The Swail Letter is written by Watson Scott Swail, the President & CEO of the Educational Policy Institute, a Virginia-based not-for-profit research firm. Dr. Swail has been involved in Education for the past 35 years as a middle school teacher, curriculum developer, teacher trainer, graduate school instructor, policy analyst, and program evaluator. He is noted for developing the Swail Geometric Framework for Student Retention, which provides a model for institutions of higher education to improve their service to students and increase graduation rates.

Dr. Swail has published several books, including Stop Making Sense: A Collection of Thoughts and Other Random Musings on Education (January 2018), Educated Thoughts (2015), Finding Superman: Debating the Future of Public Education in America (2012), Retaining Minority Students in Higher Education (2003), and Memory, Reason, and Imagination: A Quarter Century of Pell Grants (1998).

Dr. Swail earned his Doctor of Education from The George Washington University in Washington, DC, a Master of Science in Education from Old Dominion University, in Norfolk, VA, and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Manitoba, in Winnipeg, MB. He is a dual citizen of the US and Canada. He is an accomplished singer/songwriter, much less accomplished golfer and tennis player, and an avid Winnipeg Jets and Washington Capitals fan(atic).