College Board hosts Forum 2025 in New York with a Focus on the “new 3 Rs of education”: Relevance, Reach, and Readiness

College Board

• November 6, 2025

Challenging times require educators to build together to meet the needs of the millions of students counting on them. That was the message of College Board's annual meeting, Forum 2025, in New York. Thousands of educators and leaders from higher education, K-12 schools, and business gathered to engage in dialogue, collaboration, and action on the most pressing issues facing students today.

"Our charge is simple and ambitious: Expand our reach, ensure our relevance, and grow students' readiness," said Hunter College President Nancy Cantor. "Together we can build the system and partnerships that make that promise real," said Cantor, who served as one of the Forum 2025 co-chairs.

Forum 2025 highlighted new offerings by College Board to help connect more students with successful pathways after high school, including new Advanced Placement courses to help more high schoolers be ready for their future whether it includes college, training programs, or the workforce.

"Our kids are desperate for opportunity," said College Board CEO David Coleman in his remarks during the opening plenary session, "and our country is desperate for their talent, their energy, their imagination. We must build together." Addressing those worries is a key driver behind new College Board offerings introduced broadly at Forum: Advanced Placement Career Kickstart courses designed to connect students with the topics that interest them and address the real-world skills they need for career success. Two new career-oriented AP courses: AP Business with Personal Finance and AP Cybersecurity will offer college credit and employer-recognized credentials, making them valuable for all pathways to higher education, apprenticeships and direct employment. The courses, which have been in development for several years, will launch in schools across the country in fall 2026.

"When we connect coursework with students' interests and show them the connection to the real world, we are able to engage students in a new way," Coleman said.

In a lively panel discussion, educators, business leaders and policymakers focused on the need for more coordination across sectors, so that students don't lose momentum as they move from high school to college and in the transition to work. "We need the full through-line," said Lydia Logan, Vice President for Global Education and Workforce Development at IBM. "We used to talk a lot about the bridge from high school to college. And now we need to think about the bridge from college to career."

College Board Forum 2025 also featured dynamic presentations from education leaders that covered topics such as the role of generative Artificial Intelligence in students learning at the K-12 and college levels and new strategies for college recruitment and financial aid.