A study provides an organized list of core English language arts standards and benchmarks that are recognized by most or all of the states in the Central Region (Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming) and that are found in standards documents that have been rated as exemplary by national organizations. In short, this list of standards and benchmarks embodies content that is highly valued nationally as well as within the Central Region. Analysts selected as the reference document a McREL (Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning) study that identified only highly rated English language arts standards and benchmarks. The identified state standards documents (one from each of the seven states) were examined for this study: The process of comparison first was undertaken independently by two analysts. Each analyst indicated which states addressed the same content as that found in the reference document. When both analyses were completed, a third analyst then compared the reviews to resolve discrepancies that were significant. This paper discusses the findings from the analyses. The paper cites exemplary English language arts standards commonly found in the central region and those rarely found in the central region. (NKA)