School Divisions

Members

MERC's collaborative effort involves Virginia Commonwealth University, seven Richmond area greater metropolitan school districts: Chesterfield County, Colonial Heights City, Hanover County, Henrico County, Hopewell City, Powhatan County, and Richmond City – representing a cross-section of urban, suburban, and rural public schools. These founding members established MERC in August 1991 to provide timely information to help resolve educational problems identified by practicing professional educators. Additionally, associate membership is currently being offered to other divisions throughout the state. Please contact Gwen Hipp at 804-828-0478 for further information. Member school divisions benefit from an organizational structure that enhances their capacity for a strong program of research by directly addressing issues and problems they face. The University benefits by fulfilling a broad range of research and public service objectives, including an ideal training center to develop the knowledge and skills of future school leaders. The partners jointly benefit by positioning themselves to compete for grants, which require a school division/university partnership. MERC currently provides services to over12,000 teachers and administrators and 150,000 students. MERC's base funding comes from its membership.

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