Concerns about academic standards, whether created by states from scratch or adopted by states under the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) banner, have drawn widespread media attention and are at the top of many state policymakers' priority lists. Recently, a number of legislatures have required additional steps, such as waiting periods for public comment, that state education leaders must follow, and ECS anticipates that the 2015 sessions will see continued debate on this issue. This brief describes state standard-setting processes and provides profiles of eight states' standard-setting and review processes, as well as the measures used by those states to validate their standards. Appendix A provides historical context around standard setting and the evolution of state standards.