Today, June 5, the United States reached the 110,000 COVID-19-related death mark. As a policy analyst and researcher, I follow the data very closely. In fact, I am in Day 80 of tracking new daily cases, new daily deaths, and total deaths for the virus, which I then repurpose into charts on Facebook and Twitter. The frustrating part is that I’ve found the numbers erratic, … Continue reading Why are COVID-19 Data so Inconsistent?
By Dr. Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scientist, Educational Policy Institute Over 25 lawsuits are currently being levied against universities by various student groups (and their legal representation) in demand of tuition and fee refunds due to COVID-19 closures. The argument is that students are paying a standard fee for online classes that are not of the same quality as those provided in person. In … Continue reading Should Colleges Reduce Tuition Charges Due to COVID-19?
By Dr. Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scientist, Educational Policy Institute News out of California is that the University of California system is dropping the ACT and SAT as a requirement for admissions into one of the country’s largest and most selective college systems, serving over 285,000 students each year. For equity activists, this is a big win as testing has historically been shown to … Continue reading Dropping the SAT and ACT? Good Luck with That
By Dr. Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scientist, Educational Policy Institute Larry Gladieux passed away last week in Eugene, Oregon due to complications from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 76. Many of you may not know who Larry was, but he was, for over a quarter century, a giant in higher education. He wasn’t a president. Or dean. He was a policy wonk. He studied higher … Continue reading Lawrence E. Gladieux
While COVID-19 has resulted in an unprecedented experience around the world for modern society, it is not the first time in recent history that it has had a massive impact on public education in the United States. In the mid-seventies, the city of Columbus, Ohio shut down the school system for over a month due to a lack of natural gas combined with record low … Continue reading School Takes a Vacation — But Can Learning Increase?
