By Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scholar, Educational Policy Institute NOTE: This post was written in 2006, far before the more recent failings of Mr. Cosby (January 17, 2019, WSS) This week I had the honor of attending a fundraising gala in New York City for the National Action Council on Minorities in Engineering, better known as NACME. If you don’t know them, you may … Continue reading Cosby and the Engineering Kids
By Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scholar, Educational Policy Institute I write this week’s commentary from beautiful Hilton Head, South Carolina, where we are hosting our fall Retention Retreat. Not a bad gig, I must say. Most interesting is to hear stories from our participants, who hail from over 25 institutions across the US and Canada, from two-year, four-year, and proprietary institutions. This is the … Continue reading Increasing Student Success
By Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scholar, Educational Policy Institute Among the big news in higher education this week (apart from the 10 percent plan in Texas which I don’t have time to get to) was Harvard’s announcement, followed quickly by Princeton (not to be outdone), to dump the Early Decision/Early Action admissions programs. Early decision/action programs have been in vogue for the past decade, … Continue reading An Early End to Early Admissions
By Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scholar, Educational Policy Institute Yesterday I was fortunate to attend the press conference for Measuring Up 2006, the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education’s report card on higher education at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Measuring Up provides a report card for each of the 50 states, plus a national overview. In this week’s commentary, … Continue reading Measuring Up 2006: What Experts Really Think
By Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scholar, Educational Policy Institute In this week’s news, we feature a new study by the DC-based Alliance for Excellent Education, which finds that over $1.4 billion is spent at US two-year institutions for developmental (remedial) education. The issue of remediation continues to become an increasing challenge for educational institutions in the US and Canada. Critics of remedial programming suggest … Continue reading Solving the Remedial Education Puzzle
The Swail Letter on Higher Education 