This occasional paper is the first in a series on the National Quality Framework (NQF). This paper offers detailed insights into education and care service quality ratings for Quality Area 1 -- Educational Program and Practice, which focuses on ensuring that educational program and practice is stimulating and engaging, enhances children's learning and development, and meets children's individual learning and development needs. Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) has chosen to focus this first occasional paper on Quality Area 1 because of its vital contribution to child outcomes and because the evidence indicates that services are less likely to meet the National Quality Standard (NQS) in this Area. Additionally, the paper is timely given ACECQA's work in period 2014/15 with Regulatory Authorities and Professional Support Coordinators to deliver national workshops to educators to help them better understand and meet the requirements of Quality Area 1. The paper provides a brief overview of the NQS, its rating system, quality areas and overall ratings to date. It then examines Quality Area 1 looking at differences across jurisdictions, management types, service sub-types, and socioeconomic and remoteness classifications. The paper culminates by examining patterns in the distribution of Quality Area 1 ratings and discusses possible explanations for these variations, as well as implications of the report findings and future directions. The paper is intended to be of interest to people who deliver education and care services, people who provide training and professional development services to the sector, and to officers in the Regulatory Authorities that conduct quality rating. Unless otherwise stated, the paper draws on data from the National Quality Agenda Information Technology System (NQA ITS) as at 31 December 2015.