Carter Research is a leading boutique professional services firm that provides strategic advisory, best practice research, new business development, implementation support tools, and operational solutions that address all aspects of the K-12 education industry.
Founded in 2000, Carter Research is structured as a partnership with member partners, consultants, analysts, and other support professionals distributed around the world. The firm advises c-suite, business, civic, and organizational leaders to radically transform the business of school management and improve educational environments for everyone.
Carter Research clients include high-potential growth companies, private equity investors, global philanthropies, family foundations, nonprofit groups, universities, and school management organizations of every kind.
In today’s complex educational landscape, vision, creativity, and the insight to innovate have all become necessary to enjoy sustained success.
Passionately committed to the Guiding Principles upon which our firm was founded – at Carter Research we believe the power of insight is exercised well through healthy choice and competition. We aim to create surplus value for our clients and partners and to advance the greater good of the whole human family by radically transforming the business of school management and improving educational environments for everyone.
who we are
Our Vision
Our vision is to radically transform the business of school management and improve educational environments for everyone.
who we are
Our Mission
Our mission is to unleash the pure potential of the human person and give all children the skills, knowledge, and formation they need to thrive in life and positively contribute their unique gifts to society.
who we are
Company History
Carter Research is the recognized authority in K-12 school management that private investors, corporations, philanthropies, governments and school operators turn to for both strategic direction and operational support.
Our work is broad and deep. We have advised companies and school ministries in 11 countries on four continents, testified in state capitols in 37 states and the District of Columbia, and positively changed educational outcomes for millions of children by transforming the business of school management.
Beginning with the No Excuses research in 1998, which set a new national standard for excellence in the teaching of children in poverty (and launched dozens of school networks and hundreds of high-performing, high-poverty schools modeled on their best practices), Carter Research has established a 20-year track record of anticipating the most potent trends in school management and working with others to scale them successfully.
Carter Research has helped the higest performing charter networks like KIPP, SEED, National Heritage Academies, and Charter Schools USA as well as the leading private school management organizations like CristoRey, HOPE, and Faith in the Future expand their operations and improve overall school quality.
In 2010, after a decade of successfully demonstrating the qualitative and quantitative measures that lead to high performance in the education of the young, the research behind On Purpose shined a national spotlight on how great school cultures harness student character to drive achievement. By 2012 Carter Research encouraged the rise of innovative Catholic school management organizations in the U.S. which by 2016 led to the proliferation of new governance models both in the U.S. and in Europe needed to rebuild these and other faith-based schools for the future.
Now Carter Research has redeveloped its proprietary suite of programs and services to make the most leveraged components of our strategic insight and implementation support available to school leaders and the institutions that support them.
important milestones
Company Timeline
A brief overview of Carter Research assets and accomplishments to date that helped to shape
the business of school management
Founded interdisciplinary research institute committed to the authentic renewal of liberal arts education in the Catholic tradition.
Leadership and operational framework for continuous improvement based upon our proprietary methodology, best-practice research, and implementation support tools
Italian symposium held by the Istituto Universitario Sophia di Loppiano upon the Italian publication of On Purpose
Designed and developed management agreement to operate largest Catholic school network in the US
Best selling book On Purpose: How Great School Cultures Form Strong Character is released
Supports launch of international charter high-school from the UK in the US
Published a bold agenda for the Obama Administration to help shape their education reform policy
Designed and launched NHA’s leadership academy and oversaw the school turnaround efforts of the lowest performing schools in its system
Best selling book on No Excuses: Lessons from 21 High-Performing, High-Poverty Schools sparks national charter school movement
Policy brief No Excuses: Seven Principals of Low-Income Schools Who Set the Standard for High Achievement is released to national acclaim