Tom Luna, state schools  superintendent, touted the new higher standards Idaho’s enacted for student achievement. “It is nothing short of amazing,” he told legislative budget writers. “Idaho’s teachers are hard at work implementing these new, higher standards in mathematics and English language arts at all grade levels. These standards emphasize critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. They make sure students see relevance in what they are learning and are better prepared when they graduate from high school.”

New testing to match the new standards is being phased in over three years, he said; last spring, it was piloted in 120 Idaho schools. This spring, all schools are scheduled to use the test in a trial run. “Because these standards are so much higher, we know not as many students will score on grade level the first time we measure them against these standards in Spring 2015, because quite frankly, they’re higher standards,” Luna said. “It’s not because our students woke up one day and were less smart than they were the day before.  It’s because we raised the bar.”