TED RICHARDSON - trichard@newsobserver.com
Wake County School Board member Debra Goldman talks to the media after it was announced that the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and the Wake Education Partnership have asked education consultant Michael Alves to draw up a new student assignment plan. The press conference took place at the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010.
RALEIGH -- Massachusetts educational consultant Michael Alves, who studied Wake County's assignment system earlier this year, will develop an assignment plan based on student achievement, proximity, choice and stability at the request of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and the Wake Education Partnership, officials announced today.
The move can be seen as the nonprofits' response to the Wake County school board's developing 16-zone plan, which does not take diversity into consideration. The use of student achievement could mean that zones will be more diverse racially and economically because members of minority groups tend to score lower on standardized tests.
Alves is known for developing "controlled choice" plans, which typically have fewer zones than the number being developed by the school board.
School board member John Tedesco, chairman of the student assignment committee, said they're already considering student assignment as a factor in boundary lines. But he said that trying to balance out achievement across zones isn't achievable unless you "gerrymander" the lines.
"If you're trying to draw up zones based on maintaining quotas, you won't maintain public support," Tedesco said.
Tedesco said he'd review the plan that Alves presents along with all the other suggestions that are coming in about the new zones.
