Hyphens, En Dashes, Em Dashes

Q. Do you hyphenate a proper noun + participle? For example, “the Delaware Department of Education-approved modules for Common Core”?

A. You can do that (with an en dash, however, rather than a hyphen), but it’s horribly awkward. A hyphen works well with a single word or title (USDA-approved meat), but for a long phrase rewrite: Common Core modules approved by the Delaware Department of Education. Subsequently, you could shorten to “DDE-approved modules.”