Alignment is desirable, indeed critical, for
standards to be effective. Yet effective alignment
consists of more than simplifying for a younger
age group the standards appropriate for older
children. Rather than relying on such downward
mapping, developers of early learning standards
should base them on what we know from research
and practice about children from a variety of
backgrounds at a given stage/age and about the
processes, sequences, variations, and long-term
consequences of early learning and development.32