By act of the General Assembly in 1968, nursery schools and kindergartens were endorsed as the initial steps in early childhood education and were thereby made an integral part of the education system of Rhode Island. This act was the result of an upsurge of interest across the nation in offering planned educational opportunities to preschoolers; the establishment of an increasing number of facilities for children under six; and the demand by parents for a safe, healthy and acceptable places for their child to begin his/her educational experience. Thus, the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) was authorized to plan for the approval of existing early childhood programs and to assume leadership in establishing of standards for new facilities. That is, by legislative act, namely, Chapter 48 of Title 16 of the General Laws of Rhode Island, the Commissioner was given responsibility for setting standards and planning approval procedures for educational programs serving children three to six years of age. In 2006, RIDE began revising the 1968 standards to establish standards and an approval process for early care and education programs which reflected the substantive advances in the field in defining what constitutes high-quality early childhood education.  In January of 2010, The Board of Regents approved the new standards. These standards represent the Board of Regent’s vision of high-quality, comprehensive early childhood education.  The standards align with national PreK benchmarks, research, and evidence-based practice shown to improve educational and developmental outcomes for children. They also incorporate a framework for providing high-quality educational services based on RI Early Learning Standards. The new standards represent one part of a continuum of early care and education which links DCYF Licensing to Bright Stars Quality Improvement System to RIDE Approval and provides a clear path for program quality improvement.