The purpose of this document is to serve as a reference guide for States involved in the P-20 effort to map data elements to the Common Education Data Standards (CEDS). It describes how one State used Align to assist in development of its P-20 system and describes in detail how this project could be replicated. The CEDS provide a shared vocabulary for education data elements used to streamline the exchange, comparison and understanding of data within and across P-20 institutions and sectors. This guide walks the user through the process for aligning to CEDS, including the mapping process, collection of data sources, formatting and uploading data sources to the Web-based tool, CEDS Align, and alignment to CEDS elements. It is based on the work that Reform Support Network (RSN) experts conducted with the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) under an individual technical assistance request.