The application of a standards-based approach is present in most state early childhood assessment systems as part of the teaching and learning cycle, however little empirical alignment to standards is noted. When alignment studies are conducted between early learning assessments and standards, it is often conceptual in and lacks the rigor of a state or population-specific validity study. The purpose of this paper is to highlight one state's innovative approach to empirically aligning early learning assessments to standards. (author abstract)