PROPOSAL FOR CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG
BOARD OF EDUCATION STUDENT ASSIGNMENT
REVIEW CONSULTING SERVICES
SUBMITTED TO
CHARLOTTE-MECKLENBURG SCHOOLS (CMS)
P.O. BOX 30035
CHARLOTTE, NC 28230-0035
ATTENTION
SCOTT MCMCULLY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
STUDENT PLANNING AND PLACEMENT
SUBMITTED ON FEBRUARY 26, 2016
BY
ALVES EDUCATIONAL CONSULTANTS GROUP, LTD.
414 CANTON AVENUE
MILTON, MA 02186
Executive Summary
This proposal is being submitted by the Alves Educational Consultants Group, Ltd (AECG) and
its highly knowledgeable and experienced team of associates that have the expertise and proven
track record to guide and facilitate a comprehensive student assignment review of the Charlotte-
Mecklenburg Public Schools and the development of student assignment options that support the
Board of Education’s student assignment goals that were approved on February 23, 2016.
The Alves Educational Consultants Group, Ltd is an educational consulting company that
specializes in the review, development, and implementation of equitable choice-based student
assignment plans and admissions policies in K-12 education. The AECG was incorporated in the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts in September 2000 by its President, Michael J. Alves, who is
the sole owner of the company and has over thirty-five years of experience in coordinating and
conducting comprehensive reviews of student assignment plans in numerous school districts
throughout the United States. The AECG corporate office is located at 414 Canton Avenue in
Milton, Massachusetts and it has a technical assistance services field office in Machesney Park,
Illinois that will not be involved with this project.
AECG uses a consultants-based work force of highly qualified associates that are carefully
matched to provide the expertise and services that are required to meet the particular needs of its
school district clients. AECG’s proposed services that will be provided during Phase 1 of this
project are informed by its extensive knowledge of the research and proven best practices
pertaining to socioeconomic integration and improving the academic achievement of low-income
and “at risk” high needs students. The strength of AECG’s proposal are the qualifications and
expertise of its team of nationally recognized consultants—Michael Alves, Richard Kahlenberg
and John Brittain—and their proven track record in guiding and facilitating the development and
implementation of equitable and viable socioeconomic student assignment plans in other school
districts. AECG’s proposal is further strengthened by the expertise of Dr. Amy Hawn Nelson
who will serve as an AECG associate in this project.
Michael Alves will serve as the lead consultant and will oversee and schedule the work-flow of
the consulting team and the timely completion of all deliverables that are required for this
project. He will have lead responsibility for coordinating the services that will be provided in
support of comprehensive student assignment review and the development of viable student
options and he will have responsibility for coordinating the consultants’ advisement on the
development of the Board of Education’s guiding principle and associated policies. Mr. Alves is
a nationally recognized educational planner and student assignment expert with over thirty-five
years of experience designing and implementing diversity conscious choice-based student
assignment plans and magnet schools admissions policies in numerous school districts
throughout the United States that include the socioeconomic student assignment plans in Wake
County NC, Champaign IL, Cambridge MA, Rochester NY, and Manchester CT.
Richard Kahlenberg is the pre-eminent authority on socioeconomic integration and will be the
Consulting Team’s lead consultant on education policy issues throughout the duration of this
project. John C. Brittain is a tenured professor of law at the University of the District of
Columbia, David A. Clarke School of Law and will serve as the Consultant Team’s lead civil
rights consultant and equity specialist. Professor Brittain is a nationally recognized expert and
has had extensive experience in assessing and developing constitutionally permissible student
assignment plans in numerous school districts including: Wake County, NC; Greenville, NC; and
Pitt County, NC and he has a thorough knowledge of the case law related to student assignment
programs, including the U.S. Supreme court’s 2007 decision in Parents Involved in Community
Schools v. Seattle School District. Dr. Amy Hawn Nelson is a community engaged researcher at
UNC Charlotte and has been an investigator for more than twenty academic studies involving
outcomes of students in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and is considered a local expert on the
intersection of education, housing, and neighborhoods. She is a Charlotte native and graduate of
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and served as a teacher and school leader for 11 years in several
schools in Mecklenburg County. Dr. Hawn Nelson will be responsible for incorporating
historical knowledge and trends into the development of the student assignment options and she
will assist in analyzing the feedback and data obtained from the District’s community
engagement efforts.
AECG’s proposed work plan is organized around the services that will be provided, as needed, in
collaboration with the Board of Education, district leaders and CMS administrators and staff.
The services that will be provided in support of the student assignment review, include: advising
on the development of the Board of Education’s guiding principles and associated student
assignment policies; the development of equitable and viable student assignment options and a
high-level implementation plan to operationalize the Board’s preferred options; helping to devise
a communication strategy to support the plan, and facilitating Board of Education and school
district leaderships meetings related to the student assignment review and student assignment
options.
The elements of AECG’s proposed work plan and scope of services are in alignment with CMS
Board of Education’s approved student assignment Goals and incorporate the research-based
“best practices” being implemented by other school districts pertaining to the analysis and
inclusion of feedback garnered via community surveys, focus groups and other associated means
of gathering community input; guiding and facilitating the development of the Board’s revised
Guiding Principles and associated policies for student assignment; an approach to reviewing
District data, national research and urban district benchmarks; and coordination among the Board
of Education and district leaders and teams supporting the student assignment review and
planning process.
AECG’s services will be delivered in a timely and professional manner and its estimated cost for
providing these services are based on the level of effort and expertise that will be required to
successful complete this complex and important project.
Table of Contents
Page
History and Background of AECG, Ltd………………..............................................................1-2
AECG Consultants…………………………………………………………….......................... 2-4
Recent Relevant Experience……………………………………………………………………4-7
Client References…………………………………………………………………………………7
Proposed Services……………………………………………………………………………..7-13
Cost of Services………………………………………………………………………………… 14
Consultants Resumes ………………………………………………………………. Addendum A
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ALVES EDUCATIONAL CONSULTANTS GROUP
This proposal is being submitted by the Alves Educational Consultants Group, Ltd (AECG) and
its highly knowledgeable and experienced team of associates that have the expertise and proven
track record to guide and facilitate a comprehensive student assignment review of the Charlotte-
Mecklenburg Public Schools and the development of student assignment options that support the
Board of Education’s student assignment goals that were approved on February 23, 2016.
“The Board believes that a Plan that promotes the Vision and Mission of the Board will, to the
extent possible:
Provide choice and promote equitable access to varied and viable programmatic
options for all children;
Maximize efficiency in the use of school facilities, transportation and other capital
and operational resources to reduce overcrowding;
Reduce the number of schools with high concentrations of poor and high needs
children;
Provide school assignment options to students assigned to schools that are not
meeting performance standards established by the state; and
Preserve and expand schools and programs in which students are successfully
achieving the Mission and Vision of the Board.”
Brief History and Description of the Alves Educational Consultant Group, Ltd.
The Alves Educational Consultants Group, Ltd is an educational consulting company that
specializes in the review, development, and implementation of equitable choice-based student
assignment plans and admissions policies in K-12 education. The AECG was incorporated in the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts in September 2000 by its President, Michael J. Alves, who is
the sole owner of the company and has over thirty-five years of experience in coordinating and
conducting comprehensive reviews of student assignment plans in numerous school districts
throughout the United States. The AECG corporate office is located at 414 Canton Avenue in
Milton, Massachusetts and it has a technical assistance services field office in Machesney Park,
Illinois. AECG has no debts and its financial statements are incorporated in the company’s
annual federal and state corporate tax returns.
The AECG uses a consultants-based work force of highly qualified associates that are carefully
matched to provide the expertise and services that are required to meet the particular needs of its
school district clients. In addition to Michael Alves, who oversees the management of the
company and its projects, AECG’s associates include nationally recognized student assignment
experts, civil rights attorneys, policy analysts and prominent social scientists who have
conducted extensive academic research on socioeconomic and racial integration. AECG also
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utilizes the services of a core group of practitioner associates with extensive school district
experience that specialize in data management, quantitative and qualitative data gathering and
analysis, community engagement, information technology, computer programming, and student
transportation.
AECG has never had a contract terminated. Nor has the firm or its owner ever been found liable
in a civil suit or been accused or found guilty of any unlawful acts. AECG has had no prior
contracts with the CMS and no one associated with AECG owns any business or has any
financial interest that would place the firm in a conflict of interest.
AECG’s Consulting Team
AECG’s proposed services that will be provided during Phase 1 of this project are informed by
its extensive knowledge of the research and proven best practices pertaining to socioeconomic
integration and improving the academic achievement of low-income and “at risk” high needs
students. The strength of AECG’s proposal are the qualifications and expertise of its team of
nationally recognized consultants—Michael Alves, Richard Kahlenberg and John Brittain—and
their proven track record in guiding and facilitating the development and implementation of
equitable and viable socioeconomic student assignment plans in other school districts. AECG’s
proposal is further strengthened by the expertise of Dr. Amy Hawn Nelson who will serve as an
AECG associate in this project.
Our assumption in submitting this proposal is that the Board of Education recognizes that the
scope of work and services that are required to successfully complete this complex project are
beyond the capacity of a single consultant, and that the District will be better served by a diverse
team of expert consultants who have the experience and proven ability to deliver the requested
services that are needed for this project.
Michael Alves will serve as the lead consultant and will oversee and schedule the work-flow of
the consulting team and the timely completion of all deliverables that are required for this
project. He will have lead responsibility for coordinating the services that will be provided in
support of comprehensive student assignment review and the development of viable student
options and he will have responsibility for coordinating the consultants’ advisement on the
development of the Board of Education’s guiding principle and associated policies. He will also
have lead responsibility for ensuring that the District’s revised student assignment plan is
informed by proven best practices and is equitable and practicable to implement. Mr. Alves is a
nationally recognized educational planner and student assignment expert with over thirty-five
years of experience designing and implementing diversity conscious choice-based and
residential-based student assignment plans and magnet schools admissions policies in numerous
school districts throughout the United States that include the socioeconomic student assignment
plans in Wake County NC, Champaign IL, Cambridge MA, Rochester NY, and Manchester CT.
He is currently coordinating and assisting the development of comprehensive socioeconomic
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integration and school improvement plans in two New York City Community School Districts
and he is serving as the school board’s court approved controlled choice student assignment
expert in Fayette County, TN. He is the President of the Alves Educational Consultants Group
was previously the Title-IV CRA Project Director for Desegregation Assistance at the
Massachusetts Department of Education and the Senior Equity Specialist for the Equity
Assistance Center at Brown University.
Mr. Alves has been an expert witness in several federal desegregation cases and a consultant to
the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Office for Civil Rights, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and
the University of Miami Desegregation Assistance Center. He has co-authored two books with
Dr. Charles V. Willie: Student Diversity, Choice, and School Improvement (Greenwood Press
2002), and Controlled Choice: A New Approach to Desegregated Education and School
Improvement, (Brown University 1996), and he has authored numerous articles and reports on
the plans that he has helped to design and implement.
Richard Kahlenberg is the pre-eminent authority on socioeconomic integration and will be the
Consulting Team’s lead consultant on education policy issues throughout the duration of this
project. He has been called “the intellectual father of the economic integration movement” in K-
12 schooling and has consulted with school districts in Chicago, Illinois; Little Rock, Arkansas;
and Pasadena, California on creating socioeconomically integrated schooling. He is the author
of six books, including All Together Now: Creating Middle Class Schools through Public School
Choice (Brookings Institution Press, 2001). In addition, Mr. Kahlenberg is the editor of ten
Century Foundation books, including The Future of School Integration: Socioeconomic Diversity
as an Education Reform Strategy (2012). He served as executive director of Century’s Task
Force on the Common School, chaired by Gov. Lowell Weicker. The 25 member panel issued a
report entitled Divided We Fail: Coming Together Through Public School Choice. (2002).
Kahlenberg's articles on education have been published in The New York Times, The Washington
Post, The Wall Street Journal, The New Republic, and elsewhere. He has appeared on ABC,
CBS, CNN, FOX, C-SPAN, MSNBC, and NPR. Mr. Kahlenberg is a graduate of Harvard
College and Harvard Law School.
John C. Brittain is a tenured professor of law at the University of the District of Columbia,
David A. Clarke School of Law and will serve as the Consultant Team’s lead civil rights
consultant and equity specialist. Professor Brittain is a nationally recognized desegregation
expert and has had extensive experience in assessing and developing constitutionally permissible
student assignment plans in numerous school districts including Wake County, NC; Greenville,
NC; Pitt County, NC; Louisville, KT; and Washington, DC; and he is currently assisting Michael
Alves in developing permissible socioeconomic integration plans in New York City. He is the
former Senior Deputy Director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in
Washington, DC and he was the Chief Counsel in Sheff v. O'Neill, a landmark school
desegregation case decided by the Connecticut Supreme Court in 1996. And he formerly served
as dean of the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University in Houston and
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was a tenured law professor at the University Of Connecticut School Of Law for twenty-two
years. Professor Brittain has a thorough knowledge of the case law related to student assignment
programs, including the U.S. Supreme court’s 2007 decision in Parents Involved in Community
Schools v. Seattle School District and the guidelines that were jointly issued to public education
authorities on December 2, 2011 by the United States Justice Department and Office for Civil
Rights pertaining to the lawful development of diversity conscious student assignment policies in
K-12 public education.
Amy Hawn Nelson is a community engaged researcher at UNC Charlotte. She has written
extensively about educational equity and is a co-editor of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow:
School Desegregation and Resegregation in Charlotte (Feb. 2015, Harvard Education Press).
She is a Charlotte native and proud graduate of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. Hawn Nelson
served as a teacher and school leader for 11 years, working in several schools in Mecklenburg
County, as well as other districts. She holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum & Instruction and Masters’
degrees in Teaching and in School Administration. She is also an adjunct professor for the UNC
Charlotte College of Education. Dr. Hawn Nelson has been an investigator for more than twenty
academic studies involving outcomes of students in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. She has
also served as an investigator in several housing related studies, and is considered a local expert
on the intersection of education, housing, and neighborhoods. She serves the community in a
variety of capacities, including as a member of the Children’s Alliance Leadership Team, the
Housing Advisory Board of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, and the Policy Committee of the Council
for Children’s Rights. As an active member of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community, Dr.
Hawn Nelson will be charged with incorporating historical knowledge and trends into the
development of school assignment options. She will also play a supporting role in collecting and
analyzing feedback from community members to inform student assignment options.
See Addendum A for consultant resumes.
Relevant experience during the past five years
Wake County Public School System: AECG conducted a comprehensive review of the student
assignment policies and the impact of unmanaged student enrollment growth in the Wake
County Public School System. This review was initiated by the Greater Raleigh Chamber of
Commerce in 2011 at a cost of $256,000 and produced an action plan for a “Long Range Student
Assignment Plan” that led to the WCPSS School Board’s adoption of a comprehensive diversity
and achievement conscious student enrollment plan in 2012. That plan and subsequent
modifications that have been made to the plan were effectively implemented with assistance
from AECG through the 2014-15 school year. The 2011 student assignment review was
commissioned by the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce in response to the widespread
turmoil and political conflict that was generated by a then newly elected school board majority’s
rescinding of the Board’s long standing diversity policy that effectively dismantled the District’s
highly acclaimed socioeconomic and achievement conscious student assignment policy. The
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new plan, which was designed with assistance from AECG, was approved by the more equity
friendly elected School Board and governs all of the District’s “home school” and “choice-
based” student assignments which include all the District’s magnet schools and special academic
programs. Of particular note, is that the Wake County Public School System is similar to the
CMS in geographic size, number of schools, and student enrollment.
Rochester City School District: AECG and its associates recently conducted a comprehensive
review of the implementation of the Rochester City School District’s School Choice Assignment
Policy that was voluntarily adopted in 2002 and designed by Michael Alves and his AECG
associate Dr. Charles V. Willie from Harvard University. This review was carried out in three
interrelated phases and was completed in March 2014. The project, which was commissioned by
the District’s newly appointed superintendent, reviewed how the assignment policy was being
implemented and assessed the extent to which the policy was being implemented in accordance
with the key equity and intended school improvement provisions that were approved by the
School Board when the policy was initiated in 2002. The review also assessed the efficacy of
the District’s computerized school choice assignment lotteries and it analyzed and assessed the
policy’s impact on student transportation and the geographic assignment patterns of students into
and out of the District’s regionalized elementary and middle schools and its citywide magnet
schools. The cost for AECG’s development of the 2002 student assignment plan was $100,000
and the 2014 review of the implementation of the plan cost $34,000,
Champaign Community School District: During the past five years, AECG has also assisted
the Champaign Community School District in implementing its multifaceted and nationally
recognized socioeconomic choice-based student assignment plan that was designed by Michael
Alves in collaboration with the School Board and school district staff at a cost of $90,000 and
was unanimously approved by the School Board in 2009. The development of this innovative
student assignment plan, which impacts all of the District’s 8,000 elementary and middle school
students, was informed by a comprehensive monitoring and educational equity auditing process
of the District’s previous race conscious controlled choice plan that was conducted on an annual
basis the court’s appointed monitor with assistance from Michael Alves and AECG associates
over the eleven-year period when the District was under a federal court-ordered consent decree
to address inequities and racial segregation. This auditing process involved the systemic
collection and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data pertaining to student achievement,
equitable participation in gifted and talented programs, special education assignments,
disproportionate dropouts and graduation rates, information technology, staffing, the operation of
the District’s community engagement and Family Resource Center, the equitable
implementation of the District’s controlled choice student assignment plan, and the development
of magnet schools and targeted school improvement measures to enhance District’s least chosen
schools.
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The Educational Equity Audit frameworks and processes that were used in Champaign by Dr.
Peterkin produced robust data that directly informed the development of the District’s
socioeconomic student assignment plan.
New York City: AECG is currently facilitating the planning and implementation of
comprehensive choice-based socioeconomic integration and targeted school improvement plans
in Community School Districts 1 and 13 in New York City. These plans are being federally
funded by the New York State Department of Education through an innovative Socioeconomic
Integration Pilot Program that was initiated by U.S Secretary of Education, John King, when he
was the New York State Commissioner of Education. AECG’s services that are being provided
during the planning phase of these grants will cost $190,000 and will impact approximately
30,000 elementary and middle schools students.
Cambridge Public Schools: AECG is currently assisting the Cambridge Public Schools in the
implementation of its socioeconomic controlled choice student assignment plan for the 2015-16
school year and it has provided these services since the SES plan was adopted by the Cambridge
School Committee in 2001 at an annual cost of $15,000. Cambridge is particularly noteworthy
in view of the fact that it was the first school district to adopt a controlled choice plan and
although Cambridge is relatively small school district its controlled choice plan’s best practices
have been adopted by numerous and much larger school districts over the past thirty-five years.
Fayette County Tennessee: Michael Alves is also currently serving as the Court approved
consultant for the Fayette County Tennessee School District’s implementation of a race-
conscious controlled choice student assignment plan that was jointly recommended to the Court
and School District by the U.S. Justice Department and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
Michael Alves is providing his services to the Fayette County School Board at an hourly rate of
$150.
Other School District Clients
Prior to incorporating AECG, Michael Alves and his and AECG associate Dr. Charles Willie
were retained to develop comprehensive choice-based student assignment plans in the following
school districts: San Jose CA Unified School District (1985), Little Rock AK (1987), Seattle WA
(1988), Boston (1989), Port Saint Lucie County FL (1990), Milwaukee WI (1991), Rockford IL
(1995), Lee County FL (1997) and the Charleston SC County Public Schools (1998). And they
developed a proposed Metropolitan Controlled Choice Plan for the City of Hartford and
Surrounding suburbs for the legal team in Scheff v. O’Neill.
As Director for Desegregation Assistance at the Massachusetts State Department of Education,
Michael Alves developed comprehensive choice-based student assignment plans in the following
school districts: Cambridge (1981), Fall River (1987), Worcester (1987), Lowell (1987),
Lawrence (1988), and Northampton (1988). And, as the Senior Equity Planner for the Education
Alliance at Brown University, Michael Alves developed controlled choice plans in Somerville
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MA (1994), Brockton MA (1995, Providence RI (1995), Manchester CT (1995), Malden MA
(1996), Waltham MA (1997), Framingham MA (1998), and Medford MA (1998).
All of these plans that were voluntarily adopted required a comprehensive review and
assessment of the equity and efficacy of the school districts’ residential and choice-based
student assignments and magnet schools admissions policies; the gathering and analysis of
robust qualitative and quantitative data, and a thorough knowledge of all applicable state
and federal legal requirements. And all of these plans were designed and implemented in
collaboration with these Districts’ school boards, administrators, and community leaders,
and AECG’s timely and satisfactory completion of all required work products.
AECG Client References
Tim Simmons: Former Vice President of the Wake County Education Partnership and co-
developer of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce Long Range Student Assignment Plan,
919-291-8360.
Laura Evans: Senior Director of Student Assignment, Wake County Public School System,
919-431-7282.
Willa Powell: Board of Education, Rochester City School District, 585-442-8360
Daniella Phillips: Superintendent, Community School District 1, New York City Department of
Education, 917-373-5978
Proposed Phase 1 Work Plan
AECG’s proposed work plan is based on the “Scope of Services” set forth on Page 6 of the RFP
and the Board of Education’s January 2, 2016 “Draft Timeline” and schedule of activities for the
Phase1student assignment review and development of student assignment options. The proposed
work plan has also been informed by the discussion Michael Alves had with Scott McCully
during the February 17, 2017 CMS call-in conference on the RFP that was emailed to Mr. Alves
on February 15th.
For purposes of this proposal the work plan is organized around the services that will be
provided, as needed, in collaboration with the Board of Education, district leaders and CMS
administrators and staff. The services that will be provided in support of the student assignment
review, include: advising on the development of the Board of Education’s guiding principles and
associated student assignment policies; the development of equitable and viable student
assignment options and a high-level implementation plan to operationalize the Board’s preferred
options; helping to devise a communication strategy to support the plan, and facilitating Board of
Education and school district leaderships meetings related to the student assignment review and
student assignment options.
8
The elements of AECG’s proposed work plan and scope of services are in alignment with CMS
Board of Education’s approved student assignment Goals and incorporate the research-based
“best practices” being implemented by other school districts pertaining to the analysis and
inclusion of feedback garnered via community surveys, focus groups and other associated means
of gathering community input; guiding and facilitating the development of the Board’s revised
Guiding Principles and associated policies for student assignment; an approach to reviewing
District data, national research and urban district benchmarks; and coordination among the Board
of Education and district leaders and teams supporting the student assignment review and
planning process.
Proposed Phase 1 Services
Advising, as needed, on the development of the Board of Education’s guiding principles and
associated student assignment policies.
These advisory services would include:
Reviewing the research on socioeconomic integration and identifying the key
elements that should be taken into account in defining socioeconomic diversity and
establishing feasible socioeconomic integration goals.
Identifying the salient factors that should be used to determine the socioeconomic
status of the District’s most “at risk” economically disadvantaged and high needs
students. Factors to be considered would include the students’ family income,
parents’ highest educational attainment level, the number of adults in students’
household, the demographic characteristics of the students’ residential neighborhood
and other factors that would be determined from the analysis of the District’s
community student assignment survey, focus groups and other community
engagement efforts.
Identifying the causes of socioeconomic segregation and the legally permissible
student assignment options that can be used to promote socioeconomic diversity in K-
12 public education.
Reviewing the research-based educational benefits for students attending
socioeconomically diverse schools and the harmful effects that segregated schools
have on economically disadvantaged and at risk students.
Reviewing the Century Foundation’s national database on socioeconomic integration
and identifying the student assignment options that school districts are using to
voluntarily promote socioeconomic integration and reduce the over-concentration of
low-income and high needs students.
Identifying the best practices being used to promote socioeconomic integration by
school districts implementing district-wide or zone-wide choice-based student
assignment plans.
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Identifying the best practices being used by magnet schools and voluntary transfer
policies to promote school specific socioeconomic integration.
Identifying the best practices being used to reduce overcrowding and promote
socioeconomic integration by realigning home school attendance boundaries, feeder
schools and other residential-based student assignment policies.
Identifying the best practices of school districts that are using a combination of
choice-based and residential-based student assignment options to promote
socioeconomic integration to the extent possible.
Development of viable student assignment options that reflect community input, Board of
Education student assignment policies, goals, guiding principles, timelines, and School
District resource availability.
The development of viable student assignment options must first be grounded in a
comprehensive review and analysis of the District’s public schools’ current and projected student
enrollment data, and an analysis and assessment of the efficacy of the District’s residential-based
and choice-based student assignment policies in reducing overcrowding and preventing the over-
concentration of low-income and high needs students.
Although these analyses are not included in the consultants “Scope of Services” in the RFP,
AECG is proposing to assist the District’s planning team in conducting these analyses, which are
foundational for establishing a baseline and benchmarks for the development and
implementation of the Board of Education’s revised Guiding Principles and associated student
assignment options and policies and achieving the Board’s student assignment goals.
Key questions that would guide the District’s collection and demographic analysis of these data
would include:
How does the District define and identify economically disadvantaged students and
to what extent are the District’s schools enrolling economically disadvantaged
students
How does the District define and identify “high needs” students and to what extent
are the District’s schools enrolling high needs students?
How does the District define a school that is over-concentrated with economically
disadvantaged and high needs students?
What schools are enrolling a disproportionate percentage of economically
disadvantaged and high needs students and how were these students assigned to these
schools?
What schools are successfully achieving the Mission and Vision of the Board of
Education and how were students assigned to these successful schools?
What schools are not meeting performance standards established by the state and how
were students assigned to these low-performing schools?
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How does the District define “overcrowding?” What schools are overcrowded and
how were students assigned to these schools?
What is the District’s student transportation policy? How many students are receiving
student transportation services and how many students are being transported to the
District’s schools that are over-concentrated with economically disadvantaged and
high needs students?
How many students who reside in the CMS are attending charter schools? Where do
these students reside? To what extent is charter schools enrollment effecting
enrollment in the Districts’ home schools and magnet schools? What are the
demographic characteristics of the charter schools students and are there demographic
trends associated with charter schools’ students and schools.
To what extent will the District’s student enrollment grow over the next five years?
Where will the growth be occurring? And, what will be the demographic impact of
this projected growth on the District’s home school attendance boundaries?
In light of the District’s current and projected system-wide level of economically
disadvantaged students, what levels of socioeconomic diversity can the District
feasibly attain that would reduce the number of schools with high concentrations of
economically disadvantaged students? What changes would need to take place for
the district to not have schools with more than 90%, 80%, 70% and 60% of the
student population being identified as economically disadvantaged?
The above analyses will directly inform the development of the District’s viable student
assignment options and guide where these options need to be implemented.
AECG will assist the District’s planning team in reviewing the essential features and best
practices of successful choice-based and residential-based socioeconomic student assignment
plans and identifying the key elements and features that ought to be included in the development
of the District’s viable short and long-term student assignment options that may include:
Replicating successful magnet schools and siting magnet schools in areas that will
attract a diverse student enrollment.
Creating demographically diverse school choice attendance zones that would allow
parents to choose their child’s home school.
Establishing socioeconomic integration goals and giving economically disadvantaged
and high needs students a priority to voluntary transfer into higher performing and
diverse schools.
Creating community-based Family Resource Centers and deploying family resource
advocates to assist parents in making informed decisions about their child’s student
assignment options and helping to recruit parents to enroll their children in diverse
schools.
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Realigning “home school” attendance boundaries to alleviate overcrowding and
promote socioeconomic integration to the extent practicable.
Strategic school siting to prevent the building of schools that would open with a
concentration of economically disadvantaged students.
Strategic use of partial magnets to support choice-based socioeconomic integration.
Utilizing educationally sound and attractive incentives, such as a priority enrollment
for Pre-K, for parents to choose under-subscribed schools in diverse neighborhoods.
Strategic use of private/public partnerships to support under-enrolled and/or low
performing schools.
Creation of a common school choice application process for all public schools in the
district, including magnet schools and charter schools.
Better understanding long-term policies to reduce residential segregation, including
housing policy and code revision.
For purposes of this proposal, the formulation of the school choice attendance zone options
would be based on the following proven best practices:
Grandfathering: Students already enrolled in the zone’s public schools would be
allowed to remain in their currently assigned school and would not be involuntarily
reassigned to another school.
Sibling Assignments: Siblings would be assigned to the same school provided that
they are attending the school at the same time.
Choice: All schools would become choice schools and all parents would be allowed
to choose the schools they prefer their children attend by their own rank-order of
preference.
Proximity Assignments: Students who reside nearest to their first-choice school
would be given a priority to attend that school.
Diversity: All assignments would be subject to the definition of socioeconomic
integration that would be established for each zone by the Board of Education.
Scope of Assignments: All newly enrolling students who reside in the zone or
request to be transferred to another zone school would be assigned according to the
District’s choice-based student assignment policy.
Stability of Assignment: Once enrolled no student would be mandatorily reassigned
to another school.
School Improvement: Schools that are under-chosen and are having difficulty
attracting a diverse student enrolment will be targeted for research-based school
improvement measures.
Facilities Utilization: Enrollment capacities would be established for each zone
school and no school would be allowed to become overcrowded by enrolling students
beyond its available seats.
Student Transportation: In light of the geographic size of the District, the school
choice attendance zone(s) will be designed to facilitate the development of efficient
transportation routes.
12
Family Resource Centers/Advocates: Ensuring that parents are able to make
informed decisions about their rank-ordered schools of choice, each zone would
establish a Family Resource Center and/or Advocates that would be conveniently
located and accessible to all parents in the zone.
AECG will assist the District’s Planning Team in designing the student assignment options and
identifying any unique factors and circumstances in the District that should be taken into account
in developing these options. And, AECG will assist the Planning Team in beta testing the
efficacy and viability of each option before it is submitted for review by the Board of Education
and District leaders.
Advising the Board of Education and School District leadership on student assignment plan
development, including high-level implementation plan that supports the Board’s goals and
incorporates preferred student assignment options.
AECG will advise the Board of Education and District leaders on all aspects pertaining to the
development of the student assignment plan, as needed, to ensure that the plan supports the
Board’s goals and incorporates the District’s preferred student assignment options and is
practicable to implement.
Advisement on a communications strategy and plan in consultation with the district’s Office of
Communication.
AECG will advise and assist the district’s Office of Communications, as needed, in developing a
strategic communications plan to support the student assignment review and planning process
that incorporates the following proven best practices:
All information that is disseminated must be accurate and timely.
The information should be accessible and comprehensible to all segments of
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.
All information should be transparently and consistently communicated to all of the
District’s diverse stakeholders and population groups.
Active and targeted “grass roots” efforts should be made as needed to ensure that the
information is being effectively communicated to the District’s most economically
disadvantaged communities and population groups.
Any erroneous or false information that is being publically communicated about the
plan by persons, groups or organizations outside of the School District must be
addressed and corrected in a timely manner.
An information “hot line” should be created by the District to answer any questions
about the plan.
Social media should be utilized to the extent possible to communicate accurate and
timely information directly to parents and school district staff.
13
Partnerships should be strategically formed to enhance the communication process
such as:
- Partnering with pre-school programs to support informed school choice for
families enrolling in CMS for the first time
- Partnerships with faith-based communities to disseminate information and receive
feedback about the review and planning process
- Partnerships with the City of Charlotte, and the towns of Huntersville, Cornelius,
Davidson, Matthews, Pineville, and Mint Hill to access their Neighborhood
Associations to disseminate information and receive feedback about process
Facilitation of Board of Education and school district leadership meetings related to the
student assignment review and plan.
AECG’s facilitation services will aim at ensuring that the Board of Education and school district
leadership meetings are based on accurate and timely data and information about the student
assignment review and planning process and every effort will be made to achieve a consensus on
the key decisions that need to be made during this project.
14
Estimated Cost of Services
The following is the level of effort that will be required to effectively and efficiently provide the
scope of services that are proposed for this project at an estimated cost of $225,000.
Professional Services Hourly Rate Estimated Hours Cost
Michael Alves $150 500 $75,000
Richard Kahlenberg $150 267 $40,000
John Brittain $250 140 $35,000
Amy Hawn Nelson $125 200 $25,000
Support Services
Admin Support and Data Analysis $20,000
Clerical $10,000
Total Cost: $225,000
The estimated cost for this project is $31,000 below the $256,000 that was expended by the
Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and the WCPSS for the AECG services that were
provided in support of the review and development of the Wake County Public Schools
socioeconomic student assignment plan.
Also, in view of the nature of AECG’s educational consulting services it has not been required to
provide General Liability or Comprehensive Automobile Liability Insurance for its consultants
in any of the company’s projects, including the Wake County Public School System. However,
if such insurance is a requirement for this project with the CMS, AECG will make every effort to
obtain the coverages set forth in Section 5 of the RFP.
15
Michael J. Alves 414 Canton Avenue
Milton, MA 02186
Phone: 617.698.8980 Fax: 617.96.0990
Email: [email protected]
Professional Positions in Education
President of the Alves Educational Consultants Group, Ltd (AECG) and founder and general
manager of “Enroll Edu” - on-line data management software system specializing in the design
and implementation of choice-based equity and achievement driven student assignment policies
for K-12 education: Milton, Massachusetts: 1989 -
Senior Educational Planning Specialist for the Education Alliance and Equity Assistance Center
at Brown University: 1995-2005
Director of the Federal Title IV Civil Rights Act Unit for the Office of the Commissioner,
Massachusetts Department of Education: 1975-1988
Co-Chairman of the State Equal Educational Opportunity Directors Association and advisor to
the National Committee on State Role in School Desegregation, Education Commission of the
States, Denver, Colorado: 1978-1980.
Director of the Neighborhood Youth Corps and Operation Mainstream Program, Southern
Worcester County Community Action Center, Milford, Massachusetts: 1972-1974
Teacher of English and Social Studies, Milford High School, Milford, Massachusetts: 1969-1972
Educational Planning Experience
Over thirty-five years of experience designing, implementing and monitoring the development of
comprehensive choice-based student assignment and school improvement plans and parent
information centers in diverse school districts throughout the United States, including:
Cambridge MA (1980, 1996, 2001), Rochester NY – Choice and Supplemental Education
Services (2001), Champaign IL (1998), Medford MA (1998), Fitchburg MA (1997), Waltham
MA (1997), Framingham MA (1996), Malden MA (1996), Rockford IL (1991,1995), Providence
RI (1995), Brockton MA (1995), Pawtucket RI (1994), Somerville MA (1994), Rockford IL
(1991), White Plains NY (1990), Milwaukee WI (1990), Port Saint Lucie FL (1990), Boston MA
(1989, 1992)), Seattle WA (1988), Northampton MA (1988), Lawrence MA (1987), Lowell MA
(1987), Little Rock AK (1987), Fall River MA (1986), Montclair NJ (1985), San Jose CA
(1985), Worcester (MA) 1982, and Holyoke MA (1982).
Retained as Expert Witness and Controlled Choice Planner by several school districts involved
in federal desegregation cases, including: Rockford School District, People Who Care v.
Rockford School District, 1995; Boston Public Schools, Morgan v. Hennagen (1989); and Port
16
Saint Lucie County School District in Florida (1989), and was retained on behalf of the Plaintiffs
in Diaz v. San Jose Unified School District (1985).
Educational planner and consultant to various federal education agencies and national and local
civil rights organizations, including: the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of
Education, U.S. Office for Civil Rights, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Mexican-American Legal
Defense Fund, Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund, the American Jewish Congress, the Urban
League, the Santa Clara County Legal Aid Society in San Jose, California, Evergreen Legal
Services in Seattle WA, the Multicultural Education and Advocacy Center in Somerville, MA,
and the University of Miami Desegregation Assistance Center: 1985-2001.
Policy analyst and advisor on school choice and urban education reform issues to the National
Governors’ Association, National School Boards Association, National Education Association,
Council of Great City Schools and State Departments of Education in Florida, Illinois, New
York, New Jersey, California, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island.
Member of the President’s National Commission on Children – Implementation Committee on
Increasing Educational Achievement: 1992-1993.
Educational Background: Bridgewater State Teachers College, BA; Boston University, M. Ed.
and Harvard University, Graduate School of Education.
17
Michael J. Alves
Diversity Conscious Choice-Based Student Assignment Plans
Racial / Ethnic Integration
Cambridge MA 1981
Montclair NJ 1985
*San Jose Unified School District CA 1985
*Little Rock AK 1986
Fall River MA 1987
Lowell MA 1987
Lawrence MA 1988
Northampton MA 1988
** Seattle WA 1988
Boston MA 1989
White Plains NY 1990
*St. Lucie County FL 1990
Milwaukee WI 1991
Pawtucket RI 1994
Somerville MA 1994
Brockton MA 1995
Providence RI 1995
*Rockford IL 1995
Malden MA 1996
*Lee County FL 1997
Waltham MA 1997
Fitchburg MA 1997
Framingham MA 1998
*Champaign IL 1998
Medford MA 1998
*Fayette County TN 2014
Socioeconomic Integration
Manchester CT 1995
Charleston County Public Schools 1998
Rochester City School District 2001
Cambridge MA 2001
Post PICS Socioeconomic Integration
Lee County, FL 2009
Champaign IL 2009
SES &Achievement Conscious Integration
Wake County Public School System, NC 2011
Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce
Urban / Suburban Desegregation
Proposed Metropolitan Controlled Choice 1991
Desegregation Plan for the City of Hartford
18
And Surrounding Suburbs
*Federal Court Ordered Desegregation Plans ** This was the original CC Plan that was targeted by the U.S.
Supreme in its 2007 Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No.1 decision.
Publications
Alves, Michael J., Willie, Charles V. and Edwards, Ralph. June 2002. Student Diversity,
Choice and School Improvement. Greenwood Press.
Alves, Michael J. and Taylor, Garth D. 2000. "The Search for Education Equity in the Rockford
Illinois School District." Equity and Excellence.
Alves, Michael J. and Taylor, Garth D. 1999. "Controlled Choice: Rockford Illinois
Desegregation." Equity and Excellence. Vol. 32, no.1, pp. 18-30.
Alves, Michael J, Willie, Charles V. and Haggerty, George. 1996. "Multiracial, Attractive City
Schools: Controlled Choice in Boston." Equity and Excellence in Education. Vol. 29, no 2, pp.
493-502.
Alves, Michael J. and Willie, Charles V. 1996. Controlled Choice: A New Approach to
Desegregated Education and School Improvement. Brown University: The Educational Alliance
Press.
Alves, Michael J. and Willie, Charles V. 1996. "How Boston Has Benefited from School
Desegregation," Morehouse College Research Institute, Bulletin, no 95.4.
Alves, Michael J. 1993. "Comments on Equitable School Choice." In School Choice: Examining
the Evidence. Rasell, Edith and Rothstein, Richard (eds). Washington, D.C., Economic Policy
Institute.
Alves, Michael J. 1993. "Recommendations on Implementing Effective School Choice Plans." In
Implementation Guide for Increasing Educational Achievement. National Commission on
Children.
Alves, Michael J. and Willie, Charles V. 1990. "Choice, Decentralization and Desegregation:
The Boston Controlled Choice Plan." In Choice and Control in American Education. (Volume
2), by Clune, William and Witte, John (eds) London: The Falmer Press, pp. 18-75.
Alves, Michael and Glenn, Charles. 1987. Making Urban Schools Effective. Massachusetts
Department of Education.
19
Alves, Michael J. and Willie, Charles V. 1987. "Controlled Choice Assignments: A New and
More Effective Approach to School Desegregation." The Urban Review. Vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 67-
88.
Alves, Michael J. 1986. ""Maximizing Parent Choice and Effective Desegregation Outcomes."
In Family Choice and Public Schools, Massachusetts Department of Education.
Alves, Michael J. 1984. " Increased Parental and Student Choice and Effective School
Desegregation: A Cambridge Update." Equity and Choice. Vol. 1, 1984.
Alves, Michael J. 1983. "Cambridge Desegregation Succeeding." Integrated education.
Vol. XXI, Nos. 1-6, pp. 178-185.
Alves, Michael J. 1982. Towards Developing a More Effective State Role in School
Desegregation. Harvard University and the Education Commission of the States.
Choice-Based Student Assignment and School Improvement Plans
& Related Work Products
A Long Range Student Assignment Plan for the Wake County Public School System, Greater
Raleigh Chamber of Commerce and Wake Education Partnership. February 11, 2011.
Analysis of the Implementation of the revised Cambridge Socioeconomic Controlled Choice
Student Assignment Plan, May 2003.
A Report on Secondary Schools Student Assignments in the Champaign Community School
District, February 2002.
A Proposed Parent Preference/Managed Choice Student Assignment Plan for the Rochester City
School District. December 2001. With Charles V. Willie.
A Report on Structural Displacement in the Champaign Community School District. October
2001.
A Report on the Implementation of the Florida Public School Choice Law. 2000. With Charles
Willie and Ralph Edwards. Harvard University and the Florida Department of Education.
A Report on the Implementation of Controlled Choice in the Rockford School District. 2000. For
Court Appointed Master. People Who Care v. Rockford School District.
A Controlled Choice Student Assignment Plan for the Medford Public Schools. 1999. Medford,
Massachusetts.
20
A Controlled Choice Student Assignment Pan for the Framingham MA Public Schools. 1998.
New England Equity Assistance Center at Brown University.
A Long range Voluntary Desegregation and Educational Improvement Plan for the Malden MA
Public Schools. 1996. New England Equity Assistance Center at Brown University.
An Analysis of Schools Over Chosen by All Racial Groups: Boston Controlled Choice Plan,
1996. With Charles Willie and George Haggerty. Harvard University.
A Report on the Implementation of the Boston Controlled Choice Plan. 1996. With Charles
Willie. Harvard University.
Student Desegregation Plan for the Rockford School District. July 1995. Rockford
Desegregation Planning Team: Memorandum #3.
Draft Student Desegregation Remedies for the Rockford School District. May 1995.
Desegregation Planning Team: Memorandum #2.
An Assessment of Current Student Assignment Policies in the Rockford School District.
February 1995. Desegregation Planning Team: Memorandum #1.
A Controlled Choice Plan for the Providence RI Public Schools. 1995. New England Equity
Assistance Center at Brown University.
A Long Range Voluntary Desegregation and Educational Improvement Plan for the Brockton
MA Public Schools. 1995. New England Equity Assistance Center at Brown University.
An Analysis of Limited Proficient Students and Bilingual Education in the Seattle School
District. 1994. Evergreen Legal Services.
A Short and Long range Student Assignment Plan for the Pawtucket RI Public Schools. 1994.
New England Equity Assistance Center at Brown University.
A Controlled Choice Student Assignment Plan for the Somerville MA Public Schools. 1994.
With Charles Willie.
A Report on the Key Results of the Boston Controlled Choice Plan. 1994. With Charles Willie.
A Report on Streamlining the Boston Controlled Choice Plan and a Revised Controlled Choice
Plan for the Boston Public Schools. 1992. With Charles Willie.
A Proposed Parent Choice Integration Plan for the Rockford School District. 1991. With David
Hartmann. Rockford, Illinois.
A Proposed Metropolitan Controlled Choice Desegregation Plan for the City of Hartford. 1991.
With Charles Willie. NAACP in Sheff v. O'Neill.
21
A Long-Range Educational Equity Plan for the Milwaukee Public Schools. 1991. With Charles
Willie and Robert Peterkin, Superintendent, Milwaukee Public Schools.
A Proposed Controlled Choice Desegregation Plan for the Port Saint Lucie County FL School
District. University of Miami Desegregation Assistance Center.
A Controlled Choice Assignment Plan for the Boston Public Schools. 1989. With Charles Willie.
A Long-Range Student Assignment Policy for the Lawrence MA Public Schools. 1988.
Massachusetts Department of Education.
A Revised Seattle Controlled Choice Plan with Charles Willie. 1988. Seattle, WA Public
Schools.
Report on the First Year Implementation of the Little Rock Controlled Choice Desegregation
Plan. 1987. With Charles Willie. U.S. District Court for Eastern Arkansas.
An Assessment of the San Jose Controlled Choice Desegregation Plan. 1987. With Charles
Willie. Court Appointed Monitor. Diaz V. San Jose Unified School District.
Lowell MA Voluntary Desegregation and Educational Improvement Plan. 1987. Massachusetts
Department of Education and the Lowell, MA Public Schools.
Fall River MA Desegregation and Equal Educational Improvement Plan. 1987. Massachusetts
Department of Education.
Plaintiffs' Proposed Controlled Choice Student Assignment Plan for the San Jose Unified School
District. 1985. With Charles Willie. Santa Clara Legal Aid Society, Diaz v. San Jose Unified
School District. U.S. District Court for Northern California, C-17-213RFP (SJ).
A Long-Range Voluntary Desegregation Plan for the Cambridge Public Schools. 1981.
Cambridge MA Public Schools and Massachusetts Department of Education.
A Proposed Controlled Open Enrollment Plan for the Holyoke Public Schools. 1980.
Massachusetts Department of Education.
A Proposed Controlled Open Enrollment Plan for the Cambridge Public Schools. 1980.
Massachusetts Department of Education.
22
RICHARD D. KAHLENBERG
Office: Home:
The Century Foundation 7101 Loch Lomond Drive
1333 H Street NW, 10th Floor Bethesda, Maryland 20817
Washington, D.C. 20005 (301) 320-8836
(202) 745-5476 [email protected]
EDUCATION
1986-1989 Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
J.D., cum laude, June 1989.
1985-1986 University of Nairobi School of Journalism, Nairobi, Kenya.
Certificate, Mass Communications, June 1986.
Rotary International Fellowship.
1981-1985 Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
A.B. in Government, magna cum laude, June 1985.
Senior Honors Thesis “Coalition Building and Robert Kennedy’s 1968
Presidential Campaign”
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
1998- The Century Foundation (formerly Twentieth Century Fund), Washington, D.C.
Senior Fellow. Coordinating programs involving elementary, secondary and
higher education and organized labor.
1996-1998 Center for National Policy, Washington, D.C.
Fellow. Coordinated project on New Strategies to Promote Equal Opportunity.
1994-1995 Professorial Lecturer and Independent Writer, Washington, D.C.
Taught Cases in Public Policy, George Washington University Department of
Public Administration and completed book on affirmative action.
1993-1994 George Washington University National Law Center, Washington, D.C.
Visiting Associate Professor of Law. Taught Constitutional Law.
1989-1993 Senator Charles S. Robb, Washington, D.C.
Legislative Assistant. Advised Senator on issues relating to Crime, Energy,
Environment, Judicial Appointments, Campaign Finance, and Civil Rights.
23
PUBLICATIONS
I. BOOKS
A Smarter Charter: Finding What Works for Charter Schools and Public Education
(coauthored with Halley Potter) (Teachers College Columbia University Press, 2014). The
Washington Post called A Smarter Charter, “A remarkable new book...Wise and energetic
advocates such as Kahlenberg and Potter can take the charter movement in new and useful
directions.”
Why Labor Organizing Should Be a Civil Right: Rebuilding a Middle-Class Democracy by
Enhancing Worker Voice (coauthored with Moshe Z. Marvit) (Century Foundation Press,
2012). The book was called “a must read” by NAACP President and CEO Benjamin Todd
Jealous and “a persuasive roadmap for extending the protections of the Civil Rights Act to
workers who want to organize a union” by American Federation of Teachers President Randi
Weingarten.
Tough Liberal: Albert Shanker and the Battles Over Schools, Unions, Race and Democracy (Columbia University Press, 2007). The Wall Street Journal called the book “a well-researched
and engaging biography,” and Slate labeled it a “stirring account.” The book has also been
reviewed in The Nation, The American Prospect, The Weekly Standard, Newsday, New York
Sun, City Journal, Publishers Weekly, and The Washington Monthly. The book was written with
the support of the Hewlett, Broad and Fordham foundations. It was named one of the Five Best
Books on Labor in the Wall Street Journal
All Together Now: Creating Middle Class Schools through Public School Choice (Brookings
Institution Press, 2001). The book, labeled “a clarion call for the socioeconomic desegregation
of U.S. public schools” by Harvard Educational Review, was said by the Washington Post to
make “a substantial contribution to a national conversation” on education. The book was also
reviewed in Teachers College Record, Education Next, and National Journal. One author called
Kahlenberg “the intellectual father of the economic integration movement.”
The Remedy: Class, Race, and Affirmative Action (Basic Books, 1996). The book was named
one of the best of the year by the Washington Post and William Julius Wilson’s review in the
New York Times called it “by far the most comprehensive and thoughtful argument thus far
for...affirmative action based on class.” The book was also reviewed in The American Lawyer,
The New Yorker, The Progressive, The Washington Monthly, The Detroit News, National
Review, Legal Times, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and Publishers Weekly
Broken Contract: A Memoir of Harvard Law School (Hill & Wang/Farrar, Straus & Giroux,
1992). The book, which details the way in which idealistic liberal law students are turned to
corporate law, was called “a forceful cri de coeur” by the L.A. Times. The book was reviewed in
The New York Times, The Washington Post Book World, The Harvard Law Review, The
Washington Monthly, Legal Times, The Boston Globe, The Hartford Courant, The Baltimore
Evening Sun, The St. Petersburg Times, The Detroit News, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, The
Dallas Morning News, and Publishers Weekly. In 1999, the book was reissued by University of
24
Massachusetts Press with a new afterword. The book has also been translated into Japanese and
Chinese.
Editor, The Future of Affirmative Action: New Paths to Higher Education Diversity after
Fisher v. University of Texas (Century Foundation Press, 2014). Chapters include, “Defining
the Stakes,” by Nancy Cantor and Peter Englot; “Promoting Economic Diversity for College
Affordability,” by Sara Goldrick-Rab; “Fisher v. University of Texas and Its Practical
Implications for Institutions of Higher Education,” by Arthur L. Coleman and Teresa E. Taylor;
“New Rules for Affirmative Action in Higher Education,” by Scott Greytak; “Transitioning to
Race-Neutral Admissions,” by Halley Potter; “Striving for Neutrality,” by Marta Tienda; “The
Use of Socioeconomic Affirmative Action at the University of California,” by Richard Sander;
“Converging Perils to College Access for Racial Minorities,” by Richard L. McCormick;
“Ensuring Diversity Under Race-Neutral Admissions at the University of Georgia,” by Nancy G.
McDuff and Halley Potter; “Addressing Undermatch,” by Alexandria Walton Radford and
Jessica Howell; “Talent is Everywhere,” by Danielle Allen; “Reducing Reliance on Testing to
Promote Diversity,” by John Brittain and Benjamin Landy; ‘Advancing College Access with
Class-Based Affirmative Action,” by Matthew N. Gaertner; “Achieving Racial and Economic
Diversity with Race-Blind Admissions Policy,” by Anthony P. Carnevale, Stephen J. Rose, and
Jeff Strohl; “The Why, What, and How of Class-Based Admissions Policy,” by Dalton Conley;
“A Collective Path Upward,” by Richard Sander; and “Increasing Socioeconomic Diversity in
American Higher Education,” by Catharine Hill.
Executive Director (and primary author and editor), Bridging the Higher Education Divide:
Strengthening Community Colleges and Restoring the American Dream (Century Foundation
Press, 2013.) The task force on community colleges, co-chaired by Anthony Marx and Eduardo
Padron, included John Brittain, Walter Bumphus, Michele Cahill, Louis Caldera, Patrick Callan,
Nancy Cantor, Samuel Cargile, Anthony Carnevale, Michelle Asha Cooper, Sara Goldrick-Rab,
Jerome Karabel, Catherine Koshland, Felix Matos Rodriguez, Gail Mellow, Arthur Rothkopf,
Sandra Schroeder, Louis Soares, Suzanne Walsh, Ronald Williams, and Joshua Wyner. In
addition, the volume included background papers by Sandy Baum and Charles Kurose; Sara
Goldrick-Rab and Peter Kinsley; and Tatiana Melguizo and Holly Kosiewicz.
Editor, The Future of School Integration: Socioeconomic Diversity as an Education Reform
Strategy (Century Foundation Press, 2012). Chapters include, “Housing Policy is School Policy:
Economically Integrative Housing Promotes Academic Success in Montgomery County,
Maryland,” by Heather Schwartz; “Socioeconomic Diversity and Early Learning: The Missing
Link in Policy for High-Quality Preschools,” by Jeanne L. Reid; “The Cost-Effectiveness of
Socioeconomic School Integration,” by Marco Basile; “The Challenge of High-Poverty Schools:
How Feasible is Socioeconomic School Integration?” by An Mantil, Anne G. Perkins, and
Stephanie Aberger; “Can NCLB Choice Work? Modeling the Effects of Interdistrict Choice on
Student Access to Higher-Performing Schools,” by Meredith P. Richards, Kori J. Stroub, and
Jennifer Jellison Holme; “The Politics of Maintaining Balanced Schools: An Examination of
Three Districts,” by Sheneka M. Williams; and “Turnaround and Charter Schools that Work:
Moving Beyond Separate but Equal,” by Richard Kahlenberg.
25
Editor, Affirmative Action for the Rich: Legacy Preferences in College Admissions (Century
Foundation Press, 2010). Chapters include “Legacy Preferences in a Democratic Republic,” by
Michael Lind; “A History of Legacy Preferences,” by Peter Schmidt; “An Analytical Survey of
Legacy Preferences,” by Daniel Golden; “An Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Legacy
Preferences on Alumni Giving at Top Universities,” by Chad Coffman, Tara O’Neil and Brian
Starr; “Admitting the Truth: The Effect of Affirmative Action, Legacy Preferences, and the
Meritocratic Ideal on Students of Color in College Admissions,” by John Brittain and Eric
Bloom; “Legacy Preferences and the Constitutional Prohibition of Titles of Nobility,” by Carlton
Larson; “Heirs of the American Experiment: A Legal Challenge to Preferences as a Violation of
the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution and the Civil Rights Act of 1866,” by Steve
Shadowen and Sozi Tulante; “Privilege Paving the Way for Privilege: How Judges Will
Confront the Legal Ramifications of Legacy Admissions to Public and Private Universities,” by
Boyce F. Martin Jr. with Donya Khalili; and “The Political Economy of Legacy Admissions,
Taxpayer Subsidies, and Excess ‘Profits’ in American Higher Education: Strategies for Reform,”
by Peter Sacks.
Editor, Rewarding Strivers: Helping Low-Income Students Succeed in College (Century
Foundation Press, 2010). Chapters include: “The Carolina Covenant,” by Edward B. Fiske, and
“How Increasing College Access is Increasing Inequality and What to do About It,” by Anthony
P. Carnevale and Jeff Strohl. William Fitzsimmons called the book part of Century’s
“trailblazing mission to prevent the tragic waste of human talent that threatens America’s
future,” while Anthony Marx declared, “Kahlenberg again gathers the best thinkers on how to
challenge this status quo; what to do, what works, and what does not.”
Editor, Improving on No Child Left Behind: Getting Education Reform Back on Track
(Century Foundation Press, 2008). Chapters include: an analysis of the under-funding of the No
Child Left Behind Act, by William Duncombe, John Yinger and Anna Lukemeyer; a discussion
of the rights of students in low performing schools to transfer to better performing public schools
across district lines, by Amy Stuart Wells and Jennifer Holme; and an exploration of how to
improve the accountability provisions of the act, by Lauren Resnick, Mary Kay Stein, and Sarah
Coon. Diane Ravitch called Improving on No Child Left Behind “the best of the books on this
topic.”
Editor, America’s Untapped Resource: Low-Income Students in Higher Education (Century
Foundation Press, 2004). The chapters include: “Socioeconomic Status, Race/Ethnicity, and
Selective College Admissions,” Anthony P. Carnevale and Stephen J. Rose; “Improving the
Academic Preparation and Performance of Low-Income Students in American Higher
Education,” by P. Michael Timpane and Arthur M. Hauptman; and “Low-Income Students and
the Affordability of Higher Education,” by Lawrence E. Gladieux. Carnevale and Rose’s
finding, that 74% of students at selective colleges come from the top socioeconomic quartile and
3% from the bottom quartile is widely cited.
Editor, Public School Choice vs. Private School Vouchers (Century Foundation Press, 2003).
The volume consists of a compilation of new and previously published materials, including
articles by Edward B. Fiske, Helen F. Ladd, Sean F. Reardon, John T. Yun, Amy Stuart Wells,
26
Richard Just, Ruy Teixeira, Thad Hall, Gordon MacInnes, Richard C. Leone, and Bernard
Wasow.
Executive Director (and primary author and editor), Divided We Fail: Coming Together
Through Public School Choice. The Report of The Century Foundation Task Force on the
Common School, (Century Foundation Press, 2002). The task force on school integration,
chaired by Lowell Weicker, included Joseph Aguerrebere, Ramon Cortines, Robert Crain, John
Degnan, Peter Edelman, Christopher Edley, Kim Elliott, Jennifer Hochschild, Helen Ladd,
Marianne Engelman Lado, Leonard Lieberman, Ann Majestic, Dennis Parker, Felipe Reinoso,
Charles S. Robb, David Rusk, James Ryan, Judi Sikes, John Brooks Slaughter, Dick Swantz,
William Trent, Adam Urbanski, Amy Stuart Wells, and Charles V. Willie. In addition, the
volume included background papers by Duncan Chaplin, David Rusk, Edward B. Fiske, William
H. Freivogel, Richard Mial, and Todd Silberman.
Editor, A Notion at Risk: Preserving Public Education as an Engine for Social Mobility (Century Foundation Press, 2000). The book identifies individual sources of inequality and
proposes concrete public policy remedies. The chapters include: “Summer Learning and Home
Environment” by Doris Entwisle, Karl Alexander and Linda Olson of Johns Hopkins;
“Equalizing Education Resources for Advantaged and Disadvantaged Children” by Richard
Rothstein of the Economic Policy Institute; “High Standards: A Strategy for Equalizing
Opportunities to Learn?” by Adam Gamoran of the University of Wisconsin; “Inequality in
Teaching and Schooling: Supporting High-Quality Teaching and Leadership in Low Income
Schools” by Linda Darling-Hammond and Laura Post of Stanford; “Charter Schools and Racial
and Social Class Segregation: Yet Another Sorting Machine?” by Amy Stuart Wells, Jennifer
Jellison Holme, Alejandra Lopez, and Camille Wilson Cooper of UCLA; “Student Discipline
and Academic Achievement” by Paul Barton of the Educational Testing Service; and “Critical
Support: The Public View of Public Education,” by Ruy Teixeira of the Century Foundation
II. BOOK CHAPTERS
“The Bipartisan, and Unfounded, Assault on Teachers’ Unions,” in Michael B. Katz and Mike
Rose (eds.), Public Education Under Siege (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press,
2013.)
“Socioeconomic Integration and Segregation,” in James A. Banks (ed.), Encyclopedia of
Diversity in Education (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2012).
“Socioeconomic School Integration: Preliminary Lessons from More than 80 Districts,” in Erica
Frankenberg and Elizabeth DeBray-Pelot (eds.), Integrating Schools in a Challenging Society:
New Policy and Legal Options for a Multiracial Generation, (Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of
North Carolina Press, 2011)
27
“Combating School Segregation in the United States,” in Guido Walraven, Dorothee Peters,
Eddie Denessen and Joep Bakker (eds.), International Perspectives on Countering School
Segregation (Dutch National Knowledge Centre for Mixed Schools, 2010).
“Levelling the School Playing Field: A Critical Aim for New York’s Future,” in Jonathan P.
Hicks and Dan Morris (eds.), From Disaster to Diversity: What’s Next for New York City’s
Economy? (New York: Drum Major Institute, 2009).
“Higher Education Access,” in RobertMcKinnon (ed), Actions Speak Loudest (Guilford, CT:
Globe Pequot Press, 2009)
“Socioeconomic School Integration,” in Marybeth Shinn and Hirokazu Yoshikawa (eds), Toward
Positive Youth Development: Transforming Schools and Community Programs (New York:
Oxford University Press, 2008).
“The History of Collective Bargaining Among Teachers,” in Jane Hannaway and Andrew J.
Rotherham (eds) Collective Bargaining in Education: Negotiating Change in Today’s Schools
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press, 2006).
“Socioeconomic School Integration: A Symposium,” in Chester Hartman (ed), Poverty and Race
in America: The Emerging Agendas (New York: Rowman and Littlefield, Publishers, 2006).
“The Return of ‘Separate but Equal,’” in James Lardner and David Smith (eds), Inequality
Maters: The Growing Divide in America and Its Poisonous Consequences (New York: New
Press, 2005).
“Economic School Integration,” in Stephen J. Caldas and Carl L. Bankston III (eds), The End of
Desegregation? (New York: Nova Science Publishers Inc., 2003).
“President Clinton’s Race Initiative: Promise and Disappointment,” and “How to Achieve One
America: Class, Race, and the Future of Politics,” in Stanley A. Renshon (ed), One America?
Political Leadership, National Identity and the Dilemmas of Diversity (Washington DC:
Georgetown University Press, 2001).
III. LAW REVIEW ARTICLES
“‘Architects of Democracy’: Labor Organizing as a Civil Right,” (with Moshe Marvit) 9
Stanford Journal of Civil Rights & Civil Liberties 213 (June 2013).
“Reflections on Richard Sander’s Class in American Legal Education,” 88 Denver University
Law Review 719 (September 2011).
“Socioeconomic School Integration,” 85 North Carolina Law Review 1545 (June 2007).
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“Remarks: Symposium – Brown v. Board of Education at Fifty: Have We Achieved Its Goals?”
78 St. John’s Law Review 295 (Spring 2004).
“Socioeconomic School Integration Through Public School Choice: A Progressive Alternative to
Vouchers,” 45 Howard Law Journal 247 (Winter 2002).
"Class-Based Affirmative Action," 84 California Law Review 1037 (July 1996). .
"Getting Beyond Racial Preferences: The Class-Based Compromise," 45 American University
Law Review 721 (February 1996).
IV. PERIODICAL ARTICLES
Have written articles in the popular press for the American Educator, American Prospect,
American School Board Journal, Atlantic Monthly, Baltimore Sun, Boston Globe, Boston
Review, Chicago Sun Times, Christian Science Monitor, Chronicle of Higher Education, Civil
Rights Journal, Education Next, Education Week, Educational Leadership, Forward, Inside
Higher Education, Jurist, Journal of Blacks in Higher Education, Journal of Commerce, Legal
Affairs, Legal Times, New Labor Forum, Nation, New Republic, New York Daily News, New
York Times, Orlando Sentinel, Philadelphia Inquirer, Political Science Quarterly, Poverty and
Race, Principal Magazine, Slate, Wall Street Journal, Washington Monthly, Washington Post
and Wilson Quarterly.
V. ACADEMIC/PUBLIC POLICY APPEARENCES
Have spoken before audiences in numerous settings: government (U.S. Commission on Civil
Rights; U.S. Department of Education); academic associations (American Educational Research
Association; Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management); colleges and universities
(American, Amherst, Centre, Columbia, Flagler, George Washington, Georgetown, Harvard,
Howard, Marymount, Middlebury, Missouri Western, National Defense University, New York
University, Oberlin, Pitzer, Rutgers, St. Johns, St. Louis, Stanford, Stetson, Suffolk, University
of Chicago, University of Maine, University of Maryland, University of North Carolina,
University of Pennsylvania, University of Richmond, University of Southern California,
University of Virginia, West Chester, William and Mary, Yale); and public policy forums
(American Association of Community Colleges, American Enterprise Institute, Brookings
Institution, Cato Institute, Center for American Progress, Chautauqua Institution, College Board,
Committee for Economic Development, Council for Opportunity in Education, Economic Policy
Institute, Demos, Education Law Association, Education Sector, Ethics and Public Policy Center,
Fordham Institute, Hechinger Institute, KnowledgeWorks Foundation, National Academy of
Sciences Board on Testing and Assessment, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools,
National Council of Educational Opportunity, New America Foundation, New York Historical
Society, New York Public Library, Pioneer Institute, Progressive Policy Institute, William T.
Grant Foundation, and Woodrow Wilson Center).
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VI. AWARDS
William A. Kaplin Award for Excellence in Higher Education Law and Policy Scholarship,
Stetson Law School National Conference on Law & Higher Education (2013).
30
John C. Brittain
Professor of Law
B.A., Howard University 1966
J.D., Howard University 1969
John C. Brittain joined the faculty of the University of the District of Columbia, David A. Clarke
School of Law, in 2009, as a tenured professor of law. He had previously served as Dean of the
Thurgood Marshall School of law at Texas Southern University in Houston, as a tenured law
professor at the University of Connecticut School of Law for twenty-two years, and as Chief
Counsel and Senior Deputy Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law in
Washington, D.C., a public interest law organization founded by President John F. Kennedy to
enlist private lawyers in taking pro bono cases in civil rights.
Professor Brittain writes and litigates on issues in civil and human rights, especially in education
law. In 2013, he was named to the Charles Hamilton Houston Chair at North Carolina Central
University School of Law, established to bring prominent civil rights law professors and
litigators to the law school to teach constitutional and civil rights law for a year. Professor
Brittain was one of the original counsel team in Sheff v. O’Neill, the landmark school
desegregation case decided by the Connecticut Supreme Court in 1996, chronicled in Susan
Eaton’s book, The Children in Room E4: American Education on Trial, in which he is frequently
mentioned. He is presently a part of a legal team representing private plaintiffs in a federal
lawsuit against the State of Maryland for denying Maryland’s historically black institutions of
higher learning – Morgan, Coppin, Bowie and Maryland Eastern Shore Universities –
comparable and competitive opportunities with traditional white universities.
Brittain has participated in filing nearly a dozen briefs in the United States Supreme Court, and
he was a member of a legal team that filed a friend of the court brief on behalf of the NAACP in
the Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District and Meredith v. Jefferson
County Board of Education (Louisville) school cases decided by the Supreme Court in 2007,
concerning voluntary race-conscious student assignment plans. He filed a friend of the court
brief in the Connecticut finance adequacy lawsuit, Connecticut Coalition for Justice in
Education Funding v. Rell (2010), a landmark case that recognized the state constitution has a
qualitative dimension guaranteeing all students an adequate education. Professor Brittain has an
interest in a related area, the intersection between housing and school segregation, and the
policies that contribute to structural poverty in low-income and neighborhoods of color.
He has been president of the National Lawyers’ Guild, a member of the Executive Committee
and the Board of the ACLU, and legal counsel to the NAACP at the local level and national
office of the General Counsel. In 1993, the NAACP awarded Professor Brittain the prestigious
William Robert Ming Advocacy Award for legal service to the NAACP without a fee. The Ming
award was named in honor of the African American law professor, at the University of Chicago,
and brilliant civil rights lawyer who worked closely with Justice Thurgood Marshall.
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Professor Brittain has traveled extensively on international human rights investigations in Africa,
Central America, the Middle East, Europe, Latin America, and the Caribbean, and to the United
Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Currently, he serves as Chairperson of the Norflet Fund Cy
Pres, a charitable organization created by settlement in a lawsuit involving John Hancock Life
Insurance Company for racial discrimination against African Americans in selling life insurance,
that will distribute approximately $16 million in grants to benefit African Americans in
education, health, and post-Katrina relief. He has also served on the board of directors of the
Hartford Community Foundation and represented many individuals in pro bono cases.
He loves reading books and sailing, and enjoys a national ranking for masters runners in his age
group. Like the comedian and activist Dick Gregory, Brittain is a vegetarian who eats no meats,
fish or fowl.
Research and Teaching Interests:
TortsAdministrative LawCivil ProcedureCivil and Political Rights
Recent Publications:
John C. Brittain, Reducing Reliance on Testing to Promote Diversity, in The Future of
Affirmative Action: New Paths to Higher Education Diversity after Fisher v. University of Texas
(Richard D. Kahlenberg, ed.) (forthcoming 2014).
John C. Brittain, Affirmative Action Survives Again in the Supreme Court on a Legal
Technicality: An Analysis of Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, 57 How. L.J. 960 (2014).
John C. Brittain & John K. Pierre, Maryland Lawsuit Is Hardly “Unusual,” The Chronicle of
Higher Education, January 29, 2012 (Letters to the Editor)
John C. Brittain, Room for Debate: Why Do Top Schools Still Take Legacy Applicants: Bad for
Diversity, N.Y. Times, Nov. 13, 2011; updated May 13, 2013,
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/11/13/why-do-top-schools-still-take-legacy-
applicants/legacy-preferences-are-bad-for-campus-diversity
John C. Brittain, Admitting the Truth: The Effects of Affirmative Action, Legacy Preference and
the Meritocratic Ideal on Students of Color in College Admissions, in Affirmative Action for the
Rich: Legacy Preferences in College Admissions (Century Foundation Press, 2010) (with Eric L.
Bloom)
Recent Presentations and Activities:
John C. Brittain, Presentation, 60th Anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education on May 17,
2014: Is Education Equal Today for all School Children? (17th Annual Robert Smalls Lecture,
University of South Carolina African American Studies Program, S.C., Apr. 10, 2014).
John C. Brittain, Presentation, President Johnson’s War on Poverty and Neighborhood Legal
Services Program: Legal Services, an Irreconcilable Contradiction Due to Restrictions on Cases
(Overcoming Barriers to Economic Opportunity in America Today: Renewing the War on
Poverty Fifty Years Later, UDC Law Review Symposium, University of the District of
Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law, D.C., Apr. 4, 2014).
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John C. Brittain, Presentation, The Role of Civil Rights and Public Interest Lawyers (27th Annual
Robert M. Cover Retreat, Lawyering for Civil Rights in the 21st Century, Peterborough, N.H.,
Feb. 2014).
John C. Brittain, Presentation, President Johnson’s War on Poverty and Neighborhood Legal
Services Program: Providing Legal Access to Justice for the Poor (Mid-Atlantic People of Color
Legal Scholarship Annual Conference, Baltimore, Md., Jan. 23, 2015).
John C. Brittain, Board of Directors Meeting (Appleseed Foundation, D.C., Spring 2014).
ContactTelephone: (202) 274-6443E-mail: [email protected]
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Amy L. Hawn Nelson
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
9201 University City Boulevard, Charlotte, NC 28223
704.687.1197 (o) 704.687.5327 (f)
Education
PhD University of North Carolina at Charlotte Charlotte, North Carolina
Doctor of Philosophy, Curriculum & Instruction, Urban Education 2010
MSA University of North Carolina at Charlotte Charlotte, North Carolina
Masters in School Administration 2010
MAT Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, Maryland
Masters in the Art of Teaching 2003
BA North Carolina State University Raleigh, North Carolina
Bachelor of Arts in Sociology 2001
BA North Carolina State University Raleigh, North Carolina
Bachelor of Arts in Women’s and Gender Studies, 2001
Minor in Africana Studies
Licensure
North Carolina, K-12 Educational Administration, Principal
North Carolina, K-12 Curriculum / Instructional Specialist; North Carolina, K-6 Teaching License
Current Professional Position
University of North Carolina at Charlotte Charlotte, North Carolina
Director of Social Research, UNC Charlotte Urban Institute
Director, Institute for Social Capital, Inc. September 2012 - present
The Institute for Social Capital is an integrated data system charged with using data to advance university
research and data-informed decision-making in the community. At its core is a comprehensive community
database of administrative records from governmental and nonprofit agencies. While maintaining the
confidentiality of individual records, the ISC database connects dispersed administrative records,
providing a foundation for researchers to better understand our community, particularly outcomes for our
community’s most vulnerable populations.
Manages integrated data system of community agencies and grew it from 3 data depositors to
over 40 in 2 years.
Served as investigator on 10+ studies using integrated data to better understand educational
outcomes of Charlotte-Mecklenburg students.
Drove conversation around data-driven decision-making among campus and community partners
resulting in collaborative focuses such as chronic absenteeism among youth-serving agencies and
among housing agencies.
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The Institute for Social Capital is a core component of the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute. The UNC
Charlotte Urban Institute is a nonpartisan, applied research and community outreach center. Founded in
1969, it provides services including project management, technical assistance and training in operations
and data management; surveys; and research and analysis around economic, environmental, and social
issues affecting the Charlotte region.
Selected Sponsored Research and Awards
Mecklenburg County Charlotte, NC
Housing and Homelessness Reports, Year II January 2016-December 2016
Role: Investigator $35,000
Augustine Literacy Project Charlotte, NC
Program Evaluation November 2015-August 2016
Role: Principal Investigator $10,000
United Way of Central Carolinas Charlotte, NC
Collective Impact for Children and Youth October 2013-July 2015
Role: Investigator $84,000
McClintock Partners in Education Charlotte, NC
McPie Program Evaluation May 2014 – January 2015
Role: Investigator $40,000
Davidson College Charlotte, NC
MOOC Qualitative Research Study July 2014 – January 2015
Role: Principal Investigator $12,500
Salvation Army of Greater Charlotte Charlotte, NC
Rapid Re-Housing Program Assessment December 2014-September 2015
Role: Investigator $8,500
Freedom School Partners Charlotte, NC
Summer Program Evaluation October 2013-August 2014
Role: Investigator $17,000
UNC Charlotte Provost Funded Research Project Charlotte, NC
Describing Pathways to Student Engagement and Success May 2013- June 2015
Role: Principal Investigator
$20,000
City of Charlotte, Neighborhood and Business Services Charlotte, NC
Mayor’s Youth Employment Program Evaluation October 2012-September 2013
Role: Principal Investigator $3,000
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Books and Book Chapters
Mickelson, R., Smith, S., & Hawn Nelson, A., Eds. (2015). Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow: School
Desegregation and Resegregation in Charlotte. Harvard Education Press.
Hawn Nelson, A. (2015). A long path to success: Integration and community engagement at Shamrock
Gardens Elementary School. In Mickelson, R., Smith, S., & Hawn Nelson, A., (Eds.), Yesterday, Today,
and Tomorrow: School Desegregation and Resegregation in Charlotte. Harvard Education Press.
Mickelson, R., Smith, S., & Hawn Nelson, A. (2015). Introduction. In Mickelson, R., Smith, S., &
Hawn Nelson, A., (Eds.), Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow: School Desegregation and Resegregation in
Charlotte. Harvard Education Press.
Mickelson, R., Smith, S., & Hawn Nelson, A. (2015). Conclusion. In Mickelson, R., Smith, S., & Hawn
Nelson, A., (Eds.), Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow: School Desegregation and Resegregation in
Charlotte. Harvard Education Press
Peer-Reviewed Publications
Hawn Nelson, A., Mickelson, R., & Smith, S. (December 2015). Structure, Agency, and Education
Policy: Insights from the Desegregation and Resegregation of Charlotte. Sociation Today.
Selected Publications
Hawn Nelson, A. and Lane, J. (September 2, 2015). Charter, private, home school or CMS? Is enrollment
shifting? Retrieved from http://ui.uncc.edu/story/private-school-public-charter-homeschool-enrollment-
charlotte-mecklenburg.
Hawn Nelson, A. and Zachary, L. (November 19, 2014). Wanted: Sustainable jobs for principals.
Retrieved from http://ui.uncc.edu/story/school-leadership-turnover-cms.
Hawn Nelson, A. (November 19, 2014). Amid turmoil, Numbers Suggest Success. Editorial, The
Charlotte Observer.
Hawn Nelson, A. (February 26, 2014). Beyond the test score bump at Shamrock Gardens. UNC
Charlotte Urban Institute. Retrieved from http://ui.uncc.edu/story/cms-school-turnaround-harvard-
educational-press.
Hawn Nelson, A. (November 26, 2013). Missing point on Common Core. Editorial, The Charlotte
Observer.
Hawn Nelson, A. (November 21, 2013). Angst over common core misses the point. UNC Charlotte
Urban Institute. Retrieved from http://ui.uncc.edu/story/nc-common-core-testing-cms.
Hawn Nelson, A. (August 15, 2013). Do we remember whose shoulders we stand upon? UNC Charlotte
Urban Institute. Retrieved from http://ui.uncc.edu/story/julius-chambers.
Hawn Nelson, A. (June 12, 2013). With data, numbers can’t speak for themselves. UNC Charlotte Urban
Institute. Retrieved from http://ui.uncc.edu/story/data-research-education-nc.
Hawn Nelson, A. (April 10, 2013). Rethinking high-stakes testing. UNC Charlotte Urban Institute.
Retrieved from http://ui.uncc.edu/story/no-child-left-behind-high-stakes-testing-atlanta-houston.
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Hawn Nelson, A. (February 13, 2013). We know what doesn’t work. Why keep doing it? UNC Charlotte
Urban Institute. Retrieved from http://ui.uncc.edu/story/education-data-policy-reform-evidence.
Hawn Nelson, A. (December 5, 2012). Neighborhood wrestles with school dilemma. UNC Charlotte
Urban Institute. Retrieved from http://ui.uncc.edu/story/charlotte-mecklenburg-neighborhood-schools.
Selected Peer-Reviewed Presentations
Gavarkavich, D. & Hawn Nelson, A. (2014, October). Sifting through data to better understand your
school and classroom context. Session presented at Pursuing Extraordinary Outcomes in Public Education
National Conference, Charlotte, NC.
Hawn Nelson, A. (2013, October). Are United Ways Doing Any Good? Convener and Moderator of
session at the American Evaluation Association Conference, Washington, DC.
Hawn Nelson, A. (2013, October). The pink elephant in the room, how teachers are mostly white, and
kids aren’t. How do we encourage dialogue about race and student achievement? Session presented at
Pursuing Extraordinary Outcomes in Public Education National Conference, Charlotte, NC.
Hawn Nelson, A. (2013, August). The Double-Edged Sword of Desegregation. Paper presentation at the
American Sociological Association National Conference, New York, NY.
Hawn Nelson, A. (2009, April). Encouraging dialogue about race and student achievement. Multiple
sessions presented at the North Carolina Raising Achievement and Closing Gaps Conference,
Greensboro, NC.
Selected Invited Presentations
Hawn Nelson, A. (2016, February). Educational Equity in Charlotte. Keynote Presentation for My
Brother’s Keeper Community Forum, UNC Charlotte Center City Building, Charlotte, NC.
Hawn Nelson, A. (2016, January). Educational Equity in Charlotte. Teach For America All Corps
Meeting, Levine Museum of the New South, Charlotte, NC.
Hawn Nelson, A. (2015, November). Challenges and Opportunities for Integrated Data Systems.
Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy (AISP) National Conference, Philadelphia, PA.
Hawn Nelson, A. (2015, May). Our Schools, Today. A Dream Again Deferred? UNC Charlotte Center
City.
Hawn Nelson, A. (2015, March). Thoughts on digital connectivity. Queens University Best Minds
Conference. Charlotte, NC.
Hawn Nelson, A. (2014, December). Overview of the Institute for Social Capital. Pre-conference
workshop for the Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy (AISP) National Conference. Washington, DC.
Hawn Nelson, A. (2014, January). Charlotte and Educational Equity. Wake Up Student Empowerment
Conference. Charlotte, NC.
Hawn Nelson, A. (2013, November). Ready, Set, Go: Getting Started. Pre-conference workshop for the
Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy (AISP) National Conference. Washington, DC.
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Hawn Nelson, A. (2013, February). We know what works. Why aren’t we doing it? TEDx CharlotteEd.
Charlotte, NC.
Hawn Nelson, A. (2012, April). Moderator for Stand Against Racism programmatic series for the
YWCA. Charlotte, NC.
Hawn Nelson, A. (2011, February). Reversing the Trend of Re-segregation. Presentation at the 20th
Anniversary Summit for Teach For America. Washington, DC.
Hawn Nelson, A. (2011, April). A brief history of Charlotte and educational equity. Daylong session
presented at the request of the Levine Museum of the New South. Charlotte, NC.
Hawn Nelson, A. (2010, October). Why balanced schools? Good for student achievement, good for long-
term student outcomes. Presentation for Great Schools in Wake Coalition, Costs & Consequences
Symposium. Raleigh, NC.
Hawn Nelson, A. (2010, March). Why high poverty schools must be avoided: Evidence from North
Carolina. Presentation for Great Schools in Wake Coalition, Won’t You Be My Neighbor Forum.
Raleigh, NC.
Hawn, Amy. (2009, January). Using Manipulatives Effectively in the Classroom. Corps Member
Professional Development for Teach For America. Charlotte, NC.
Hawn, Amy. (2008, November). How to Create Strong Home School Connections. Corps Member
Professional Development for Teach For America. Charlotte, NC.
Hawn, Amy. (2008, October). Using Formative and Summative Assessments in K-2 Classrooms. Corps
Member Professional Development for Teach For America. Charlotte, NC.
Hawn, Amy. (2008, September). The Importance of Guided Practice. Corps Member Professional
Development for Teach For America. Charlotte, NC.
Hawn, Amy. (2008, August). Meeting the Needs of Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom. Beverly
Woods Elementary School Staff Development. Charlotte, NC.
Hawn, Amy. (2007, April). Meeting the Needs of ALL Learners: Looking at School Level Data to Drive
Instruction. Beverly Woods Elementary School Staff Development, Charlotte, NC.
Hawn, Amy. (2007, May). The Use of Document-Based Questions in Social Studies Classrooms. Corps
Member Professional Development for Teach For America. Charlotte, NC.
Hawn, Amy. (2006, October). Critical Literacy in the Elementary Classroom. Corps Member Professional
Development for Teach For America. Charlotte, NC.
Hawn, Amy. (2006, April). Making History Come Alive Through Primary Source Documents. Corps
Member Professional Development for Teach For America. Charlotte, NC.
Hawn, Amy. (2004, February). Unlocking the mystery of phonics for ESOL students. Venezuelan
Association of North American Schools (VANAS) Professional Conference. Caracas, Venezuela.
38
University Level Teaching Experience
Administration 8699: Dissertation Proposal Spring 2016
Research 7111/8111: Qualitative Research Methods Fall 2015
Education 1100 (002): Foundations of Education and Diversity in Schools
Co-taught with Professor Susan Harden Fall 2013
Student Engagement
Davidson College, Davidson Education Scholar, Intern Host, (Yijiao Chen), Summer 2015.
Leadership for Education Equity, Policy Advocacy Organizing Fellowship Intern Host, (Deja Kemp),
Summer 2014.
Davidson College, Davidson Education Scholar, Intern Host, (Addie Balenger), Summer 2014.
Leadership for Education Equity, Policy Advocacy Organizing Fellowship Intern Host, (Lauren Zachary),
Summer 2014.
Masters Thesis, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, Sociology, (Justin Lane, Committee Member),
2014.
Davidson College, Davidson Education Scholar, Intern Host, (Linnea Ng), Summer 2013.
Honors
Charlottean of the Year, 2015, Charlotte Magazine
William C. Friday Fellow for Human Relations, Class of 2014-2016
Woman of Achievement Honoree, Emerging Leader, YWCA Charlotte, 2014
North Carolina Principal Fellows Program, Class of 2008
Phi Beta Kappa
Phi Kappa Phi
Featured Teach For America Alumnus in North Carolina, 2009, 2011, 2012
Teacher of the Year Nominee, Beverly Woods Elementary, 2008
Environmental Awareness Educator Award, Charlotte Mecklenburg Soil and Water Conservation
Dept., 2008
Honoree from the Arts and Science Council of Charlotte, for being a public educator that supports the
Arts and Sciences in Public School classrooms, 2005
Professional Memberships
Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy (AISP), Site Member
American Education Research Association (AERA)
American Evaluation Association (AEA)
American Sociological Association (ASA)
National Neighborhood Indicators Partner, Site Member
39
Professional Service
Journal Reviewer, The Journal of Research in Rural Education
Community Service
Housing Advisory Board of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, 2015-present
Council for Children’s Right Policy Committee Member, 2015-present
NC Pathways to Grade Level Reading Data Action Team, 2015-present
Charlotte Neighbors for Strong Community Schools, Founder, 2013-2015
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Student Mentor, 2007-present
Girls on the Run Coach, 2005-2010
Let Me Run Coach, 2012-2013
UNC Charlotte College of Education Faculty Search Committee, 2013-2014
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Library Steering Committee Member, 2012-2013
Board of Directors, Secretary, Charlotte Children’s Choir, 2011-2015
League of Women Voters, Charlotte Chapter, 2013 - present
Charlotte Arts Showcase, Committee Chair, 2013
National Association of Multicultural Education, Treasurer of NC Chapter, 2007-2010
Teach for America School Board Fellow, Charlotte, NC, 2005-2006
Previous Professional Positions
Kennedy Charter Public School Charlotte, North Carolina
Assistant Principal, School Leader for K-8th grade January 2011 – July 2012
Kennedy Charter Public School is a K-12 Charter School that caters to students at-risk of failure in a
traditional school environment. Primary duties included supervision of all aspects of K-8th grade,
including direct supervision of 25 staff and 180 students. Accomplishments:
For first time since 1998, Middle School made high growth on end-of-grade tests in 2011 and
2012
In 2011, 83% of Elementary students reading on/above grade level. August enrollment K-3
increased three-fold.
Instrumental in fund development efforts, raising over $200,000 for school programming
needs.
Lincoln Heights Elementary School Charlotte, North Carolina
Dean of Students July 2009 – January 2011
Originally placed through the NC Principal Fellow Program in 2009 and strategically staffed as the
Dean of Students in 2010. My duties included the facilitation of daily operations, including:
transportation, textbooks, testing, discipline, curriculum and instruction decisions, data analysis,
teacher evaluation, school programming, and professional development. Under our leadership,
Lincoln Heights emerged from AYP School Improvement in 2010.
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Teach For America Charlotte, North Carolina
Learning Team Leader July 2004 – June 2010
Teach For America is a national service corps of outstanding college graduates who commit to teach in
public schools and become life-long leaders in pursuit of expanding educational opportunities. In order to
facilitate effective development, all corps members are divided into grade specific teams.
Responsibilities included: plan and execute professional development for K-5th grade first and second
year teachers, provide individualized support based on need and proficiency of teacher.
Beverly Woods Elementary School Charlotte, North Carolina
Classroom Teacher, 2nd and 3rd Grade August 2004 – June 2008
Beverly Woods Elementary is high performing traditional public school in Charlotte-Mecklenburg.
Responsibilities Included:
Implementation of pilot program utilizing Talent Development model in self-contained class for
25 certified gifted students.
Served as leader of the Character Based Education Taskforce as well as the founder of a school
based mentoring program for high-risk students.
The Levine Museum of the New South Charlotte, North Carolina
Educator, Curriculum Specialist June 2005 – February 2006
The Levine Museum of the New South is an award-winning museum located in Downtown Charlotte.
Duties included training staff and developing curriculum for 11th Grade Advanced Placement and 8th
grade Social Studies classes based upon current and past exhibits.
Colegio Internacional de Caracas Caracas, Venezuela
Classroom Teacher, 2nd Grade August 2003 – June 2004
Colegio Internacional de Caracas is an international school following IB and American curriculum
standards. My classroom consisted of 17 students from 11 countries on five continents. Instruction in all
subject areas was in English, with the majority of students being learners of English as a second language.
All students exhibited growth of more than two grade levels, as demonstrated by End of Grade testing.
Cross County Elementary School Baltimore, Maryland
Classroom Teacher, 2nd Grade August 2001 – June 2003
Placed in Baltimore City Public School system as a member of Teach For America. Dramatic growth
exhibited, with all students showing more than two grade levels of growth in both reading and
mathematics and all regular education students passing year-end proficiency tests. Served as Second
Grade Team Leader as well as Teach For America School Site Coordinator.
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