Education & child wellbeing research
@CGDev
. Side hustle of getting over cancer. And, I can’t stress this enough, tweets are my own views not CGD’s. She/her
Today
@CGDev
we welcomed
@AndrewmitchMP
& education ministers from six African states to discuss the pressing topic of safety in school
I'm delighted that every country signed a declaration pledging to combat school violence
A huge step fwd to protect children & let them thrive
Chemotherapy? Smashed it!
34 hours of chemo over 8 sessions & 16 weeks. Feel battered and shattered but VERY relieved to be done with the poison 👹. Now just need to get through the next 2-3 weeks while my immune system rebuilds (“don’t die when the war is over” as my nurse says
Cancer diagnosis: a thread.
It's a cliche, but when you hear "you have cancer" the world stops. It’s devastating. What I didn’t know is that would be just the start of a long diagnosis journey.
800 million children globally—that’s around 1 in 3 kids —have levels of lead in their blood at or above the level that requires intervention. Most live in Africa and Asia.
A *great* flagship project for the Biden administration would be to eliminate lead poisoning globally
Once again, let’s spare some thoughts and prayers for the FCDO governance advisers, tasked with telling developing countries how to build stable democracies 🙏
Kiddo is moving to the nursery at our local primary school in September. I just did the sums and calculated that my childcare costs will reduce from £2,060/month to £313/month.
Childcare costs are killing young families.
We're hiring!
@CGDev
London is looking for a Senior Research Associate for global education. We need someone who wants to help advance our research agenda & is committed to collaborating with researchers based in developing countries
We sponsor visas
My employer
@CGDev
does "summer Fridays" - we get Friday afternoons off between June and September. As a single mama this will be the only 3.5 hours I get to myself all week.
Literally priceless.
@FryRsquared
This is a brilliant. And so much resonates. I’m about to start four months of aggressive chemo - after a double mastectomy - to increase my chance of living 10 years from 86% to 90%. I’m a single mother & I’ll do anything to try to be here for my 3 year old, but my god it’s a lot
Gently talking to my mother about how she won’t be able to hold a funeral for my dad, who’s in his last days and hours of life, was one of the hardest conversations I’ve had.
No matter what the mortality rates end up being, the cost to humans of Covid will be very, very high.
Personal news: after 7 ½ happy years at Ark, I’m moving on to
@CGDev
in Sept to be a Senior Fellow & to co-lead their work on global education with
@JustinSandefur
. Excited to work on rigorous research & innovative policy ideas with such a fabulous org!
We're hiring!
@CGDev
is looking for a Policy Analyst in our London or DC office. You'll work on a range of research and policy on education and child wellbeing, especially violence against children.
If you love analysing data and you're a great project manager then this
I reckon I’ve lost 50% of my hair in the last three weeks. So today was my first outing with what RoRo calls my new hair.
#fuckcancer
#reallyreallyfuckcancer
Over the moon to get an “all clear” on my 2 year cancer scan yesterday. Or, as the NHS underwhelmingly says, “I see nothing to alarm me that your cancer has returned”
The anxiety ahead of scans is *unreal* and I’m relieved this is done for now. Now celebrating with a bout of flu
Oxford Policy Management - OPM - gets tens of £millions from the FCDO to tell countries in Africa in Asia about development. This is OPM's board ⬇️.
Seriously, how does this stuff still happen?
In some rare positive news, our RCT on distance learning in Sierra Leone suggests almost all (99.7%) kids have returned to school post-closures.
Has anyone else spotted good data on re-enrolment?
I introduced my lovely dad to aperol spritz last Christmas, a couple of months before he died of cancer. In his final weeks he berated me often for not showing him this joy much earlier.
This one is for you papa* 💔🍹
*the baby may look drunk but he did not consume any alcohol
The Salah effect
Merseyside showed a 18.9% drop in hate crimes & Liverpool fans halved their rates of posting anti-Muslim tweets (from 7.2% to 3.4% of tweets about Muslims) relative to other English soccer fans
Cc
@anitnath
@notesfrompequod
5 years ago,
@DFID_Education
released a rigorous review on private schools in developing countries by Ashley et al.
@maryamakmal
@leecrawfurd
& I took a quick look at studies released since then to see whether we think their conclusions would still stand
Do better literacy skills pay off for kids later in life? At present, we don't have a credible answer to this Q..
So... introducing our
@CGDev
Return to Learning project, where we'll attempt to track down kids from early grade reading RCTs, 10-15yrs ago
This is a terrible *terrible* take.
Millions of kids have no access to ANY distance learning. Millions are going hungry because they aren’t getting school meals and incomes are plummeting. Children’s education & much more is at risk.
This is not fun nor empowering for kids
“You’re going to have a lot of young people who have experienced different forms of learning in this crisis, learning that was more fun, more empowering. They will go back to their teachers and say: can we do things differently?" predicts
@SchleicherOECD
#WISEALLIN
#SGSedu
I’m really pleased that
@UNESCO
is shining a light on boys’ exclusion from education.
Donors love girls education, but the reality is that poor boys are as disadvantaged as poor girls. And boys are exposed to heart-wrenching levels of violence in schools too.
More boys are currently out of school than girls. How do we ensure both boys and girls get the education they deserve?
Check out
@UNESCO
’s new global report on boys’ disengagement from education
I’ve become a superstitious dickhead since I got cancer. So I’m very happy this orchid - which was dead for months - reflowered while I was in hospital
I’m really proud of the work that the
@CGDev
global education programme has produced this year. As I emerge from my covid-induced quarantine, and as we wave goodbye to 2020, here are some of my favourite pieces that my education colleagues published:
My 3 year old starts at the nursery in our local primary school in September. I filled in the forms and mentioned my cancer treatment. 30 mins later the nursery leader emailed me & invited me in to discuss how they can support Roro during my chemo
State schools are the best♥️
Toasting everyone who helped kick that man out. And also my darling dad, who died heartbroken about the state of the world and would have been so happy today
#JoeAndKamala
🥂❤️
What do countries prioritise in education?
In this
@CGDev
blog,
@leecrawfurd
, Oluwakemi Oyewande and I analyse the 106 national "statements of commitment" made at the
@TransformingEdu
summit.
Scroll to the interactive map to check country-by-country
One year after I finished chemotherapy, my white blood cells have finally returned to a normal range.
Taking that as a big win and an even bigger f-you to cancer
"Nearly 43% of teachers believe there is little they can do to help a student learn if parents are uneducated" is one of the saddest things I've ever read.
From this great paper by
@shwetlena
et al. Survey data of 20k teachers in 9 developing countries
One year ago today. Since then I’ve lost my breasts, hair, eyebrows and eyelashes. Had my ovaries frozen. Been through 8 cycles of chemotherapy. A whole lot of psychological stuff.
#Fuckcancer
. Just
#fuckcancer
Free daycare for children age 0-3 is good for the kids, good for mothers and good for extended family. Fabulous presentation by
@DaveEvansPhD
at
@CGDev
on his new research from Brazil. I hope the UK government takes note!
Are private schools better?
@leecrawfurd
@rorytodd12
&I have a new paper on this old question in the World Bank Research Observer, analysing the impact of private schools, PPPs & school chains, w/ a meta-analysis of the impact of non-chain private schools
Listening to
@Prof_Karthik_M
talk about a programme I’ve worked on for 6 years (which he evaluated with
@singhabhi
) that had no effect whatsoever. To rub things in a little further, he just said he couldn’t think of a title bleak enough to describe it
Fun times at
#RISEConf2018
Calling all students in PhD and Masters development economics programmes:
@CGDev
is looking for contributors of background notes for our report on girls education.
Details of topics and how to apply (deadline 16 August) here ⬇️
We’re launching a new
@CGDev
series on education finance, because the conversation needs to shift from wishing we had more money to talking about the tough tradeoffs national policy-makers will have to make.
Kick off blog from
@SFCarvalho_edu
and me ⬇️
PSA: The education folk at
@CGDev
are tracking government COVID-19 response in education in 200+ countries - closures, distance learning, meals etc.
Please do email us with any corrections, suggestions or additions cc
@leecrawfurd
@SFCarvalho_edu
Social-emotional skills and work habits value-added measures are stronger predictors of long term impact than test score value add.
A good school is much more than test scores.
Such an important paper by
@KiraboJackson
et al.
Happy to see one of my favourite papers - by
@raogautam
- in AER this month. Making rich schools accept poor kids makes the rich kids nicer. Heart warming stuff!
I wrote about this paper & why integrating schools is important here
This is fascinating: A review of 43 case studies of blockchain use in global dev finds zero evidence of success. It found:
- A lot of hype about potential
- No documentation or evidence of success
- Opaqueness by firms preaching blockchain-for-transparency
They came to Africa. They broke the law. Children were raped. They tried to cover it up. They threatened to sue.
The latest, in the tales of Bridge Academies aka
@NewGlobeEdu
Surely: “Dad of two, Novak Djokovic, is close to sealing his place in male tennis history after juggling fatherhood and a successful male tennis career to win a record seventh male title”.
Thanks to some brilliant donors who moved very fast,
@CGDev
is doing research and policy analysis on
#COVID
ー19 and its effects on education. We want this to be as relevant & helpful as possible to policymakers, so if you work with / for govts and have ideas, please hit us up
Six ways Covid-19 is shaping the future of global education. New
@CGDev
blog by
@SFCarvalho_edu
and I.
1. There's going to be lots less $ for education
2. Millions of kids won't return to school
3. Learning loss will exacerbate inequality
Saw my surgeon this morning and he gave me *new* information about my tumour type which has given me a 1-2% higher chance of being alive in 10 years, according to the NHS Predict tool ⬇️.
First good news I've had in a while - happy day 🙂
#checkyourself
Not a joke that
@JustinSandefur
is in the Economist every week
This is on his new paper with
@dev_a_patel
& looks at whether edu outcomes depend on where you were born. TLDR: better to be a poor pupil in a rich country than a rich pupil in a poor country
Cancer treatment: phase two begins
It’s been exactly 5 months since I was referred to the cancer centre and a month since my double mastectomy
The surgery went well - I am officially cancer free. However, my cancer has a high risk of recurrence, so the journey continues ⬇️
JMP by
@JiamengZheng
uses 20yrs of education & water data, showing the devastating long run effects of lead in water on test scores & graduation.
Eliminating lead poisoning in Texas could increase average reading & maths scores by 30% and 37% of a SD
After two emergency admissions in cycle 4, delayed chemo 5/8 is underway 🎉. Switching from EC👹 to paclitaxel so a bit nervous about this one.
And I bet all you losers are jealous of my ice cap today 🧊
I’m delighted that the brilliant
@aadukia
has joined
@CGDev
as a Non Resident Fellow. I’m looking forward to learning from her and collaborating with her. Welcome to the CGD family!
Best summary I’ve seen of the research on child transmission of covid-19 by
@ProfEmilyOster
.
Bottom line: policy makers thinking about opening schools and nurseries should be worried about adult-adult transmission not child transmission
Nice to wake up to an email from a
@CGDev
male colleague, offering to pass over a media opportunity to me and another female colleague because he felt we are more qualified than him on that topic
#heforshe
👏👏👏 bravo
@JustinSandefur
Delighted to have
@KhoaVuUmn
join our education seminar
@CGDev
today, presenting his paper ⬇️on Escuela Nueva in Vietnam and discussing Vietnam's education success
How it started (2021) How it’s going (today)
Pre cancer, I was a runner. It was the best thing for my wellbeing. Then cancer happened. Major surgery, months of chemo and now a cocktail of drugs have taken their toll. But as of today, I’m determined to turn that around.
The evaluation of the impact of schools administered by
@bridgeintlacads
in Kenya was published today. It’s the first rigorous study of their private school model in Kenya (their PPP/government school model in Liberia was previously evaluated by
@justinsandefur
@marome1
)
A new randomized evaluation shows that a highly structured and standardized education model has the potential to substantially improve learning outcomes:
@dil_uchi
@owenozier
@AW_Baker
We're going to miss
@DaveEvansPhD
at
@CGDev
more than I can say.
And, given how much his many fans love his research round-ups, we couldn't think of a more fitting send off than this final Round-up, the Dave Evans edition
100+ blog posts. 500k views.
Today is my last day at
@CGDev
! It’s been an amazing 4+ years. I don’t know of a more concentrated collection of skilled, creative, passionate researchers seeking answers to policy questions big & small. Thank you to
@CGDev
!
(More on what comes next for me in a couple days.) 🧵
I’m really proud of the work the
@CGDev
education programme has produced this week - together with a wonderful bunch of collaborators and with excellent comms support from
@jeremytgaines
and colleagues. A quick run down:
🙌🙌Big congratulations to education program colleagues
@leecrawfurd
and
@jrossiter0
: promoted today to
@CGDev
Research Fellow and Policy Fellow.
It's a privilege to work with these two, who are both brilliant researchers and all round wonderful humans. 🙌🎓🥂
My hospital suggests that chemo patients keep a packed hospital bag for emergencies -the neutropenic sepsis equivalent of a 3rd trimester pregnancy bag
Two weeks on from chemo 8/8, & four months after I first packed it, I’ve finally felt confident to unpack mine
Fuck you cancer
Lead poisoning is a really, really big problem. It harms children’s health and development irreversibly. We need to do a lot more to tackle it and that starts with measuring it properly.
Here’s how, by
@rsilv_dc
@JustinSandefur
@leecrawfurd
@CGDev
& me
I was curious how much my cancer treatment would cost were it not for the NHS.
I used the Mayo Clinic price list to estimate this, and it's mind blowing. Note that this does not include future treatment -ie chemotherapy - and doesn't include nine nights in hospital
#thankyouNHS
New
@CGDev
blog on our paper polling education policy makers in 35 countries: our experiments suggest that policymakers don’t care very much about experiments.
Also featuring work by
@raogautam
@nozominaka
@evavivalt
and others