Ensuring that children, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, start school ready to learn is an important goal. This paper presents lessons learned from the state of Ohio's multi-year program to develop a standards-based assessment system for programs delivering state-funded early childhood education (ECE) through programs receiving public dollars such as the federally funded Head Start and state- funded preschool programs. Its program, called the "Ohio Indicators of Success Initiative" (IOS), was designed to collect data that could be used to improve the quality of state-funded ECE programs in Ohio and to hold these programs accountable for child outcomes. A significant proportion of ECE programs are Head Start programs. (Contains 1 footnote.)