core in math, for instance, you can find them on the Idaho State Department of Education’s website. It should come as no surprise that this document alone dealing with math is 93 pages long. How ironic is that? Ninety-three pages of the Federal Government telling Idaho educators how to teach our children math. It is an insult to hard-working teachers, hard-working parents of home-schooled children and everyone else that truly have a pulse on what the needs of our children are in our local communities.

Right out of the gates in 2014 the data on the effectiveness of common core was dismal. As written in the Daily Caller in 2014, as many as two-thirds of students would fall below proficiency in math and as many as 60% of students would miss the mark on English.

There are several great resources online for those that want to educate themselves further on how common core is working in Idaho. Idahoans Against Common Core has a great website with a lot of information and a “myth vs fact” page.

The current Idaho State Superintendent of Schools, Sherri Ybarra, promised to be a voice for opponents of common core standards. Since taking office in 2015, little has changed in Idaho education and common core standards.

So far, efforts to repeal Idaho’s participation in common core has failed. Time will tell if a sufficient groundswell emerges that would make that possible.

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