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  3. Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium

Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium

Center DetailsMERC Logo

Director: Dr. Jesse Senechal
Location: Oliver Hall, 1015 W. Main Street, Richmond, Virginia 23284-2020
Phone: (804) 828-0478
Email: senechaljt@vcu.edu 
Website: http://www.merc.soe.vcu.edu 

The Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium connects the VCU School of Education with seven local school divisions in order to plan and conduct research (and disseminate findings) that directly address school and community needs.

Some of MERC's recent work, for instance, includes a look into teacher morale - studying why job satisfaction among teachers had fallen to its lowest level in decades and examine what could be done to reverse the issue.

The center also offers program evaluations for schools and other government agencies, which can be used to help support a program's initial development or to assess its progress and findings.

A full list of the center's current projects can be found on its website's projects page.

School divisions that MERC partners with include:

  • Chesterfield County Public Schools
  • Goochland County Public Schools
  • Hanover County Public Schools
  • Henrico County Public Schools
  • Petersburg City Public Schools
  • Powhatan County Public Schools
  • Richmond City Public Schools

Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium mission

The Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium provides tangible material support to enhance the practice of educational leadership and the improvement of teaching and learning in metropolitan educational settings. MERC’s research and development agenda is built around five goals:

1. To improve educational decision-making through joint development and dissemination of practice-driven research
2. To anticipate significant, reasonable educational issues and needs
3. To identify proven strategies for improving instruction, leadership, policy and planning
4. To enhance the effective dissemination of research to practitioners
5. To provide research-oriented professional development opportunities for school practitioners