The report is about the effectiveness of the YoungStar system which provides consumers with a simple 5 Star rating system for the quality of early care and education (ECE) programs for children ages 0 to 5. It also explores what was learned from a recent research study of YoungStar, Wisconsin's child care quality rating and improvement system. The report will address key questions, including: (1) Is the 5 Star quality rating system valid? (2) Do program ratings improve over time? (3) Do programs with higher quality ratings produce better outcomes? and (4) How well has Wisconsin done in its effort to build a strong Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS)? For example, one of the findings of the evaluation study was that the state's YoungStar system does reflect differences in quality: programs with more stars were doing a much better job with young children. For example, in the area of language and reasoning, the average 5 Star program teachers were observed introducing logical concepts (for example over/under, before/after) into conversations with children, and children were encouraged to talk through or explain their own reasoning when solving problems. Some 2 Star programs also did these practices with children, but the average 2 Star program did not. [Introduction by David Riley. The evaluation was led by Katherine Magnuson. Special acknowledgement goes to: Herzfeld Foundation, Alliance for Early Success, and Oscar & Elsa Mayer Family Foundation.]