PET Scan

PET Scan time is not my favorite time.

The stress and anxiety of the unknowns and the dark cloud of questioning when cancer is going to return is hard enough; add on the unpleasantness of fasting for at least 6 hours prior to the study, plus 24 hours of a water/lean protein/green veggie diet?  Well, like I said....not my favorite.  

A massive headache from last night into the morning made it difficult to get out of bed.  Once I finally did, I walked into the kitchen to get breakfast for the boys and became instantly nauseous.  Running to the sink, I dry heaved, but nothing came out.....until I left to help the boys again....and threw up on the floor.  Again, nothing really came out....just bile.  And, I couldn't eat or drink anything to get that taste out of my mouth.  

Then came the fun part: dealing with insurance.  Thankfully, the wonderful ladies at Dr. Fleener's office are AMAZING and helped convince the hospital people to not collect the full deductible from me, but to wait until their claim went through.  

My wonderful oncology nurses happily accessed my port, so I didn't need an IV.  They could tell I wasn't my *normal* self, so asked me to come back after the scan to get some fluids and possibly nausea meds.  

It was then time to get my wonderful injection of radioactive isotopes and wait for that junk to get through my body.  The scan is the easy part: just lie still with my arms over my head and practically sleep for an hour.  

I'm glad for the love and care from the nurses who insisted in getting me fluids and crackers and juice to help get me back to myself again.  

Now, home to rest and get rid of this massive headache and back to waiting and hoping for good results!!!

Social inequalities in education are not set in stone

by Carlos Gonz�lez-Sancho
Analyst, OECD Directorate for Education and Skills

Most people see social inequities in education as stubbornly persistent. Children of wealthy and highly educated parents tend to do better in school than children from less-privileged families. Even though historic progress has been made in providing schooling that is universal and free-of-charge, disparities in families� capacity to support their children (including by getting them into good schools) continue to translate into differences in children�s achievements. And with income inequality at its highest level in 30 years, the socio-economic disparities between families have widened. For instance, today in OECD countries, the richest 10% of the population earns about 10 times the income of the poorest 10%, while in the 1980s this ratio stood at 7 to 1. The growing gap between rich and poor can lead to greater differences in education opportunities because, as income inequality increases, disadvantaged families find it more difficult to secure quality education for their children.

Given all this, it wouldn�t have been surprising to see a change for the worse in equity in education, particularly in OECD countries, over the past decade.

But contrary to that expectation, as this month�s PISA in Focus reports, over the past ten years, equity in education improved in 11 PISA-participating countries and economies, and on average across OECD countries. Between PISA 2006 and PISA 2015, the evolution of several equity indicators was predominantly positive. Take, for example, the indicator that measures how well a student�s socio-economic status predicts his or her performance (what PISA terms the strength of the socio-economic gradient). Over the past decade, the socio-economic gradient weakened by 1 percentage point on average across OECD countries, but by between 6 and 7 percentage points in Bulgaria, Chile, Thailand and the United States, and by between 2 and 6 percentage points in Brazil, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Mexico, Montenegro and Slovenia.

PISA can also contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms through which equity evolves. A sign that greater equity is mainly benefiting disadvantaged students is the increasing proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds who beat the odds against them and perform at high levels (students whom PISA calls �resilient�). Between 2006 and 2015, the percentage of resilient students increased by 12 percentage points in the United States, and by between 4 and 9 points in Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany and Slovenia.

You can also get an idea of how performance among children of blue- and white-collar parents has evolved by using the new PISA trends in occupations tool. The tool allows users to visualise trends in the relationship between parents' occupations and children�s performance between 2006 and 2015. Navigating this tool, you can discover, for instance, that in the United States during that period, children of blue-collar parents (e.g. craft workers, plant and machine operators) narrowed the gap in science achievement with children of white-collar parents (managers, professionals, technicians).

What lies behind this improvement in equity? Education policy. Policies that minimise any adverse impact of students� socio-economic status on their school outcomes include targeting additional resources to schools with high concentrations of low-performing and disadvantaged students, and ensuring that high and consistent teaching and learning standards are applied across all classrooms. Broader social policies to reduce differences in early life experiences between advantaged and disadvantaged children can also promote both equity and high performance when these children enter formal education.

PISA shows that countries can move from relative inequity in education to the OECD average level of equity in the span of just 10 years � as Bulgaria, Chile, Germany and the United States did between 2006 and 2015. Rather than assuming that inequality of opportunity is set in stone, school systems can design policies with the understanding that they can become more equitable in a relatively short time.

Links:
PISA in Focus No. 68: Where did equity in education improve over the past decade?
Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)
PISA 2015 Results (Volume I): Excellence and Equity in Education
PISA 2015 Results (Volume II): Policies and Practices for Successful Schools
In It Together: Why Less Inequality Benefits All
PISA trends in occupations tool, developed by Przemyslaw Biecek, a former Thomas J. Alexander fellow.

Photo credit: Start Ambition @shutterstock 

Who are the winners and losers of the expansion of education over the past 50 years?

by Dirk Van Damme
Head of the Innovation and Measuring Progress Division, Directorate for Education and Skills

Modern education systems, which are open to the middle classes and the poor, not just the elites, were established during the first industrial revolution in the 18th and 19th centuries. The growing demand for elementary literacy and technical skills during that period prompted an expansion of school systems and the adoption of the first pieces of legislation on compulsory education. Popular education continued to grow during the first half of the 20th century, corresponding to the so-called �second industrial revolution�, which was ignited by advances in science and technology. In the early 20th century, attainment of primary education became nearly universal, and the system of secondary education began to grow. 

But the great surge in the expansion of education in developed nations, specifically in secondary education, occurred in the wake of World War II, and more specifically from the 1960s and 1970s onwards. At that time, many countries started to see a massive increase in the demand for education, which they had to meet with new infrastructure, a vast effort to recruit and train more teachers, and a corresponding jump in public funding. Unprecedented economic growth and the modernisation of societies, together with an emerging welfare-state consensus that included public education as one of its core components, created the demand for skills and aspirations for upward mobility among large sections of the population � and the political and economic resources to fuel that expansion.

The most recent Education Indicators in Focus brief provides a fascinating statistical account of the growth of secondary education attainment in OECD countries since 1965, spanning half a century to 2015. The chart above highlights the differences in take-off and speed of growth of educational attainment across countries. It ranks countries by the date at which 80% of the 25-34 year-olds in that country attained upper secondary education.

The chart clearly shows that the dominant view of the expansion of education, which is based on data from only a few countries, does not do justice to the variety of developmental trajectories across countries. For example, the United States had developed its system of public education steadily since the late 19th century and had already achieved the 80% benchmark attainment rate by 1969. This remarkable achievement provided one of the foundations for the economic, social and political powerhouse that the United States became in the latter half of the 20th century. 

Germany was also an early achiever in educational development. The Prussian state adopted legislation on compulsory education early in the 19th century. Strong economic development from the late 19th century onwards and welfare-state approaches to public education after Bismarck propelled the development of public education across the country, albeit in a socially segregated system with sharp divisions between the elite education offered in the Gymnasia and the technical-vocational education targeting the working class. 

It is no coincidence that the two most educationally developed nations at the time fought on opposite sides of World War II. But it is also interesting to note that both countries did not make a lot of further progress in the half century after 1965, and that they have been surpassed by a wide range of countries since then. Other countries, including Denmark, Norway and Sweden, have also not been able to build on their impressive position in 1965 and have even seen a decline in educational attainment rates among the younger generation in recent years.

In 1965, fewer than one in two 25-34 year-olds in most OECD countries had attained upper secondary education. The interesting thing to compare is the timing and speed of the expansion of education over the subsequent 50 years. The most impressive � and well-known � story is of course that of Korea. With an attainment rate of just over 20% in 1965 it succeeded in expanding education at an unprecedented speed, especially from 1985 onwards. No other country has been able to match that achievement. Despite doubts about the sustainability of the expansion, especially since it has moved to the tertiary level, and the risks of �education inflation�, it remains an impressive historical accomplishment, which undoubtedly fuelled the economic success of the country.

The chart shows that there are other examples of rapid educational development over the past 50 years, such as occurred in Belgium, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland and Poland. When these countries were transforming themselves from agricultural to largely industrial economies, they managed to grow their secondary attainment rate from below 40% in 1965 to the 80% benchmark between 1990 and 2005. Another group of countries, which includes Greece, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and Turkey, is also making enormous progress, but has yet to reach the benchmark in attainment.

Trajectories of education expansion vary enormously among countries. The differences observed in 1965 were already remarkable, mirroring the diversity of levels of economic development and state formation. Religious divisions within Europe are still apparent in the 1965 data, with countries with a �Protestant work ethic� in the lead and predominantly Catholic countries much further behind. But by 2015, most of these countries have converged in their upper secondary attainment levels, and the ranking in educational attainment looks now completely different from the one in 1965.

It is difficult to disentangle the interplay between social developments and developments in education to determine causality with any certainty; but it is clear that the expansion of education helped countries grow economically, modernise and develop their social and political systems. Of course, rising educational attainment also has a downside: the increased marginalisation and exclusion of those without a good education. Recent social and political events have exposed the fractures in societies along the educational attainment fault line. While expansion is now moving into the tertiary level of education, countries might also have to turn their focus from fuelling continuous growth to catering more to those who have been left behind during this remarkable historical transformation.

Links:
Education Indicators in Focus No. 48: Educational attainment: A snapshot of 50 years of trends in expanding education
Education at a Glance 2016: OECD Indicators
Follow the conversation on twitter: #OECDEAG
Chart source: OECD (2016), �Educational attainment and labour-force status�, Education at a Glance (database). See Annex 3 for notes.

How student attitudes towards the value of education can be shaped by careers education � evidence from the OECD�s PISA study

by Anthony Mann 
Director of Policy and Research, Education and Employers Taskforce, London, UK
Dr Elnaz T. Kashefpakdel 
Senior Researcher, Education and Employers Taskforce, London, UK

As governments around the world seek to tackle stubbornly high levels of youth unemployment, new attention has been focused on the relationship between education and employment. Both researchers and policy-makers have looked afresh at the capacity of employers to engage in education and training to improve young people�s preparation for the adult working world. Building on two landmark reports, Learning for Jobs and Skills beyond School, the OECD is itself in the midst of a multi-year, multi-country study of work-based learning looking initially at the engagement of employers in apprenticeship provision aimed at youth at risk and incentives for apprenticeship. Last year saw the publication in the UK of a government-sponsored literature review looking at evidence, from OECD countries since 1996, using Randomised Controlled Trials and quasi-experimental (longitudinal) approaches. That review looked for evidence of the efficacy of careers education (covering classic career guidance, work-related learning, employer engagement and enterprise education) in enhancing young people�s prospects. The study looked at 73 studies and found that some two-thirds found evidence of largely positive economic and educational outcomes. In so doing, the review added to a growing awareness that engagement of the working world within the educational process can improve employment outcomes, but also opened up a new area of enquiry: can employer engagement enhance student educational performance and if so, how does it do it? Drilling down into five UK studies, the review found a literature which offered evidence of �relatively modest attainment boosts� linked to a �hypothesis that careers education helps young people to better understand the relationship between educational goals and occupational outcomes, increasing pupil motivation and application.�

A new study of PISA data now offers insight into how such relationships might work.  It draws on data from the OECD�s 2012 study in which some countries opted to ask 15-year old participants whether they had taken part in a series of career development activities (CDA). In the new analysis, data from six countries was used (Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland and Ireland) in relation to participation in four popular careers-focused activities commonly delivered through schools: taking part in Internships, Job shadowing, Job fairs and speaking with a careers advisor in school. In a regression analysis which took account of a common range of social, demographic and behavioral characteristics which routinely influence student success in education, participation in CDA was tested to see if it influenced attitudes towards schooling. Responses to four statements were tested including School is a waste of time, School helps to get a job and School does little to prepare you for life.

In most cases, a positive and statistically significant relationship between participation in career development activities and more positive attitudes towards the utility of schooling was found. The most consistent positive effects are found in relationship to speaking with a careers advisor in school and attending a Job fair. Relationships are particularly strong in Finland and Ireland. The study offers fresh insight into the complex relationship between education and employment and how young people�s attitudes about education and its value can potentially be influenced by schools and colleges by exposing students to new experiences. Further analysis of the relationship between participation in CDA and performance on the PISA tests is planned.

Links:
OECD Reviews of Vocational Education and Training:

• Learning for Jobs
• Skills Beyond School: Synthesis Report

OECD Education Working Paper: Work-based Learning for Youth at Risk: Getting Employers on Board

OECD Skills Outlook 2015: Youth, Skills and Employability

OECD PISA 2015

For more on skills and skills policies around the world, visit: www.oecd.org/skills

Photo credit: Careers Employment Job Recruitment Occupation Concept @shutterstock 

H&P #18

I finally took the boys to go see Disney's new movie, Moana.

I LOVED IT!!!  I thought it was a beautiful story, with beautiful imagery, and it made me want to take another trip to some islands.  I enjoyed so much of Moana's story--she was chosen for great things, she was conflicted about how and where she should lead her people, her courage/determination/spunk, her desire to make the world a better place.

**spoilers ahead!**

My favorite side story of the movie was the amazing theme of love within a family.  It's not often that Disney gives us a story of a full family unit, as princesses often lose parents, grow up not knowing parents, have only one parent, etc.  Moana shows the love of father, mother, daughter, and grandmother, which all play a great role in her story.  In the great circle of life, as Moana grows, we see Gramma Tala aging, as well.  It is when Gramma becomes ill and close to death that Moana gains the strength she needs to leave and fulfill her life's mission.

This scene struck a chord with me, especially Gramma Tala's dying words to Moana.

After Gramma's encouragement and plea for Moana to go, leave, become who she was always meant to be by doing what she as always meant to do, Moana responds, tearfully, "I can't leave you!"

Gramma Tala's answer was so powerful to me: 
"There is no where you could go that I won?t be with you."

I know the tears which came next were not for Gramma's death or Moana's courage to try, but in relation to my own life.  Unfortunately, I have had to come face to face with the very real possibility that I will die long before I want and much sooner than I could have imagined.  At that moment in the movie, I pictured myself----MANY YEARS down the road---giving my last words of counsel and encouragement to my own children.  And, what better answer when they cry that me leaving is too soon and they don't want to or can't go on without me than to copy Gramma Tala:  My son, "There is no where you could go that I won't be with you."  For, I strongly believe that my calling of mother will not end with my last breath in this life.  I, too, will be with them on their journeys, giving them comfort, protection, encouragement, and love.

For, really, isn't this something each of us has already been promised before when we fear the hard journeys of life?

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
                                                        (Joshua 1:9)

As we embark on the difficult, sometimes dangerous, paths to fulfill our destinies, and become the people we were always meant to be, may we always remember that the Lord has gone before us, so that He can be with us where ever we may go.  There is, truly, no where we could go that He will not be with us.  Knowing that is the best reason to follow him, by being strong and of good courage, not afraid or dismayed in the challenges we face in doing what must be done, no matter the hardships.

The hardest part in all of my cancer journey has been facing the possibility of leaving my family far too soon from mortality.  Even this should not be a fear, if I believe that God will get me (and them) through it  because He is with me (and them).  And, because He does this for me, I take great comfort in being able to pass that comfort onto my children.

That helps me "be not afraid."