Common Core Foes Provide Earful

After the three-hour listening session wrapped up Thursday night, Richard Westerberg got another earful. Flanked by two staffers, the State Board of Education member was buttonholed by about a dozen opponents of Common Core, the academic standards on track to launch in Idaho classrooms this fall. Several of the Common Core critics had already testified earlier in the evening, but they weren’t going to leave without making another appeal for Idaho to ditch the standards. The impromptu discussion was, in a way, a good metaphor for the education reform task force’s seven-city tour, which concluded Thursday. Assigned to hit the road to glean ideas from Idahoans — a first step before drafting bills for the 2014 legislative session — Gov. Butch Otter’s 31-member task force fielded complaints about Common Core, something lawmakers approved 27 months ago/ Kevin Richert , The EDge. More here.

Question: Is the concerns re: Common Core more paranoia from the uber-cons? Or legitimate? Are you up to speed enough on the issue to answer?