The evidence is clear that high quality early care and education works to improve child outcomes. New Jersey preschoolers participating in state-funded programs are already demonstrating gains over time on state and national standardized tests; a testament to their participation in programs designed to increase school readiness. But not all of New Jersey's young children attend programs that operate under the same high standards. Infants, toddlers and preschoolers attending services outside of the state-funded school districts do not have the same resources or guidance when it comes to quality improvement. A Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) is a mechanism to align knowledge of best practices for young children in education and care. New Jersey needs to build a system of quality standards and improvement that all providers of early care and education can follow regardless of the age of the children served or the location of the service delivery. Parents need to be able to understand the quality of services that their child care dollars purchase. BUILD partners have developed a QRIS and field-tested it to determine its effectiveness as a tool to measure and enhance child care service quality. The purpose of this paper is to provide a concise introduction to quality rating and improvement systems for early care and education programs and to make recommendations for the adoption of such a system in New Jersey. This is a policy area that has seen considerable national growth in the last several years and which has tremendous support through the New Jersey BUILD Initiative. Potential federal funding opportunities make the understanding and adoption of this quality improvement strategy timely. The experience of six early care and education programs piloting the process provides data that informs the lessons learned on the road to building a quality rating and improvement system. "Creating a Roadmap for Success" is a briefing paper for policy makers and an introduction to the institutions, programs and people that can make QRIS work. (Contains 5 figures and 18 endnotes.) [This report was produced from the Build Initiative, a project coordinated by the Association for Children of New Jersey. Funding for this report was provided by the Children's Futures.]