This report describes early childhood activities of state departments of education, identifying and discussing six areas of activity that were determined to be significant. These six policy areas, which were identified as emerging as focal points of early childhood activity, were: (1) the School Readiness Education Goal; (2) passage of the federally funded Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG); (3) public school collaboration with Head Start; (4) state training and credentialing of early childhood staff; (5) early intervention efforts for special needs children; (6) recent changes in public school preschool, kindergarten, and early elementary programs. States were surveyed regarding their activity in each of these areas. Responses indicate that: (1) public school activities in early childhood education have been wide-ranging, intense, and varied; (2) states have proposed basic changes in the structure of schools, created new programs, and significantly increased their collaboration across agencies; and (3) the workload at the state-agency level, where states have at best a handful of early childhood education personnel who struggle with priorities, will increase. (Contains 38 references.) (DR)