This book presents a review and synthesis of the early care and education system in the United States -- a system that now faces increasing enrollment, an underpaid workforce, and limited budgets. A substantial number of trained early care and education professionals are projected to leave the field over the next 10 years due to noncompetitive salaries and benefits. By 2030, the number of children needing early care and education will approach 16 million. Increasingly diverse in culture and language, at least one fourth of these children will live in poverty, with parents or guardians who can not afford to pay the full cost of a national early care and education system. At the same time, 77 million retiring baby boomers will create enormous competition for the shrinking pool of trained care professionals and public dollars. The author offers practical suggestions to avert this coming crisis by building on current strengths in American early care and education. Using models from U.S. localities and 29 countries, Cochran offers 43 concrete policy proposals to bring high-quality care and education to all young children through: family-based and parent child care; center-based care, Head Start, and prekindergarten; parent involvement; teacher preparation; affirmation of culture and language; and fiscal responsibility. This book is designed as an essential resource for policymakers, early childhood professionals, and parents, as well as a comprehensive college textbook for early education policy courses.