Five years after dozens of states adopted the Common Core standards for public education, many are now receiving their first significant assessment results. So, has Common Core passed the test?

Contrary to the negative reactions from dismayed parents, frightened teachers’ unions and conservatives wary of big government, Common Core is off to a promising start.

The important thing now is that detractors not be allowed to twist the narrative to push states to drop the standards or to make it easier for parents and districts to opt out of testing. President Obama didn’t help matters by saying recently that students spend too much time preparing for standardized tests.

Nationwide, students largely scored lower on the Common Core assessments than they had on the hodgepodge of state and national tests they took previously. But this isn’t a bad thing.

Far too many states and districts used to game their testing results to falsely indicate that students were thriving. In Georgia, for instance, the percentage of fourth graders deemed proficient in reading dropped from nearly 100 percent in 2013 to less than 40 percent in 2015. In New Jersey, the number of high school students passing in English dropped from 93 percent to 41 percent.

Instead of fighting the test, lawmakers and parents alike should view these results for what they are: not an indictment of U.S. schools and children, but a baseline.

And a sobering but useful reminder that U.S. public education still needs improvement.