Dr. Kevin J. Fleming is honored to receive the 2025 ACTE Postsecondary Award.

I believe everyone should pursue education or training after high school, but it need not be a traditional college degree…at least not right away. Whether it’s a certificate, associate’s degree, apprenticeship, military training, community service, entrepreneurship, or other credentials, our focus should shift to some form of post-secondary preparation for each individual, aligning education with diverse talents and job opportunities.

We stand at an inflection point: the AI era is forcing us to confront a deeper crisis—not just about tools, but about intelligence itself. As Van brilliantly argues in her article, “Humanity Is Facing an Intelligence Crisis,” we weren’t taught to engage with intelligence; we were taught to exploit it.  If we accept that claim, then our curricular design must shift dramatically. Van offers a Leading Intelligence Framework for working with Machine Intelligence.