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Group supporting Common Core releases new poll

The latest poll numbers paint a conflicting picture of support for the Common Core in Indiana. The State Board of Education adopted the nationally crafted academic standards back in 2010, but earlier this year state lawmakers voted to pause implementation pending a thorough review.

The latest numbers from pro-Common Core advocacy group Stand For Children show 68% of Hoosiers support the new standards. That’s the opposite of a Pence administration poll out earlier this month showing only 32% support Common Core.

The difference is in how pollsters asked the question. Stand For Children focused on the goals of the new standards, which include setting common expectations for all students in math and English language arts. The Pence administration poll asked Hoosiers if they favored setting educational standards at the local  level.

Stand For Children spokesman Jay Kenworthy says the biggest takeaway may be the 80% of Hoosiers who said the Common Core isn’t a major issue to them.

"Any legislator who’s worried about a primary challenge or some electoral consequences to Common Core, I don’t think fully understands this is a fringe issue."

Senator Scott Schneider (R-Indianapolis) penned his anti-Common Core legislation after two parents approached him with concerns over the new standards.

"What is this? What’s going? What is this new process of math? Those kind of comments from parents were coming in on a fairly routine basis. My guess is now that school’s started again we’re going to get more of that."

Schneider and other state lawmakers tasked with reviewing the standards will present their findings to the State Board of Education next month.

Elle Moxley reports for StateImpact Indiana.

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