New Secretary of Education John King

Last week, the United States Senate confirmed John King as the next Secretary of Education. Although King has been acting as interim Secretary since Arne Duncan left the position last Fall, this confirmation now means that King will serve as the full-time Secretary for at least this final year of the current administration.

To learn more about the newly confirmed Secretary of Education, check out the full transcripts of his recent speeches:

U.S. Department of Education

Good afternoon. I'm John King, Acting U.S. Secretary of Education. It's wonderful to be here today. What an amazing place this is-it's incredible to think that this was once an abandoned rec center in downtown Baltimore. Today, the Digital Harbor Foundation Tech Center is a public makerspace, with a focus on giving disadvantaged youth the resources and the tools to tinker, create and learn.

New Findings of Economic Distress in San Diego County

One major focus of this blog is to highlight how socio-economic factors impact overall achievement and well-being with regards to education. It has examined standardized testing under Common Core, internet access, and reading & word acquisition rates.

Recently, the San Diego Union Tribune published a story that highlighted pockets of economic inequality and "distress" within San Diego County. The story, which cites a recently published research study by The Economic Innovation Group, emphasizes that economic recovery following the 2008 collapse has not been even in San Diego County.

San Diego's economic recovery has exceptions

Most of San Diego has recovered following the 2008 recession, but new data shows National City and Imperial Beach are not recovering on par with their neighbors. The Economic Innovation Group, based in Washington, D.C., released a paper last week breaking down the economic recovery. The study researched zip codes across the country and measured them based on the following indicators:

• Percent of adults 25+ with no high school degree
• Precent of housing that remains unoccupied
• Percent of individuals 16+ who are without work
• Percent of population living below the Federal poverty level
• Median income of the population as compared to the State's media income levels
• Percent of individuals switching jobs from 2010-2013
• Percent change in the number of businesses in the community from 2010-2013

States and cities were then rated on a scale of 0-100 where scores closer to 100 indicate extreme economic distress.

Overall, the study found positive results for San Diego County. In total, the research found that only 4% of San Diego County residents were considered economically distressed. In fact, San Diego County's score placed it within the to 20 cities to be calculated nationwide. At the same time, however, two communities in San Diego County--National City and Imperial Beach--each scored in the 80s (National City: 80.6 and Imperial Beach: 85.1). Additionally, other zip code regions near downtown, North Park, and City Heights, ranged in the mid-to-high 60s.

While the study did not focus on correlating these issues to specific educational outcomes, the findings are striking given the pockets of economic hardship that still exist in San Diego County.

Below, you can find the research study and an interactive map detailing its findings.

Questions to Consider:

• What (if any) impact do these "economic distress zones" have on the educational achievement levels of students living in the region?

• The study focused on 2010-2013. Given the 3 year gap between the end of the study and its publication, would you posit that the results have improved or become worse?