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RALEIGH -- Assignment zones could be the answer to settling the turmoil surrounding Wake County Public Schools’ student assignment policy, according to an educational consultant.

The school board's student assignment committee on Tuesday heard from Michael Alves, the architect of the controlled choice method of assigning students. He says it achieves diversity through parent choice.

In controlled choice, all schools are deemed schools of choice and no students are assigned to a school based solely on their home address. Instead, efforts are made to inform parents about the available choices of schools in their zone.

Parents then rank their choices in order of preference.

The school system can then better identify schools that need improvement based on parents' choices.

"The plans should be transparent. It shouldn't be overly complicated. Comprehensible to the parents and then the question is what schools are they going to choose?" Alves said.

Controlled choice originated in Massachusetts in the early 1980s as a way to voluntarily achieve racially-integrated schools and avoid controlled busing.