In an attempt to move from a fragmented landscape of programs and services for young children, U.S. states have begun to create infrastructure for these programs. This infrastructure takes the form of early childhood education (ECE) systems, which have seven critical elements. Governance is one of these seven elements, argued by some to be the most critical system element, because it provides a foundation from which each of the other system elements can be developed. A few states have taken an innovative approach to system-development and have focused on governance, consolidating their early childhood services and programs into one entity, designed to provide infrastructure for and management of the ECE system in that state. Of the states that have consolidated governance for ECE, this study proposes to focus on three in particular: Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and Delaware. While the innovative efforts of these states regarding governance has received much attention and enthusiasm, there is little empirical evidence documenting the ways that governance may have helped to bring coherence to the early childhood education system in these three states. Most of the states that have consolidated governance for ECE have not formally examined the impact of governance on the ECE system, nor have they documented the process by which they came to a decision about governance. This study explores the choices states make regarding the form and functions accorded to governance; the potential influences of governance on specific aspects of the ECE system; and the opportunities and limits of governance for legitimizing ECE as a field. In order to explore the influence of governance on the ECE systems in the focal states, this study makes use of a blend of institutional theory and complex adaptive systems theory to explore three states' efforts to consolidate governance for the purpose of promoting coherent system development. (author abstract)