The making of a decision implies a choice between competing alternative solutions. In a decision-making context including multiple criteria, the criteria (or their related variables) are placed in relation to each other. This provides a comparison to some fixed point or origin, reducing the problem to one which can be solved by optimization as in the single criterion condition. It is also possible to conceive an "ideal" solution either as an independent entity or as a composite of the "best" aspects of all the criterion variables. The conceptualization of the "ideal" in a set of alternatives under decision is important because the addition of an extraneous alternative into the decision set can expand the decision boundary, thereby changing the location of the ideal point and reordering the alternatives relative to the ideal point. The demonstration that a non-optimal alternative can be made optimal by the addition of a new alternative into the strategy set (Ideal Displacement) can be made. For school evaluators and decision makers, these abstract issues become of pragmatic concern because the process by which alternatives are developed, weighted, and selected will have a profound impact on the quality of the decision made. (BW)