Excerpt: More than 75 percent of American children under 5 spend at least part of their day in child care. Throughout the United States, working parents struggle to pay for care that too often fails to give children the foundation they need to succeed as learners and as individuals. At the same time, child -care providers struggle to make ends meet in a profession where they earn less than parking lot attendants. Meanwhile, families in nearly every other industrialized nation reap the benefits of well-funded early care and education systems that help children make the best possible start. As more states take action to build child-care systems that better meet the needs of parents and children, experts are looking to model nations and communities around the globe that have made the care and education of young children a top priority. Beginning today, the Reformer, in conjunction with the Windham Child Care Association, examines how America and other nations care for their youngest citizens.