A Note from the Senior Director 

Dear friends, 

As we’ve officially stepped into the new year, I want to share my gratitude for your dedication, persistence, and the care you bring to students every day. A new year often comes with resolutions, and while mine tend to be simple, they always return to the same idea: pause, reflect, and be intentional about what comes next. After a busy college application season, this moment offers a welcome opportunity to look ahead with purpose and optimism.

We’re also entering a time of reflection for ACAC. State campaigns across the country are wrapping up their 2025 data, and we’re grateful for the care that goes into capturing and sharing these results. In March, we’ll bring those state efforts together to share a national snapshot of impact, highlighting how collective action, strong partnerships, and dedicated educators continue to expand access and opportunity for students nationwide.

National School Counseling Week, February 2-6, is upon us, a moment to recognize and celebrate the essential role school counselors play in students’ lives. While the week concludes shortly after you receive this newsletter, we believe the appreciation should extend far beyond five days. Counselors are often the steady presence guiding students through uncertainty, helping them stay organized, explore options after graduation, understand financial aid, and believe in their futures.

Celebrate school counselors with us through this issue, which shares resources and stories to honor the profession and reflects the importance of school counselors not just during application season, but all year long. 

With gratitude,  
Lisa Sommer King, senior director

Building a Scholarship Database: Strategies for Counselors

By: ACT

Now that the majority of college applications have been submitted and the busy rush of fall is behind us, counselors are uniquely positioned to support students in the next critical phase of the journey — navigating scholarship opportunities, staying organized through decision time, and understanding the financial aid packages that arrive in the new year.

To help with this work, we’re highlighting a thoughtful resource from the ACT Counselor Blog that aligns with these priorities: “Building a Scholarship Database.” This post offers practical strategies for creating and maintaining a centralized scholarship resource that can save time, deepen equity in access to funds, and empower students and families as they explore affordability options.

Read the full blog here.

Navigating a New Landscape: Why College Entrance Exams Still Matter in 2026 

By: Trevor McCray, Ph.D., program director, Center for Impact and Learning, ACT

We are approaching a pivotal moment for our high school juniors. Over the recent winter break, many students and their families were likely navigating complex conversations about college affordability and postsecondary paths. Today’s admissions landscape, shaped by test-optional policies and evolving criteria, has created both opportunity and uncertainty. While flexibility aims to reduce barriers, it has also blurred the role and importance of standardized testing, leaving families unsure of its value. As administrators, we must provide clarity: exams like the ACT and SAT remain critical benchmarks in an era of varied curricula and grading standards. Yet, their value is contextual, and submission is now a strategic choice with students increasingly using scores to stand out in competitive applicant pools.

The Why for Each Test: 

• ACT: Designed to mirror exactly what students see in their high school textbooks in all four core subjects (English, Reading, Science, Math).

• SAT: Focuses on reading comprehension, using vocabulary in context, and math logic.

These exams carry significant weight in the realm of financial equity. Many institutions, including those with test-optional admissions policies, still use assessment test scores to determine eligibility for merit-based scholarships. For many families, spending up to four hours in a testing center can translate into thousands of dollars in tuition discounts over four years. Furthermore, these scores are frequently used for course placement. A strong sub-score can allow a student to bypass developmental education courses, non-credit-bearing courses, saving them both time and tuition dollars during their freshman year. This makes the exam not just a bonus for entry, but a potential financial asset.

To ensure this asset is accessible to everyone, fee-waiver programs (ACT, SAT) remove the “pay-to-play" barrier that often impacts student success. These programs are designed to ensure that a student's financial background never dictates their postsecondary potential. Serinity Huguley, a 2023 Alabama Fee Waiver recipient, shared how this opportunity shaped her future, teaching her “how to never give up and just continue to work hard because there are many opportunities out in the world to help you succeed.” By providing these resources, ACT is transforming a single Saturday morning into a life-changing opportunity for merit scholarships and academic placement.

Call to Action 
We encourage you to connect with students and families now. Help them choose the right assessment path and ensure eligible juniors take advantage of fee waivers to open the doors to their future. By championing these resources, we can move the needle on postsecondary barriers and empower every student to navigate the college access process confidently.

Webinar: Data-Driven Guidance: Using Labor Market Insights to Strengthen Career Counseling

In an evolving economy, career counselors and educators need more than intuition; they need data. This webinar will empower high school counselors and educators to use labor market information (LMI) to better support students in making informed postsecondary and career decisions.

Participants will gain information to:

• Understand the role and value of labor market data in career advising

• Identify reliable sources for current and localized labor market information

• Learn strategies for interpreting data and incorporating it into student counseling

• Explore methods for communicating labor trends to students and families effectively

The webinar will be held on Tuesday, February 10, 2026, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. EST. Register to attend here. 

School Counselor of the Year

Congratulations to Danielle R. Crankfield of Crofton High School in Gambrills, Maryland, for the honor of being 2026’s School Counselor of the Year. Crankfield is the 19th winner to receive this recognition and the first in Maryland. 

Crankfield’s efforts include overseeing campus visits and FAFSA nights, assisting with organizing college application bootcamps, classroom lessons, and Junior Night, a postsecondary planning event supporting the Maryland Post-Secondary Success Campaign.

Her peers at Crofton describe her as their “North Star,” and Molly McCloskey, a School Counselor of the Year committee member, describes her as representing “the very best in professional school counseling.”

Learn more about Crankfield and this year’s finalists here.

College Match Day

Did you miss our webinar introducing the College Match Day program? The live webinar may have passed, but your support for students making the right fit decisions is ongoing. Watch our January webinar, College Match Day: Supporting high school juniors in making informed college decisions, to gain insight into what makes a college a match, how to build balanced college lists, and how to prepare for applications. 

Watch the recording here.  

ACT Webinar: What is Inclusive Postsecondary Education for Students with Intellectual Disability?

Join ACT and the experts from Think College for an inspiring session to discover how to unlock postsecondary opportunities for students with disabilities. Over the past two decades, advocacy efforts and improvements to the Higher Education Act have expanded access to more than 300 inclusive college programs nationwide. This webinar explores what inclusive higher education looks like in practice and the critical role counselors play in helping students identify the right program, access financial aid and other funding sources, and prepare for college success beginning in K-12.

Join us on Wednesday, February 18, at noon ET to:

• Support student exploration: Help students with disabilities explore postsecondary options, identify programs that fit their needs, and access financial aid and funding resources.

• Build hands-on experiences: Use the Think College program database to locate and evaluate inclusive higher education opportunities.

• Advocate with confidence: Leverage successful stories and outcome data to champion inclusive college pathways and support student success starting in K-12.

Register to attend here.