The COVID-19 pandemic has redoubled attention to the challenges families face in making sure their children are fully prepared and supported in their journey through school. This first of three Quality Counts 2021 installments provides grades and scores for the nation and each state on a range of factors setting students up for success in school and later life, based mostly on federal data from 2019. To provide a more real-time perspective, the EdWeek Research Center offers an original analysis of U.S. Census Bureau surveys from fall 2020 on how families with children in school are coping with stresses from the coronavirus pandemic. Articles in this issue's Quality Counts report include: (1) Nation Notches Progress on Chance-for-Success Index (Sterling C. Lloyd and Alex Harwin); and (2) Census Data Show Impact on Home Learning Environment (Alex Harwin and Yukiko Furuya).