Quality assurance policies have expanded in the educational scenario in diverse parts of the world. At the school system level, there is a growing body of literature related to the design, implementation and effects of these reforms. However, there is little attention to these policies at the level of early years education. This article aims to analyze systems of quality assurance at this educational level in different countries. For this purpose, the results of a comparative research are presented that included the study of eight countries/regions: Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, United States (Colorado), England, Italy (Reggio Emilia) and Sweden. The research identifies two models that respond to different socio-historical contexts and traditions in educational policy; named “performance accountability” and “professional-communitarian accountability”. The paper concludes with lessons from both models.