High academic standards are an important first step in ensuring that all Alaska's students have the tools they need for success. These standards reflect the collaborative work of Alaskan educators and national experts from the nonprofit National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment. Further, they are informed by public comments. Alaskan teachers have played a key role in this effort, ensuring that the standards reflect the realities of the classroom. Since work began in spring 2010, the standards have undergone a thoughtful and rigorous drafting and refining process. The reading standards establish increasing complexity in what students must be able to read so all students are ready for the demands of college-level and career-level reading no later than the end of high school. The standards also require the progressive development of reading comprehension; students advancing through the grades are able to gain more from whatever they read. The writing standards emphasize the ability to write logical arguments based on substantive claims, sound reasoning, and relevant evidence is a cornerstone of the writing standards, with opinion writing--a basic form of argument--extending down into the earliest grades. Student research, both short, focused projects and longer-term, in-depth projects, is also emphasized. Speaking and listening standards require that students gain, evaluate, and present increasingly complex information, ideas, and evidence through listening and speaking as well as through media. The language standards provide opportunities for students to develop their vocabularies through a mix of conversations, direct instruction, and reading. The standards emphasize word meanings and nuances of words, and steadily expand the repertoire of words and phrases. The literacy standards establish that interaction in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language be shared responsibly within the school. These standards establish a strong foundation of knowledge and skills all students need for success after graduation. It is up to schools and teachers to decide how to put the standards into practice and incorporate other state and local standards, including cultural standards.