State ed leaders say rumors “values” will be attacked are not true.

By lisa schencker

| The Salt Lake Tribune

To hear some describe them, Utah’s new Common Core academic standards will lead to distortions of values they say are dear to the state.

Students will face mathematical word problems about gay couples. Teachers will struggle to fairly assess students. Utahns will lose control of their classrooms to the federal government, they say.

At a glance

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What are the Common Core standards and computer-adaptive testing?

Common Core standards outline what students should learn in each grade to be ready for college and careers after high school. Utah adopted the standards, which were developed as part of a states-led initiative, in 2010. They’ll be fully implemented in Utah by the 2014-2015 school year. The first part of that phase-in started this year with sixth- and ninth-grade math in Utah.

Utah is also a leading state within the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium, a group of states working to develop computer adaptive tests to be based on the Common Core. Computer-adaptive tests adapt in difficulty as students take them, helping pinpoint students’ strengths and weaknesses and yielding immediate results. The tests would likely replace Utah’s current Criterion Referenced Tests (CRTs).

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But advocates say the Common Core will better prepare Utah kids for colleges and careers, won’t include any controversial teachings and will respect local control.

So which is it?

The state school board adopted the Common Core a year and a half ago, but controversy over it is bubbling up — now that the standards are starting to hit classrooms and bills related to them are hitting the Legislature.

State education leaders say many of the concerns, however, are based on fiction.

"Whenever you make a big change like this, sometimes you also have rumors about the change," said Brenda Hales, state associate superintendent. "And one of the challenges of putting this particular core in place has been combatting rumors about what the Core is and how the Core was developed."

Lawmakers, wary of the new standards, have tweaked the wording of several bills related to the Common Core this session. The state school board is helping to lead a consortium of states that is developing computer-adaptive tests based on the standards, but it considered dropping out of that role earlier this month after critics expressed concern about losing local control. Board member Craig Coleman added he worries teachers will narrow what they teach to match the tests.

A committee of lawmakers — in a late-night, last-minute discussion — recently recommended the Legislature be required to approve any federal directives related to the Common Core before they’re implemented in schools. It was a move Rep. Ken Ivory, R-West Jordan, said would safeguard against "federal tentacles" creeping into Utah.

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"Different values" » The conservative Utah Eagle Forum, a leading critic of the Common Core, has been asking members to fight the standards.

Utah has "different values, different ideas; we know our Utah students," said Utah Eagle Forum president Gayle Ruzicka. "We are certainly smart enough in the state to write our own core curriculum, and that’s the way it should be."

With a "national curriculum," she said, "you run the risk of a federal takeover and end up with national standards, which is what we see happening right now."

Mark Peterson, State Office of Education spokesman, said he got about 25 phone calls and twice as many emails earlier this month when the board was set to discuss the new computer-adaptive tests for the Common Core. At the meeting, several rose to speak against the Core and using testing developed by the multistate consortium.

"The best ideas are fostered in a spirit of competition where we find the best and pull from there," said Wendy Hart, an Alpine School District board member, offering her own opinion. "When we do things from a grass-roots level, we have greater opportunity for that. When we take things from the top level down, it’s much, much more difficult."

Kris Kimball, of the Thomas Jefferson Center for Constitutional Studies, said it’s important that assessments be written in Utah.

"There are social agendas being introduced through mathematics," Kimball said. "In a story problem you would have a reference to partners in a household rather than a mother and father."