The Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) program, authorized by Congress in 2011, is designed to improve the quality of early learning and development programs for children from birth through age 5. This discretionary grant program is administered jointly by the U.S. Departments of Education (ED) and Health and Human Services (HHS). Nearly half of all children who live in low-income families in the Unites States reside in the 20 RTT-ELC States. Of the 11.8 million children from birth through age 5 in these States, more than 5.4 million are living in families who are at or below 200 percent of the Federal poverty rate. Twenty States were awarded four-year grants in three phases between 2012 and 2014. This brief is based on 2014 Annual Performance Report (APR) data that RTT-ELC States submitted in the spring of 2015. It reflects the work of nine States at the end of the third year; five States at the end of the second year; and six States at the end of the first year of their RTT-ELC grants.