In 2009, the Lumina Foundation published "A Stronger Nation through Higher Education: How and Why Americans Must Meet a 'Big Goal' for College Attainment," which projected a staggering shortfall of college-educated adults to meet labor market demand--16 million nationally by 2025. Like many states, the Illinois P-20 Council quickly established a statewide goal in response: to increase the proportion of Illinois adults with high-quality degrees and credentials to 60 percent by 2025. Illinois's state leaders realized that achieving the overall goal would mean grappling with how to better inform students and better prepare them to navigate their transition into college and careers. The leaders' decade-long work on aligned state policy frameworks and resources, particularly the Illinois Postsecondary and Career Expectations (PaCE) framework, serves as a case study for how state boards of education can build college and career readiness for students in all their diverse contexts.