In this article, the authors present findings from a case study of alignment that occurred between a Pre-K program and the larger K-12 system in which it was housed, to consider what this change process means for early childhood education. Specifically, they discuss and analyze the work of a collection of Pre-K stakeholders who proactively designed and successfully implemented a Pre-K assessment tool that clearly defined the academic knowledge, skills, and personal development traits that students needed in their preparation for the South West School District's elementary school program. In presenting this case study, the authors recognize that not all early childhood programs face the same hurdles as this Pre-K program, nor do these programs operate in the same educational and/or political situation. Here, the authors briefly detail the state policies that undergird the Pre-K program, provide a short description of this school district and its Pre-K program, and discuss the methods for investigating this case study and analyzing the data. Next, the authors outline issues of alignment addressed by this assessment tool drawing attention to the strategies these stakeholders used to implement their tool successfully. The authors end by highlighting steps these stakeholders desired in their creation of a better tool, and reemphasize the importance of early childhood stakeholders addressing the various issues of standards-based reform. (Contains 1 table and 10 notes.)