“A few years ago, many of us across the NACAC community came together to confront a difficult question: Is the college admission ecosystem truly serving students the way it should? What we heard was clear and consistent…Change is not optional. It is overdue.” –Angel B. Pérez, CEO of NACAC

The inaugural Innovation Summit on March 26, 2026, brought together more than 130 leaders from across the ecosystem — CEOs, college presidents and trustees, technology leaders, and NACAC secondary and postsecondary members.

With the goal of achieving systems-level change, attendees engaged in design-thinking and problem-solving activities around the center’s three pillars:

1. How to redesign the structures of college admission to better serve students and institutions
2. To rethink how we define and assess student merit and readiness
3. How to foster the next generation of professionals in the college admission counseling workforce

What emerged from this event is a clear sense of urgency and a collective willingness to rethink long-standing assumptions to better serve students. The Innovation Summit report synthesizes integral feedback from attendees, guiding the next steps for the center.

The report includes:

• In-depth discussions around the center’s three pillars
• The role of higher education leadership in making postsecondary education more accessible
• Emerging practices such as direct admission, competency-based transcripts, and ethical use of artificial intelligence

Read the full report.

This Innovation Summit report is only the beginning. Learn more

NACAC is deeply grateful to Lumina Foundation, Youth Thriving Through Learning Fund, and Education First for their continued investment in the center and its vision. Their support made this event and subsequent report a possibility.