Across the country, the early childhood sector struggles to maintain a minimum level of quality in child care centers and other programs for young children. Fundamentally, this struggle is a consequence of the lack of dedicated funding for early childhood education and the historic downward "push" of standards and funding from first grade to kindergarten and now, in many states, to programs for four-year-old children. The effect has been that many children do not enter an educational program with any public funding or oversight until the age of four or five years. The generally low level of professional qualifications of early childhood administrators, teachers, and classroom aides complicates this lack of broadly applied standards.

"Quality" efforts may focus on improving administration, teaching practices, materials and furnishings in classrooms, age-appropriate curricula, family involvement, or all of these areas.