Both the New York State Education Department and Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office now have launched reviews of the Common Core Learning Standards, which seem to have been doomed in the state ever since their botched rollout several years ago. It’s unfortunate because the poor implementation — as well as problems with the Common Core’s content — have tainted the idea of any common standards at all.

We need standards ­— but we need them done right. There is a place in education for standards and standardized exams aligned to them. The problem is that they have been used improperly, not just in New York but all across our nation.

The information gleaned from standardized exams should be a tool to guide instruction — we as educators need it — not to evaluate or punish teachers. In addition, the exams themselves should not have high-stakes implications or require endless test preparation.

Testing and standards also can help parents understand their children’s progress and, if used correctly, can help us collect information on important issues like the achievement gap. That’s why so many in the civil rights community believe in them. After so many years of unequal educational opportunities, they understandably want an objective measure of where each and every child stands.

While we recognize the need for testing and standards, we need to push back against the idea, constantly spouted by education “reformers,” that test scores are the best or only measure of student learning.

So what would it take to get standards right?

Disagreement over what the standards should contain is not only educational but unfortunately also political. However, three things are clear. Standards must be developmentally appropriate; they must include a scaffolding system so that teachers don’t have to backtrack and teach entirely new concepts in order for students to master new standards or a new part of the curriculum; and they must be developed with lots of teacher input.

Parts of New York’s standards are not developmentally appropriate and parts do not correctly make use of scaffolding. And the problems don’t end there. If these standards are to be effective, educators should review them; school staff should be trained in them; and parents should be able to understand and buy into them. Curricula based on the standards must be developed for teachers to use. Finally, state tests need to be appropriately aligned to these same standards.

When New York State rolled out the Common Core standards, almost none of the above was taken into consideration. Albany and the State Education Department adopted the standards and implemented the tests — but teachers were never trained or given curriculum, making it nearly impossible for them to plan lessons that would properly prepare students for assessments based on the standards. Worse, the state put the passing cut point very high and students’ standardized test scores dropped precipitously on the new exams. In some cases, the exams themselves weren’t even aligned properly with the Common Core standards.

Educators and students did their part; this was, quite simply, a failure by management. For years we warned that an abrupt change to Common Core tests, without the development of curricula aligned to the new standards, would be a disaster. In the end, that is exactly what happened.

The result, understandably, is that the public’s faith in the system has been shaken. Their children were used as guinea pigs. Outrage grew and meetings held by education officials around the state last year were too little, too late. Thousands of parents opted their children out of the state tests last spring.

Enter the two review committees from the State Education Department and the governor’s office, formed under immense pressure from parents, teachers and unions. Both include educators, but that does not necessarily ensure a positive outcome. Only one thing is certain: The state must learn the lessons of the past. If not, the public’s mistrust will only deepen.