Dive Brief:

• Although President Obama has spoken often and widely about the new education standards 45 states have adopted under his leadership, he has not said “Common Core” once, according to the Huffington Post, which inspected two searchable online archives of Obama speeches.
• While Obama may not vocally acknowledge the term “Common Core,” his administration has played a large role in its national reception. Many states championed the Common Core after Obama tied the adoption of the new benchmarks to federal grant funding with his Race to the Top competition.
• The “Common Core” has become an alienating term in recent months; critics cite the universal standards as an overstep by the federal government.  

Dive Insight:

Given how politicized the Common Core has become, it is not surprising that Obama is distancing himself from the term. That said, at a certain point the tap dancing can become confusing. Let’s call a spade a spade: The new education standards he keeps talking about are the Common Core and when Obama skirts around this fact, he only makes public discourse more difficult to navigate.