Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS)--a strategy to improve families' access to high-quality child care--assess the quality of child care programs, offer incentives and assistance to programs to improve their ratings, and give information to parents about the quality of child care. These systems are operating in a growing number of…

Many states have initiated prekindergarten programs to better prepare young children to enter school. A "blueprint for quality" was used as the basis for evaluating state prekindergarten initiatives; the blueprint focused on four components: (1) ensuring the availability of prekindergarten; (2) ensuring high quality prekindergarten; (3)…

Public policy generally recognizes two basic facts about the importance of child care: child care assistance is essential if low-income mothers are to move toward self-sufficiency; and high quality supportive child care can help to provide children, and low-income children in particular, with the foundation they need to do well in school and…

Access to quality child care is critical to working parents. Prior to the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, states had a significant level of responsibility for child care, and the 1996 welfare reform law further expanded the state's role. This report examines state efforts in child care and early education in…