The Office of Child Care (OCC) recognizes that States are using quality rating and improvement systems (QRIS) as a framework for organizing, guiding, and gauging the progress of early care and education (ECE) quality initiatives at the State level. In many cases, QRIS is the foundation of a cross-sector ECE system. States' leadership in creating and implementing QRIS has produced a more systemic state-level approach to quality efforts and accountability. OCC strongly supports systemic quality approaches, recognizing that every State is at a different stage of the process. The goal of the Benchmarks for Quality Improvement Project (BQI) is to assist States and Territories (States) in assessing and measuring progress in program quality improvement systems and to assess their current status in improving their early education and school age care quality. OCC established benchmarks that are easy to understand, measurable, and that will help States better plan for use of the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) to improve the quality of their early education and school age care. The benchmarks have been intentionally constructed to mirror the Child Care and Development Fund Preprint in which States set goals for quality improvement within the QRIS framework. The benchmarks consist of five elements, each of which includes a progression of indicators that detail the expectations for progress toward or achievement of program quality. (author abstract)