This theme issue is devoted to discussions of early childhood policy issues. "Creating a Shared Vision: How Policy Affects Early Childhood Care and Development" (Judith L. Evans) defines policy, discusses the motivation for changing or creating national policy and the process for changing such policies, and provides a sample design for an early child care and development (ECCD) review. Case studies of societies where this change process has worked are included for the countries of Malaysia and South Africa. "The Interconnections between Child Development, Policy and Programming" (Robert G. Myers) discusses traditional and alternative conceptions of linking research and practice. "A Multipurpose Model of Nonformal Education: The Mother-Child Education Programme" (Cigdem Kagitcibasi and others) illustrates how an applied research project carried out with scientific rigor by academic researchers can, over time, have an important effect on policy. "The Convention on the Rights of the Child: Moving Promises to Action" (Robert G. Myers) provides an update on the Convention and mechanisms for compliance, discusses early childhood development in the Convention, and suggests questions for readers to ask about how the Convention's provisions have been implemented in their own countries. Programs designed to provide high quality services to young children and their families in Chile, Ghana, Bangladesh, and the Netherlands are profiled in the next section. "Network Notes," a section which includes letters to the editor, news from regional networks and international organizations, and announcements of 1995 and 1996 meetings, publications and videos, and a calendar, is also included. (DR)