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…

A growing number of state leaders believe that it is essential to expand high-quality early learning and development opportunities for all young children before they reach kindergarten. A key component of this strategy is providing access to voluntary, high-quality pre-kindergarten programs, especially for low-income children. Over the last few…

State pre kindergarten programs have grown dramatically in the last two decades, and much more attention is being paid to the school readiness of children. Six states, Georgia, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Wisconsin have policies in place or a goal to move toward universal access to pre kindergarten, and other state leaders…

By the time they enter kindergarten, many low-income children are already behind their peers from more advantaged backgrounds. During early childhood, low-income children face a number of risk factors that threaten healthy development and learning, including low birth weight, stunted growth, obesity, and lead poisoning--all of which are associated…