jQuery Validate wp_editor

I have a form, and in the form, I use

<?php wp_editor('', 'user_submitted_progress', $settings = array('textarea_name' => 'user_submitted_progress')); ?>

to generate a TinyMCE, rather than a simple textarea. The problem is that I can’t get the wp_editor to be validated by jQuery Validation. Here is my code for jQuery Validation

$(document).ready(function() {
    $("#user_submitted_post").validate({

        errorPlacement: function(error, element) {},

        debug: false,
        rules: {
            user_submitted_title: {required: true},
            user_submitted_progress: {required: true},
            user_submitted_goals: {required: true},
            user_submitted_categories: {required: true},
            user_submitted_tags: {required: true},
        },

        invalidHandler: function(form, validator) {
            var errors = validator.numberOfInvalids();
            if (errors) {
                $("#error-message").show().text("Please make sure that all required fields have been filled out.");
            } else {
                $("#error-message").hide();
            }
        },

        submitHandler: function(form) {
            tinyMCE.triggerSave();
            var serialized = $(form).serialize();
            console.log(serialized);
            $(form).ajaxSubmit();
        }

    })
})

Here is my form:

<?php if (is_user_logged_in()) { ?>

    <div id="error-message"></div>

    <form id="user_submitted_post" action="" method="POST" enctype="multipart/form-data">

        <h2>Title</h2>
        <input type="text" id="user_submitted_title" name="user_submitted_title" value="">

        <p>Please provide detailed information about the long-term goals of your project, as well as your current project progress. Feel free to format your text using boldness, italics, lists, and block quotes. Simply click on the formatting option you'd like to use and start typing. When you no longer need the format you have selected, hit enter to go to the next line, and click on the active format button to end formatting.</p>

        <h2>Project Progress</h2>
        <?php wp_editor('', 'user_submitted_progress', $settings = array('textarea_name' => 'user_submitted_progress', 'media_buttons' => false, 'quicktags' => false, 'textarea_rows' => 15, 'editor_css' => '<style type="text/css">.wp_themeSkin .mceListBox .mceText {width: 81px;} .wp_themeSkin table.mceToolbar {margin: 5px;} td.mceToolbar > div {height: inherit;} tr.mceLast {display: none;} .wp_themeSkin .mceButton {margin: 1px 12px;}</style>', 'tinymce' => add_filter("mce_buttons", "base_extended_editor_mce_buttons", 0), add_filter("mce_buttons_2", "base_extended_editor_mce_buttons_2", 0)) ); ?>

        <h2>Project Goals</h2>
        <?php wp_editor('', 'user_submitted_goals', $settings = array('textarea_name' => 'user_submitted_goals', 'media_buttons' => false, 'quicktags' => false, 'textarea_rows' => 15, 'tinymce' => add_filter("mce_buttons", "base_extended_editor_mce_buttons", 0), add_filter("mce_buttons_2", "base_extended_editor_mce_buttons_2", 0)) ); ?>

        <h2>Category</h2>
        <?php wp_dropdown_categories($args = array('selected' => Uncategorized, 'orderby' => 'name', 'hide_empty' => 0, 'hierarchical' => 1, 'id' => 'user_submitted_categories', 'name' => 'user_submitted_categories')); ?>

        <h2>Tags</h2>
        <p>Separate tags with commas.</p>
        <input type="text" id="user_submitted_tags" name="user_submitted_tags" value="">

        <h2>Video</h2>
        <p>Copy and paste links from Youtube and Vimeo in the field below</p>
        <textarea id="user_submitted_video" name="user_submitted_video"></textarea>

        <h2>Audio</h2>
        <p>Copy and paste links from Soundcloud in the field below</p>
        <textarea id="user_submitted_audio" name="user_submitted_audio"></textarea>

        <h2>Images</h2>
        <input type="file" name="upload_attachment[]" multiple="multiple">

        <?php wp_nonce_field('post_nonce', 'post_nonce_field'); ?>

        <button type="submit" name="submitbutton" id="submitbutton">Submit</button>

    </form>

<?php } else { ?>

    <?php echo 'Sorry, but you need to be logged in to see that. You can <a href="'; ?>
    <?php echo wp_login_url( get_permalink() ); ?>
    <?php echo '" title="Login">login here</a>'; ?>

<?php } ?>

How do I get .validate to validate the text that the user types in the wp_editor? Don’t mind the crazy long array for the wp_editor. I just put all of the css in that array, because I’m still just testing all of this in the Twenty Twelve theme.

Any help is appreciated.