One of a series concerning state policies and practices in child care and early education, this report profiles state-driven comprehensive early childhood initiatives designed to create state and local partnerships that share power and responsibility while promoting local decision-making autonomy in spending resources to improve services for children and families with the end result of improving school readiness. The focus of the report is on the experiences of nine states with comprehensive initiatives involving children up to age five and their families and that have some funding for implementation. The states are: California, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Chapter 1 provides an overview of each initiative. Chapter 2 details potential benefits and hazards of the initiatives. Chapter 3 presents a blueprint for state-driven local initiatives, while chapters 4 through 10 detail the components common to effective planning initiatives: (1) creating a strong state governance; (2) establishing clear guidelines for local councils; (3) building broad constituencies across sectors; (4) investing adequate resources and developing flexible spending policies; (5) identifying and supporting local capacity; (6) linking planning to accountability; and (7) understanding the uses and limits of evaluation. Chapter 11 concludes that in order to succeed, comprehensive early childhood initiatives must be built on a stable foundation secured with new state funding, a clear vision and strong leadership, and reasonable expectations. The report's four appendices include descriptions of allowable uses of state initiative funds and provide resource and contact information. (Contains 26 endnotes and a list of related publications.) (KB)