Elliot's Provocations Archives - Page 2 of 4

School Readiness and the Tyranny of Merit, Part 1

Elliot Haspel·Aug 2, 2022·11 min read

While we see the tyranny of merit most active in K-12 and higher education, school readiness is the Trojan horse through which it has breached the world of early childhood.

How Congress Can Still Save Child Care

Elliot Haspel·Sep 1, 2022·4 min read

While there is much to celebrate about the Inflation Reduction Act, one group was left on the outside looking in: parents with young children.

Elliot’s Provocations: Child Care Lessons from Ireland

Elliot Haspel·Oct 4, 2022·5 min read

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

Elliot’s Provocations: Employer-Sponsored Child Care is a Wrong Turn

Elliot Haspel·Nov 1, 2022·7 min read

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.

Elliot’s Provocations: Child Care or Early Childhood Education?

Elliot Haspel·Dec 1, 2022·9 min read

For my last column of the year, I want to touch on a less-discussed but not-unimportant question: what in the heck should we call the care and education of children during the first five years of their life?

Elliot’s Provocations: Five Early Learning Trends for 2023

Elliot Haspel·Jan 4, 2023·6 min read

Happy New Year! As 2023 kicks off, I wanted to highlight five early learning trends to be watching this year.

Elliot’s Provocations: In Plain Dollars and Cents, a Child Care Policy Without Major Compensation Increases Is No Child Care Policy

Elliot Haspel·Feb 2, 2023·6 min read

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

Elliot’s Provocations: Voter Support for Child Care Is Sky-High Yet Butter-Soft

Elliot Haspel·Mar 1, 2023·8 min read

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

Elliot’s Provocations: Where Have All the Child Care Lobbyists Gone?

Elliot Haspel·Apr 4, 2023·4 min read

Last month, I wrote about how child care’s lack of salience in the public imagination is holding back its political opportunities. The absence of mass public pressure is one piece of the puzzle. Another piece is that by and large, child care lacks a strong inside game.

Elliot’s Provocations: When the Waters Rise on Child Care Programs

Elliot Haspel·May 2, 2023·5 min read

If you’ve been following my work for the past year, you know I am deeply concerned about how unprepared our child- and family-serving systems are for this new reality. I’m not the only one. A new report puts a fine point on why early care & education stakeholders need to have a climate strategy, and why public officials need to have ECE in their climate strategy: a staggering number of child care programs are under threat.

Elliot’s Provocations: Bring on School-Aged Care

Can We Create a Seamless Melding of Early Child Care and School-Aged Care?

Elliot Haspel·Jun 5, 2023·5 min read

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.

Elliot’s Provocations: The Minimum Viable Child Care Fallacy

Elliot Haspel·Jul 6, 2023·17 min read

I dislike the economic case for child care. I’m not talking about my take on the role of employers, but the near-constant way lawmakers and advocates of both parties rest their case for supporting child care on its function as an economic driver.

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