By Watson Scott Swail, President and CEO, Educational Policy Institute After 25 years as an educator and 15 as an evaluator, data geek, and policy wonk, I’m forever fascinated and amazed at the arrogance and ignorance people have toward evaluation of educational programs. Maybe I’ve been hanging out with the wrong crowd for too long, but I don’t think so. I’ve worked for a variety of … Continue reading Arrogance, Ignorance, and Evaluation
By Watson Scott Swail, President and CEO, Educational Policy Institute “A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe.” –President Barack Obama, February 4, 2009 Two weeks ago in my Commentary, I wrote about the state of the economy and the stimulus package. Today I will go at it again because I am so dismayed at the way Congress and the Obama … Continue reading More Lipstick, More Pig
By Watson Scott Swail, President and CEO, Educational Policy Institute Tuesday was a special day. Every four years we have a wonderful opportunity to put aside partisan bickering and heal for a moment in an event so uniquely American, but also so important and consequential that the world stops to take notice. This, of course, was not the typical inauguration. It was the inauguration of the … Continue reading A Place Called Hope?
By Watson Scott Swail, President and CEO, Educational Policy Institute Last week, Claiborne Pell, a six-term US Senator from Rhode Island, passed away at his home in Newport, Rhode Island. Senator Pell was an extraordinary man whose passing signals the end of an era, in many ways. Most people know Pell because of the namesake grant named after him. According to accounts, the Pell Grant, which … Continue reading Farewell to a Giant — Senator Pell
The Swail Letter on Higher Education 