According to Michael Alves' recent presentation and handout to the Wake County Board of Education, "controlled choice" is a comprehensive, educationally sound, transparent and equity-driven method of assigning students to public schools. It empowers parents to choose the schools they want for their children in a manner that is fair to all students.
Listening to Alves' descriptions of controlled choice schools, and the imperative that the attendance zones must be practical, fair and with a vision or plan, I realized that it sounded familiar - because those are exactly the kind of schools we have in Wake County, and that could be improved with minor adjustments.
Concerning fairness, Alves stressed the planning principle that the zones must be equivalent. If some zones are disadvantaged or unequal, the plan will fail.
