Advocates for Education Research Initiatives


	-	What Matters Most
	-	Principal Leadership Study
	-	NC Lottery for Education
	-	Community Guide to School Budget
	-	Community Assessment

Quality Public Education

Our Mission: Mecklenburg Citizens for Public Education is an independent, community supported organization that mobilizes ideas, leadership, broad-based support and resources to bring about significant, measurable improvements in areas of policy, instruction, and management in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

Mecklenburg Citizens for Public Education
301 S. Tryon Street
Suite 1725
Charlotte, NC 28282

Telephone: 704-335-0100
Fax: 704-334-3545

Research Initiatives

What Matters Most: Student Postsecondary Success

There is a loud but necessary debate about Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) on a range of issues: test scores and academic content standards, cut-scores and performance standards, teacher qualifications and principal leadership, school assignment and funding, and equity and excellence in our public schools.

But this debate often obscures the critically important focus on the ultimate purpose of the 13+ years our children spend in school - to make sure they are fully prepared to engage successfully and productively in an adult world that is ever changing and complex. Our organization, a local independent non-profit organization, released findings from its study, What Matters Most: Student Postsecondary Success.

Principal Leadership Study

National and local research indicates a teacher's decision to stay at a school largely depends upon the principal and his or her leadership in the school. Believing principal leadership may be the key to increasing teacher retention, our organization released findings from its study, Role of Principal Leadership in Increasing Teacher Retention: Creating a Supportive Environment.

North Carolina Lottery for Education: What are the Odds Our School Would Win?
Presently North Carolina has a crippling budget crisis and is finding it very difficult to provide all public services, including education, by relying exclusively on broad-based taxes. This comes at a time when the courts are mandating that the State provide a basic education to all. Many states have turned to lotteries to help increase their coffers. As a result, there have been renewed discussions about bringing a lottery to North Carolina to help fund our public education. Before deciding whether a North Carolina lottery for education would benefit our students, our organization sought to answer whether a lottery is an effective alternative way to fund education by looking at the experiences of states with a lottery. This research paper seeks to examine

1. The impact of lotteries on funding for education, both negative and positive impact;
2. Whether lotteries are a reliable, sustainable source of annual income for education; and
3. Methods that could be used to ensure lottery funding supplements education funding and does not merely supplant existing funding.

For more information please review:

North Carolina Lottery for Education: What are the Odds Our Schools Would Win?

Community Guide to Understanding the School Budget (1996, 2002)

Publication which informs citizens about the difference in capital and operational expenses, the different sources of revenue for funding short-term and long-term needs, and the current and projected CMS budgets.

Community Assessment

In 2005, the organization surveyed 1200 citizens in Mecklenburg County about their perceptions and beliefs about leadership -- superintendent of CMS and the school board, funding of public education, and attitudes about educational reform issues.