The near-capacity audience at Hope Community Church, Weisenberg Township, rose to its feet, clapping in appreciation at the conclusion of Dr. Peg Luksik's presentation about Common Core standards and how they will affect Pennsylvania.

After a little more than 90 minutes of pouring out information to the crowd, Luksik was barely given a moment to catch her breath before being flooded with questions for the evening's final 30 minutes.

There were so many follow-up queries it was obvious Luksik's message was well-received by those in attendance.

If nothing else, she made them aware of Common Core, the new state and federal standards for education.

"It changes the definition of education from the government saying, 'we mandate our children are provided opportunity,' to the government saying, 'we're going to mandate the achievement of every child,'" Luksik said in an interview. "This destroys the education, which means it destroys the ability of our kids and, in my case, now my grandkids, to be who they were created to be."

Luksik, a former Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate, is chairman of Founded on Truth, a website and political action committee.

She served as an advisor to President Ronald Reagan on education reform.

Luksik has been giving similar lectures across Pennsylvania for the past two months, spanning from the northwest corner to Delaware County.

The retired teacher has devoted much of her time and energy to making people aware of Common Core standards because she so strongly opposes them.

In her information-laden message, some of the points Luksik brought to light included: the government imposing a national control of standards; the sheer amount of money it will cost to implement Common Core; the very low math standards required; the lack of control parents, educators and schools will have over the standards; and a government student tracking initiative tied to Common Core.

Throughout her presentation, members of the audience murmured or nodded their heads in approval, while at other times they voiced sounds of shock or disgust in agreement with Luksik when she provided information opposing Common Core.

Luksik referenced her six children, who are now all out of school, as an example why Common Core does not work for her. Luksik's children include an architect, a ballerina, one who works with nuclear reactors on U.S. Navy submarines, an opera singer and two engineers.

This diversity, and the fact her one son was a "late bloomer" and began excelling later on in high school are primary reasons why Luksik speaks out against the implementation of a system she says sets the standards far too low.

"High school wasn't supposed to be about aiming our children at the floor," Luksik said. "It was supposed to be about aiming them for the ceiling and seeing how close they can get."

Luksik wants her audiences to become more knowledgeable about Common Core standards and take the time to pursue the issue further.

"No one person knows all the answers, and no one person has every fact, so each person will take [something] away from this," Luksik said. "Then it's their issue, and then they will fight for it and they will become involved in it."

Although Common Core is set to be implemented in August in Pennsylvania and, according to Luksik cannot be stopped, (Gov. Tom Corbett has issued a temporary hold on the implementation) she urged people to call state representatives and senators and ask them questions regarding the standards.

"In politics, an issue only dies if you go away," Luksik said. "This can be beaten."