The Raleigh News & Observer’s blog reports that the Associated Press asked the N.C. gubernatorial candidates about Wake County’s policy to bus kids so the economic diversity is “balanced” at its schools. The candidates’ answers can be found on the blog here.
Wake County’s policy received much attention and praise in a 2005 New York Times story. Despite being hailed as a model, there are many critics of the policy and questions remain about whether the claim that the policy aids student achievement can be backed up with data.
Locke Foundation Education Policy Analyst Terry Stoops has repeatedly noted there is no data to support claims of greater student achievement due to the policy. Says Stoops in the new issue of The Locke Letter:“It is irresponsible to hold Wake County up as a model district based on its economic diversity policy. What’s rarely mentioned is that Wake County is unwilling to study the ongoing effects of the busing policy.”
So exactly what should Wake County do to support its claim and quiet critics? More with Stoops from The Locke Letter:
Stoops recommends that Wake County assess the performance of individual students before and after they attend a school with a lower percentage of students who receive a free or reduced lunch. Or, the system could look at a statistical pairing of students, one bused and one not bused, with similar demographic and achievement backgrounds. Either would be a step forward.
“What we should expect are policies driven by results. Right now, the data to justify Wake County’s policy simply doesn’t exist, and that is indisputable,” Stoops says.
Stoops also discussed this issue in a recent edition of Carolina Journal Radio. Here is an audio clip from the interview.
