swampED

For eight years, President Obama made the White House a place that brought people together -- incredible students, parents, principals, district leaders, school counselors, teachers, college presidents, professors, business leaders, and more. And after January 2017, the inspiring stories we heard and the incredible people we met no longer had a place to share their experiences and ideas with folks across the country. Now they do.

These stories constantly remind and inspire us of people’s commitment to education. It is the ultimate bedrock of our society, one that people are passionately fighting to make it better. At the White House we were fortunate to get to shine a spotlight on some of those incredible education advocates. We want to continue to shine that spotlight and talk about what’s working and how others can get involved, and hopefully be inspired along the way. We hope you’ll join us.

203 - Taking Education to the Ballot Box w/Marlon Marshall, Former Special Assistant to President Obama

Oct 18, 2018

With the midterm elections just weeks away, Americans are thinking about the issues in their communities that will inform their votes, including education. Our hosts sit down with Marlon Marshall, former special assistant to President Obama and founding partner at 270 Strategies, to talk about challenging our...

202 - Closing the College Completion Gap w/ Elissa Salas, CEO of College Track

Oct 11, 2018

Today in the United States, only one in five students from low-income communities who enroll in college earn their degree. College Track CEO, Elissa Salas, shares how her organization is improving these odds by providing academic, financial, and social-emotional support from ninth grade through college graduation. As...

201 - A Conversation with Arne Duncan, Former Secretary of Education and Author of "How Schools Work"

Oct 4, 2018

We're back! First, we talk FAFSA and what the midterm elections mean for the future of education. Then former Secretary of Education Arne Duncan joins us to talk about his new book, "How Schools Work," serving in the Obama administration, and how he's championing change with Chicago CRED. As always, we end with...

027 - Season 1 Finale: swampED’s Out for the Summer

Aug 9, 2018

This is it! In the final episode of our first season, we recap our favorite moments and revisit some important questions like “Is college worth it?” We talk about our conversation with Kumar Garg on the White House Science Fair and how we just can’t get over School Counselor of the Year Kirsten Perry’s...

026 - Why We Need to Hold For-Profit Colleges Accountable w/ James Kvaal, President of TICAS

Aug 2, 2018

Secretary DeVos wants to roll back protections for defrauded students. We bring in James Kvaal, President of The Institute for College Access & Success (TICAS) and former Deputy Domestic Policy Advisor in the Obama White House, to unpack the new Borrower Defense Rule and other policies designed to hold for-profit...