This paper begins with a high-level contrast of programs with strong and weak essential supports, presented through leader, teacher, and parent perceptions and experiences of their ECE programs and researcher observations. Then for each essential, we describe the organizational structures and practices present in programs with strong essential supports and provide a table highlighting key differences in those structures and practices when the essentials are strong versus weak. We close with suggestions for ongoing discussion of implications of these findings and of the Early Education Essentials surveys for improving the performance of ECE at scale. (author abstract)