Early care and education has been designated as the 2000-2001 focus of the Education Commission of the States (ECS), a nonprofit, nationwide interstate organization that helps governors, legislators, state education officials, and others identify, develop, and implement public policies to improve student learning at all levels. Noting that there is a long way to go before the first of the National Education Goals--that all children will start school ready to learn--is achieved, this report identifies barriers to changing the current "nonsystem" of early care and education and describes ECS's role in addressing this issue. Although many states have invested resources in preschool programs and have taken steps to improve the quality of early care and education programs, the challenge is to knit together the piecemeal efforts to create a well operating system. The 2-year ECS Early Learning Initiative is described as complementing the work of other national organizations by serving the needs of ECS policymaker, education, and business constituencies by: (1) engaging business communities in early learning as an investment in the development of the future workforce; and (2) making systemic connections between early learning and elementary education. The report delineates the goals for the initiative and identifies ways state policymakers, educators, business leaders, parents, and advocates can contribute to and benefit from the initiative. The report concludes with a list of resources and a list of the members of the Early Learning Advisory Council. (KB)