Thank God for Charlie Sheen
By Watson Scott Swail, President & CEO, EPI International/Educational Policy Institute I like him. Charlie Sheen. He’s a fun actor to watch. Of course, it must be easy to act in a sitcom about, well, your lifestyle and life. Nonetheless, he has done some great acting in Platoon and Wall Street and… Hot Shots… Major League… Scary Movie(s). I admit: this isn’t the most educational … Continue reading Thank God for Charlie Sheen
What the President’s Budget Really Need(s/ed) To Do
By Watson Scott Swail, President & CEO, Educational Policy Institute/ EPI International The pundits are now coming out of the woodwork to discuss the President’s budget, which is unlikely to even remotely pass the way it is currently packaged, and as House Republicans plan on cutting much more liberally (no pun intended) than the President. In total, the President’s budget cuts approximately $1 trillion over … Continue reading What the President’s Budget Really Need(s/ed) To Do
Not Quite Achieving the Dream
Dr. Watson Scott Swail, President & CEO, Educational Policy Institute Back in 2004, Lumina Foundation for Education began pumping millions of dollars into its Achieving the Dream initiative, an effort to improve educational practice at two-year institutions through data-driven decision-making, the use of learning communities, and changing the way students are processed at community colleges. Seventy-six million dollars later, a new MDRC report suggests that … Continue reading Not Quite Achieving the Dream
The Passing of a Student Aid Giant: Remembering Lutz Berkner
By Dr. Watson Scott Swail, CEO, Educational Policy Institute/EPI International As many people know, I am passionate about the pathways to and through higher education, and I follow the data with excruciating detail. Three letters—BPS—mean more to me than most people: Beginning Postsecondary Student. This is the name of the US Department of Education survey of 19,000 students attending mostly US institutions who are followed … Continue reading The Passing of a Student Aid Giant: Remembering Lutz Berkner
Merry Christmas: The Lasting Impact of the Economy and a Congress that Apparently Doesn’t Give a Damn
By Dr. Watson Scott Swail, CEO, Educational Policy Institute Okay, I could have written a softer, nicer, gentler, “funner” piece for Xmas. But I received an email yesterday from the Southern Education Foundation that said that “extreme poverty in the United States increased during 2009 by 12.9 percent, expanding the number of people living below 50 percent of the poverty threshold by more than 2.1 … Continue reading Merry Christmas: The Lasting Impact of the Economy and a Congress that Apparently Doesn’t Give a Damn
The Swail Letter on Higher Education 