CMS came in higher than many parts of the state, including Wake County. What does that mean? Wing Commander Hood takes a look:
Remember when local politicians and school officials in Wake County defended their forced-busing policies by arguing that Charlotte-Mecklenburg’s lower test scores reflected the inevitable results of re-segregation? Remember when they attributed Wake’s higher performance among minority and low-income students to their socioeconomic target? Remember when the state and national opinion leaders lionized Wake’s self-styled courage and castigated protesting parents as racist troglodytes?
Uh, never mind. According to the latest scores, minority and low-income students in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, where forced busing is now largely absent, are now performing at the same level as similar students in Wake, where forced busing remains the law.
Recall that for the longest time we were told that CMS was doomed to lag Wake because Wake had the oh-so-very progressive policy of busing for socioecon targets rather than the racial targets CMS was forced by abandon as a result of legal action against that policy. Ever since then there was been a strong under current in the county to try to route around that ban with a Wake-like busing plan.
In fact, I am convinced that hoped for aim is what sank the Gantt Commission report of a couple years ago. The report did not include a suggestion that CMS adopt a Wake-style busing plan and it was ash-canned accordingly, along with its indictment of CMS’ current magnet school program as exactly bass-ackwards.
Now we have some indication — via the status quo own favorite data set, the state test scores — that Wake is not, in fact, out-performing CMS. Think that’ll tamp down the Return To Busing crowd?
Not on your life.
