With college and career readiness driving K-12 education goals in the United States today, states are focusing more acutely on policies to ensure their students are well prepared for postsecondary and professional success. While states may adapt their education policies in pursuit of these goals, a question about implementation at the local level takes center stage: How do school districts interpret and respond to these types of policy changes? New England, known for its history of local control over public education, is a pertinent site to examine the relationship between state policy and local implementation. With a declining school-age population, the region's knowledge-based economy relies upon the retention and attraction of well-educated graduates. In response to these strategic goals, New England states have joined national conversations about college and career readiness, trying to determine the best model for their K-12 education systems. While changes in state policy are a critical first-step for education reform, real change must happen in school districts. It is important to study how local districts respond to, and grapple with, these policy changes in order to better understand the implementation process. States may change policies in pursuit of these visions, but it is the change in practice at the local level that truly impacts student experience and thus plays a major role in the success of the state policies. With this in mind, this report compares state policy with local implementation to identify areas where they align and where they diverge. To do so, the report uses New Hampshire and its drive toward a competency-based education (CBE) system as a guiding case study to illustrate important challenges to, and strategies for, statewide educational transformation.