In Arizona and around the country, there is an increased focus on ensuring that children start school ready to learn. Noting that the best way to know if Arizona's children are starting school ready to learn is to track their progress, this booklet details indicators or benchmarks in five categories used to measure the state's progress in school readiness efforts: (1) reading at grade level, based on standardized testing at third and fourth grades; (2) risk factors (young child poverty rates, children born into families with multiple risk factors, percent of first-graders in special education, and student mobility); (3) access to services (percent of poor 3- and 4-year-olds enrolled in Head Start, percent of low-income children under age 6 without health insurance, lack of adequate prenatal care, and percent of low-income children receiving assistance through Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children [WIC]); (4) quality of early education (child care providers' salaries relative to kindergarten teachers' salaries, preschool teachers' salaries relative to kindergarten teachers' salaries, and percent of licensed child care centers that are NAEYC accredited); and (5) readiness of schools (percent of fourth-graders in classes with 25 or fewer children). The indicator data show that the state's reading achievement scores remained stable between 1992 and 2002 but lagged behind the national average. About 20 percent of Arizona's children under age 5 currently live in poverty. About 8 percent of first-graders are placed in special education classes. Almost 60 percent of poor 3- and 4-year-olds are enrolled in Head Start. About one-third of Arizona's low-income children under age 6 lack health insurance. In Arizona, the salaries of child care providers and preschool teachers are a fraction of kindergarten teacher salaries. Slightly over 10 percent of licensed child care centers in the state are accredited through NAEYC. About half of Arizona's fourth-graders are in classes with 25 or fewer children, compared to 64 percent nationally. (KB)