In an attempt to better prepare young children for the challenges of kindergarten and first grade, the Supreme Court of New Jersey, in its 1998 landmark decision of "Abbott v. Burke" (Abbott V), required the State's poorest school districts to implement high quality, intensive preschool for all 3-and 4-year old children. To take advantage of the opportunities afforded by this decision, a consortium of foundations tied to Newark came together and committed themselves to creating high quality early education programs within a few of Newark's community-based preschools. The Newark Lighthouse Initiative, an effort aimed at helping three Newark-based programs become "centers of excellence," is the brainchild of this coalition. Both early childhood advocates and philanthropic groups involved in the Lighthouse Initiative wanted to identify and implement changes needed to transform subcontracting child-care centers providing Abbott preschool programs, into centers of excellence in early education. In order for these transformations to occur however, areas requiring change needed to be identified. The Lighthouse process for identifying these areas was through a comprehensive and evolving assessment process. By assessing every facet of these centers, including the programs, staff, child outcomes and parental satisfaction, Lighthouse administrators have been given a clearer picture of their programs' strengths and weaknesses. More importantly, the assessment findings have given them a tool to develop and implement program reform. This policy brief outlines the history of the Lighthouse Initiative, the formal and informal assessment processes used by the Lighthouse investigators, and the critical link made between assessment findings and program planning. The brief also identifies specific changes due to the assessment process. (Contains 1 chart and 15 endnotes.)