The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) has gone from strength to strength in advancing their mission to ensure that American higher education is the finest in the world. This annual report focuses on how well ACTA has led schools, coast to coast, to strengthen cost-control and accountability, nurture academic excellence, and enhance academic freedom. Impressive momentum has been achieved in strengthening schools around ACTA's three "A's" of accountability, academic excellence, and academic freedom. In 2017, ACTA captured the attention of their trustee and academic leadership network with a signature project and report on how institutions prioritize their spending. This annual report shares the success ACTA has experienced through their efforts to drive curricular improvement and as a national leader in defending rigorous core standards. [For the 2016 report, see ED585789.]