This Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) annual performance report for the year 2016 describes Georgia's accomplishments, lessons learned, challenges, and strategies Georgia will implement to address those challenges. Georgia's third year of implementation of its Race to the Top - Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC) grant continued to demonstrate the investments that the state has made in early education and how grant funds have been used for purposeful early learning system building. Examples include the expansion of initiatives related to Georgia's child care subsidy program that increase access to high-quality opportunities for families and additional training and professional development opportunities for teachers and program leaders. The state continued community building and family engagement opportunities in the four Early Education Empowerment Zones, successfully implemented a Kindergarten Readiness Check in all of Georgia's school districts, and expanded materials and trainings related to the Georgia Early Learning and Development Standards. The state rated more than 300 new programs in its tiered quality rating and improvement system, Quality Rated. Finally, the state's use of data and research was demonstrated by the functionality of Georgia's early childhood integrated data system and full implementation of data collection for the Quality Rated validation study. In 2016, the lead agency for the grant, the Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL) continued efforts to align RTT-ELC initiatives with many of the state's other early learning programs with a concerted focus on sustainability. All of the state's accomplishments were aligned with Georgia's 2016-2018 Child Care and Development Fund state plan and critical early learning programs, such as Georgia's Pre-K Program, DECAL's Early Head Start-Child Care Partnership grant, and child care licensing. In terms of sustainability, the state was awarded grants for infant-toddler technical assistance, for two-generation initiatives, and for evaluation planning for the Child Care and Development Fund. These efforts demonstrates the state's commitment and capacity to continuing the system-building work undertaken with Race the Top - Early Learning Challenge.