Many Pennsylvanians may be surprised, and unsettled, to learn that the commonwealth's 501 school districts don't have uniform standards for determining when to award a high school diploma. Each district sets its own diploma requirements, resulting in a patchwork of vastly different graduation standards across Pennsylvania. In some cases, students receive a diploma even though they have not shown academic proficiency.

The readiness of our graduates is the foundation upon which Pennsylvania's economic future will be built. Currently, that foundation is uneven and shaky.

A recent study by Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children offered a startling fact about the performance of high school graduates on Pennsylvania's System of School Assessment, the standardized state tests that meet the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Of the 126,926 seniors who graduated from Pennsylvania public schools in 2006, nearly 57,000 -- or 45 percent -- either did not score proficient on reading and math 11th-grade PSSAs or the 12th-grade retake, or they failed to take the PSSAs but still graduated based on assessments determined by local school districts.

Some might shrug this off as a problem for individual students who receive diplomas despite questionable academic performance. It is, however, a problem for the entire commonwealth -- taxpayers, parents, employers and workers.

Why? Because many high school graduates are entering the work force or higher education inadequately prepared for the challenges they will face. This lack of readiness often results in poor performance, an inability to compete in the ever-competitive global economy and a loss of opportunities and wages. This affects Pennsylvania's overall economy and competitiveness, leaving the commonwealth at a disadvantage.

We are graduating students who are not prepared for life beyond high school and, as a result, we are giving them false hope about their readiness to succeed in a high-skills global economy where knowledge equals success. We are cheating those students out of opportunities. They deserve better.

A number of business leaders, education stakeholders and policy-makers, including Gov. Ed Rendell, are among those supporting efforts by the State Board of Education to implement a series of tests known as "Graduation Competency Assessments."

Here's how the GCAs would work:

Starting with the 2014 graduating class, all Pennsylvania high school students would be required to pass tests in English, math, science and social studies in order to earn a diploma. These tests would be end-of-course exams that students could take at any time and that school districts could use in place of final exams.

The state would not dictate when to administer these tests, but instead would leave the decision to individual school districts and students. One student, for example, might complete a ninth-grade biology course and immediately take and pass the biology GCA. Another student might take biology in 10th grade before taking the biology GCA. Each student could proceed through the assessments at his or her own pace.

This not only allows the GCA process to be tailored to an individual student's pace and needs, but also negates concerns that some students don't "test well" by allowing students to take tests only when they feel comfortable.

Students also will have multiple chances to take each GCA. Students who don't pass the first time will receive extra help and have several additional opportunities to retake the full test or the test portion that they did not pass. Again, the goal is not to force students through a battery of tests, but rather tailor the process in a way that aids the student's learning.

Critics of GCAs have mischaracterized them as an effort to undermine local control. This claim is false. School districts would retain the flexibility to set local graduation requirements -- including the option of more rigorous standards and locally created or selected assessments -- as long as those assessments are at least as challenging as state tests.

Another criticism is that GCAs amount to an unfunded mandate. This also is false. School districts would not be left to go it alone. The state will offer districts a voluntary curriculum in the four subjects required by GCA tests, strategies for identifying students who need help boosting their academic skills, new financial resources and improved teacher training.

The implementation of GCAs would put Pennsylvania among 26 other states that already have high school graduation requirements or are in the process of implementing them. Together, these states educate 76 percent of the nation's students.

For the sake of Pennsylvania's children and the commonwealth's economic prosperity, we must ensure that every student graduates from our high schools with the skills they need to succeed in college and in the knowledge-based global economy. GCAs would give us the assurance that every Pennsylvania high school diploma is a ticket to lifelong success.