Title: Founder
Company: Agora Education Research
Location: Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Carolyn Ann Grim, PhD, founder of Agora Education Research, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Educators for dedication, achievements, and leadership in education nonprofits.
Dr. Grim has established herself across more than 35 years as an educator and researcher advocating for improvements to the education system. Her professional life started in 1989 as the principal investigator for the Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education grant. Devoting nearly 10 years to that project, including several years with Northeastern University as a research associate, Dr. Grim helped develop interactive materials for students learning French, German and Spanish. Concurrently with this, she helped teach nonverbal communication skills in those same languages.
From 1994 to 2007, Dr. Grim contributed as a consultant through her own organization, edevaluator.org. While pursuing her PhD in 2004, she took on the position of graduate assistant in institutional research at Boston College. In 2007, Dr. Grim accepted the role of research scientist and psychometrician at the Center for Applied Linguistics, choosing to explore this path in part because she recognized the lack of assessment methods for nonverbal communication skills. During this time, she conducted research into multiple types of language testing and developed guidelines for other researchers to utilize.
Beginning in 2010, Dr. Grim was associated with the National Center for Education Statistics through the U.S. Department of Education for 15 years. She brought her expertise to bear as an education statistician and psychometrician. From 2010 to 2023, Dr. Grim oversaw the first-ever national-level study of middle-grade students, leading a team that designed everything from the instruments to methodology to implementation. She considers this study to be one of the most important achievements of her career. Since leaving parting ways with the Department of Education in 2025, Dr. Grim has expanded her consultancy offerings through edevaluator.org, relaunching as the nonprofit organization Agora Education Research. Through this endeavor, she offers clients support in education-related research, data assessment and management, and program evaluations.
Prior to embarking upon her professional journey, Dr. Grim set a foundation in her own education, beginning with a Bachelor of Arts in French literature and a Master of Education in foreign language education from the University of Georgia. Following this, she obtained a second Master of Education in interactive technology from the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1987. Subsequently, Dr. Grim earned a PhD in education research, measurement and evaluation from Boston College in 2007.
As a commitment to her field, Dr. Grim has been active with several industry-related organizations. She maintains membership in the Association for Middle Level Education, the American Educational Research Association and the National Council on Measurement in Education.
Dr. Grim is noted for her achievements in the field as one of the most consistent and strongest voices pushing for continuous improvement in educational methods. She was presented with the Graduate Student Award from the American Educational Research Association. Dr. Grim has been featured twice in the Boston Globe in 2025. In addition to her work on the first national-level study of middle-grade students, she also contributed to the implementation and improvement of psychometric standards for the National Center for Education Statistics.
Outside of her professional life, Dr. Grim is a loving mother to three children. When she’s not working, she relaxes with cooking, gardening, spending time with her pets, downhill skiing, knitting and crafting. Looking ahead, Dr. Grim intends to continue expanding her work with Agora Education Research. In keeping with that goal, she is also dedicated to preserving nation-level education data during a tumultuous time for the Department of Education.
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