This Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) annual performance report for the year 2015 describes Illinois' accomplishments, lessons learned, challenges, and strategies Illinois will implement to address those challenges. Illinois' Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) grant initiatives reflect the State's three strategic reform priorities. In each of these areas, Illinois has accomplished a great deal in its third year of implementation. One of the key lessons learned in Illinois' third year of implementation is the critical importance of leadership and the need for continual development of new and emerging leaders. Key to successfully navigating these (and other) transitions has been the strength of vision and capacity for implementation of the extant teams within state government and partners in the private sector. The State and its partners have also worked diligently and deliberately to engage new leaders in RTT-ELC initiatives and other system-building strategies. Finally, Illinois' budget crisis presented challenges to the early childhood system and its RTT-ELC initiatives in 2015. Lack of a fully enacted budget, delayed payments, and changes to eligibility in the child care program have contributed to a sense of instability and uncertainty throughout state-funded programs, most notably within the child care and home visiting systems. Referred to throughout this report, the fiscal challenges in 2015 have strained families, programs, and communities. [For "Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge Year 2015 Progress Update," see ED583454.]