I am incredibly fortunate to be leading EdAgree as it spins out from ETS and as we look to expand opportunities for aspiring international students. Blessed with an amazing and mission-driven start-up team and supported by a company that is authentically rooted to the goal of doing good across the education ecosystem, I wake every morning knowing that this is where I should be and what I should be doing. Trust me, that’s a mighty fine feeling.
The idea of EdAgree came out of ETS’s long-standing commitment to advance quality and equity in education. I am thankful and humbled by the investment that ETS has made in EdAgree’s future. We complement and expand that mission through outcomes-focused relationships with international students and destination universities.
My own background is that of a teacher—13 years in Cameroon, Tanzania, China, South Korea and the U.S.—and then an innovator and product owner in the EdTech space. Teaching and learning course through my veins, and I mean that literally; my sisters, my parents, all four of my grandparents were teachers. Serving students is what I am about, and the team at EdAgree shares this passion.
At its core, EdAgree serves up a platform that invites students to learn about themselves in relation to possible Higher Education choices. Obvious factors such as school rank are tempered by deeper explorations of university programs, graduate success stories, on-campus engagement opportunities, and so much more. Through non-cognitive assessments and intercultural competency training, students begin to see themselves in relation to the otherwise overwhelming myriad of choices before them.
A common thread across EdAgree partner universities is a commitment to optimizing student success. EdAgree collaborates with these universities and with cutting-edge ETS researchers to isolate factors that predict how and why international students will succeed in specific academic settings, and how best to support those students across their learning journeys.
As I write this thank-you to ETS and this hello-world from EdAgree, we all face a heightened level of stress and conflict around the world. COVID-19, nationalistic isolationism, climate change, racial and economic divisions, and degradation of natural resources. In this setting, the global exchange of people and ideas remains a potently positive force. EdAgree will always work to expand such exchange.
Marlowe Johnson
CEO, EdAgree
