The Early Education Essentials is a recently developed tool to examine program conditions that affect early childhood education instructional and emotional quality. It is patterned after the Five Essentials Framework, which is widely used to measure instructional supports in K-12 schools. The Early Education Essentials measures six dimensions of quality in early childhood programs: 1. Effective instructional leaders 2. Collaborative teachers 3. Supportive environment 4. Ambitious instruction 5. Involved families 6. Parent voice A recently published validation study for the Early Education Essentials demonstrates that it is a valid and reliable instrument that can be used to assess early childhood programs to improve teaching and learning outcomes. (author abstract)