Most students want to go to college. Large numbers enroll. High schools work hard to prepare them. Unfortunately, many students still struggle to succeed.

In today's economy, ready for work and ready for postsecondary education mean much the same thing. Eighty-seven percent of Americans say a college education has become as important as a high school diploma once was.

The U.S. Department of Labor predicts more than two-thirds of the thirty fastest-growing jobs will require education beyond high school, and 40 percent of all new jobs will require at least an associate's degree. If we prepare all students for the option of college, we prepare them for all of their options.

To be prepared to that standard, middle schoolers must be prepared for, and high schoolers must take, rigorous college preparatory courses. Study after study has shown that such curricula improve achievement. High school students who take college prep classes improve their skills, test at higher levels, and show significantly greater persistence in postsecondary education. Students enrolled in less rigorous curricula are less employable, disadvantaged in the college admissions process, often in need of remedial instruction, and more likely to drop out of school.

After more than 20 years of reform, many schools are models of student preparation. Others, however, still reach for that goal.

To get there, more of their students must take a college preparatory curriculum. More must reach the ACT college readiness benchmarks, and more must be ready to succeed in postsecondary programs without enrolling in remedial courses.

Let's make sure all students are prepared for advanced education, training programs, and the workforce—without remediation. Let's prepare kids for the next step in their lives. Let's prepare them to have choices.