As part of efforts to improve school readiness by enhancing the quality of early childhood education, the state of Maryland developed standards for the use of staff in center-based child care and Head Start programs to mirror the standards in place for public school prekindergarten programs as well as a state accreditation process for center-based child care and Head Start programs. This document is comprised of a guide to accreditation and an instrument for self-appraisal and validation. The guide to accreditation provides information on the accreditation process, including implementation of the self-appraisal process; documentation of standards related to program administration, program operation, and home-school-community partnerships; and information on the validation process, including the validation visit and receipt of the validation decision. Appended is an overview of the accreditation process, including self-appraisal and validation, relevant forms, answers to frequently-asked questions about the standards and accreditation, and a glossary of relevant terms. The instrument for self-appraisal and validation is used by the program and by the validator team to rate the program's implementation of standards for program administration (mission statement, personnel, program continuity, and program accountability), program operation (environment, care and learning opportunities or curriculum, instruction, and assessment), and home-school-community partnerships. The instrument lists indicators rated on a 3-point scale (not met, partially met, or fully met) for the extent to which the indicator is in place. These indicators are linked to NAEYC standards and to Head Start program performance standards. (KB)