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CHARLOTTE -- Looking for new ways to raise student achievement in the classroom, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools formed a committee to find the best way to put fundraising and charitable giving to use and eventually attract even more donors for the cause.

"Every year, more than 1.2 million students don't finish high school and the achievement gap is tightly woven into that failure," said CMS superintendent Peter Gorman.

Looking ahead to more difficult budget cuts, the school board held a series of community forums this summer asking parents what's important to them.

"We heard the message. The message that parents want us to get after student achievement and equity," co-chair Richard Williams said.

To achieve those goals, CMS is teaming up with the Foundation of the Carolinas and it has assembled a diverse group of community leaders called the CMS Investment Study Group. During the next few months, that group will study the best way for private donors to help CMS close the achievement gap and raise the graduation rate.

"We want to see a number of other such models and come up with a model that we think would be successful in shrinking the gap here," said Williams.

One such model has made national headlines in recent years. Since the early 1990s, the Harlem Children's Zone has zeroed in on helping poverty-stricken children and families in central Harlem, N.Y., keeping students on track through college and into the job market.

CMS hopes to do just that in a way that works for students in Mecklenburg County.

The group will meet several times throughout the fall and present findings and recommendations near the end of the year.