EduLab Group, Investing in Academic Merit, LLC. USA Providing a Platform for English Writing Education that Matches the US National Academic Standards
～Expecting an increase in the needs of educational institutions and teachers in response to the increasing number of states that have adopted the US National Academic Standards～

EduLab, Inc. (Minato-ku Tokyo. President and CEO: Junichi Takamura. Hereafter “EduLab Group”) invested in Academic Merit, LLC. (Massachusetts, USA CEO: Steve Shapiro. Hereafter “Academic Merit”). Academic Merit has standardized the education method and evaluation criteria in the field of English writing, which has been a big challenge for education in the US, and has established an esteemed reputation among educational institutes and schools adopting the Common Core State Standards (common basic standards for each state. Hereafter “Common Core”), which is gaining acceptance across the nation as the US national academic standards.

Background of investment

Anticipating the possibility of rapid growth in the Edtech market in the US with the establishment of the Common Core (2009), we opened an office in the US in 2014 and have conducted market research since then. Previously, each state in the US used to set their own learning goals under their own governing bodies, but the Common Core, led by the Obama administration in 2009, has already been adopted in 45 of the 50 states in the nation (as of 2014). The Common Core has included teaching content with an emphasis on not just reading comprehension, but particularly on English writing skills (free description skills) in response to survey results from the NAEP (National Assessment of Educational Progress) and PISA (Program for International Student Assessment). The Common Core also reforms the inconsistency in how English writing is evaluated, from the evaluators’ side, and promotes the improvement in teaching skills. The EduLab Group decided to back Academic Merit, which provides a cloud-based English writing learning service, expecting that they will expand their business along with the expansion of the Edtech market.

* Common Core: http://www.corestandards.org
* NAEP: http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard
* PISA: http://www.oecd.org/pisa/

Overview of Academic Merit

Academic Merit was established by Ogden Morse III in Boston, Massachusetts, the education hub of the US. Morse has 20 years of experience in the field of education. Steve Shapiro, who has launched four different successful start-ups and is also an investor of Edtech Start-ups, is the CEO. Experts in the field of education have joined as board members, working together with College Board which provide and operates the SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test).

[Company Profile]

Company Name

Academic Merit, LLC

President

Steve Shapiro, CEO

Head Office

Floor 2, 281 Summer Street, South Boston, MA 02210, USA

Website

http://academicmerit.com

About EduLab Group

EduLab Group, headquartered in Tokyo, is building new businesses and investment in the field of Edtech, providing IT solutions and platforms for the education industry, and supporting next generation education and school management systems. With offices in Tokyo, Seattle, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, Pune, and Bangalore – EduLab Group is a global platform.

More information can be found at https://www.edulab-inc.com/en/