The papers in this special issue reflect the current status of research on the association between quality of care and children's adjustment while pointing toward a new generation of questions that have risen to prominence in the minds of both researchers and policymakers. Specifically, having established that high quality is associated with superior outcomes, researchers must now consider:
*How quality can best be measured;
*Whether the relationship is causal, with quality promoting better adjustment;
*Whether the association is a linear function;
*How strong the association is, and from a pragmatic point of view, and
*Whether the association is strong enough to merit continuing investments in quality.


All of the articles in this special issue elucidate these issues and demonstrate that quality of child care is a salient and statistically significant modulator and moderator of the associations between type of care and child development.