This paper is an inquiry into standard setting as educational reform, stimulated by the emergence of projects and initiatives engaged in during the development of new standards. The publication is organized into five sections. The first section provides a brief discussion of the idea of a standard together with a definition that indicates the generally pragmatic cast of the paper. Section 2 describes and compares three models of educational reform--the systemic reform model, the professional model, and the reform network model. Each of these employs standard setting as a central and distinctive element. The third section contains a discussion of cross-cutting issues implicated in these models, focusing on normative and conceptual concerns in and the political dimensions and dynamics in standard setting. Section 4 presents a set of strategic approaches and scenarios through which various standard setting initiatives might be joined, thereby providing the firm, consistent guidance sought by policymakers. Section 5 offers some concluding observations that step outside the pragmatic frame to raise alternative perspectives on standard setting. An appendix provides Comer's nine components; guiding principles of the accelerated schools model; and nine common principles of the coalition of essential schools. (Approximately 125 references.) (LL)