The development of a checklist for use in monitoring and evaluating the quality of child care services, and the implications of use of the checklist by day care providers, are discussed. Several research studies that used the indicator checklist model have attempted to determine whether compliance with state child care regulations has a positive impact on children and whether predictors of program quality can be identified. Findings have revealed that centers with low compliance scores have the lowest program quality scores; centers in substantial compliance have the highest program quality scores; and centers in full compliance have somewhat lower program quality scores than centers in substantial compliance. Regulatory and program quality items that correlated with program compliance and quality, including items related to effective administration, implementation of a child development curriculum, and parent participation, were identified. These results could have an impact on public day care policy related to day care regulation and monitoring. States can emphasize substantial compliance with the predictor and indicator items of the indicator checklist model. Two advantages of the model are that its use can: (1) reduce state costs for monitoring and licensing day care centers; and (2) save centers time. A list of child development program quality indicators is provided in Figure 2. (RH)