FM and IM—You Say Potato, I like Potahto: But We Can’t Call the Whole Thing Off
By Dr. Watson Scott Swail, President & Senior Research Scholar, Educational Policy Institute A recent article published by the Chronicle of Higher Education titled “Are Poor Families Really Paying Half Their Income at Elite Colleges?,” penned by Beckie Supiano and Soo Oh, reminded me of the old Gershwin tune, “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off.” The graphic-based brief uses data from the University of Notre … Continue reading FM and IM—You Say Potato, I like Potahto: But We Can’t Call the Whole Thing Off
The College Core Curriculum: Enlightenment or Gatekeeper?
By Watson Scott Swail, Ed.D. President and CEO, Educational Policy Institute According to the Community College Research Center[1] at Teachers College, approximately 60 percent of incoming community college students are referred to at least one developmental course, and less than a quarter of students who enroll in those courses complete a degree within eight years. Many of the students who take developmental courses do so … Continue reading The College Core Curriculum: Enlightenment or Gatekeeper?
Do We Have it All Wrong? Where Access & Retention Collide
By Watson Scott Swail, Ed.D. President and CEO, Educational Policy Institute The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center recently released a report updating data on student retention and persistence. Unfortunately, the news was not good, as the fall-to-fall retention rate (e.g., freshman-to-sophomore) fell 1.2 percent between 2009 and 2012 from 69.9 to 68.7 percent. Although one percent does not sound like very much, in a national context, that … Continue reading Do We Have it All Wrong? Where Access & Retention Collide
The Missing Link: College Aspirations & the Common Core
By Watson Scott Swail, Ed.D. President and CEO, Educational Policy Institute In 1988, approximately 27,000 8th-grade students took both a survey and test for the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a division of the US Department of Education. For some of us, 1988 doesn’t seem that long ago, but in educational research, it is an eternity. However, this study has stood the test of time … Continue reading The Missing Link: College Aspirations & the Common Core
The Continuing Nightmare: Tuition and Fees will Double in Less than 20 Years
by Watson Scott Swail, President & CEO, Educational Policy Institute There is always a lot of talk about college costs and future issues in higher education. I’ve written extensively about our inability to recast the higher education system due, in part, to the sheer weight of historical antecedents. That is, the system is burdened by the largess and bureaucratic nature of the system itself. Large systems … Continue reading The Continuing Nightmare: Tuition and Fees will Double in Less than 20 Years
The Swail Letter on Higher Education 