Elliot’s Provocations

I wrote last year about the strange schism between early child care and school-aged child care, and I don’t want to belabor the point other than to say parents of school-aged children represent a shockingly untapped care constituency. Instead, I want to talk about summer care, and summer camp specifically.

Linking early child care and school-aged care is a good idea both on the merits and the politics. I’m hardly the first one to point this out, but I want to highlight the opportunity here as we head into summer break and the acute headache it causes for many families.

It feels bizarre to be writing these words, but the U.S. stands on the verge of a real early learning system.

As I travel internationally, I have been thinking a lot about how we position child care in the United States. I am increasingly concerned by an ascendant school of thought that emphasizes a role for employer-sponsored child care benefits.

2021 was a momentous year for early childhood care & education. The field suffered blow after blow from COVID and then a knock-on staffing crisis; received nearly $50 billion in rescue funds to temporarily patch the gaping leaks; and is ending the year on the precipice of receiving enough public funds through the Build Back Better Act to finally become a stable and healthy sector.

Two pieces of news over the past few weeks are causing me to update my prediction and become far more concerned about the coming years.

The child care movement needs a broad base of support in order to win an effective, publicly-funded system. Now, a new research paper is opening another door by showing how child care is impacting that most respected of American icons: farmers.

Elliot’s Provocations unpacks current events in the early learning world and explores how we can chart a path to a...