He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named: Is Common Core the Lord Voldemort of education? 

In 2010, Gov. Sonny Perdue gathered other governors, cameras and crowds at a local high school to unveil new national standards developed through an effort he led. Finally, said Perdue, teachers would have common standards that “articulate exactly what it is that we expect young people to know at different levels.”

Four years later, those Common Core State Standards have become the Lord Voldemort of education reform — “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.”

At least not by the president.

Barack Obama skillfully avoided using the words in his extensive education comments in his recent State of the Union, referring to Common Core obliquely when he mentioned “more challenging curriculums” and “new ways to measure how well our kids think.” Obama was heeding the advice of proponents of the new national standards, who did not want to fuel the widespread contention that Common Core is a federal initiative — or, as it’s been dubbed by critics, ObamaCore.

The president’s omission was not overlooked by opponents of Common Core.

“We hope that this is a sign that the administration has now realized, like so many other Americans, that Common Core is of exceedingly poor quality,” said Emmett McGroarty, director of