Crawling Behind by Elliot Haspel, bookcover.

About Elliot Haspel

Elliot Haspel, headshot

Elliot Haspel is an early childhood and K-12 education policy expert and writer. He started his career as a 4th grade public school teacher in Arizona via the Teach For America program. Following his time in the classroom, he earned a Master’s in Education Policy & Management from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. Elliot has worked for numerous education policy and advocacy organizations. He was selected out of an applicant pool of nearly 100 be one of five inaugural Education Advocacy Fellows for the nonprofit 50CAN: The 50-State Campaign for Achievement Now. He was also competitively chosen to be a Fellow by the New Leaders Council, the “hub for progressive Millennial thought leadership.” He was the co-founder of the nonprofit Education Success Network, where he produced bite-sized videos for teachers about pedagogical research that have been viewed on YouTube over 200,000 times.

From 2016-2018, Elliot served as the on-staff Policy Analyst for the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation, a public-private nonprofit charged with providing guidance on early care and education to Virginia’s legislative and executive branches. He currently works as the Program Officer for Education Policy & Research at the Robins Foundation, one of the largest and oldest philanthropic foundations in Richmond, Virginia, where he oversees the Foundation’s early childhood portfolio.

Elliot’s writings have been featured on numerous mediums ranging from The Washington Post to The New Republic to McSweeney’s Internet Tendency.

Elliot lives in Richmond, VA with his wife and two spirited young daughters.

Further Reading from Elliot Haspel

America’s childcare system is broken. Here’s one way to fix it.

In a word, the system is broken. While there are plenty of people who will tell you this, there are few who will provide concrete solutions to fix things. Elliot Haspel, a former fourth grade teacher and education policy expert, is one of them. In his new book, Crawling Behind: America’s Childcare Crisis and How to Fix It, Haspel argues that childcare should be treated as a public good.
Read More
January 20, 2020

How COVID-19 Has Created a Childcare Catch-22 for Working Families

With most childcare centers, schools and summer camps still closed, how can caregivers go back to work? And if they can’t go back to work now, how will they afford alternate forms of childcare so they eventually can? It’s a dilemma that’s hurting businesses too.
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May 13, 2020

What Parents Can Learn From Child Care Centers That Stayed Open During Lockdowns

Brown University economist Emily Oster found that, as of Tuesday afternoon, among 916 centers serving more than 20,000 children, just over 1% of staff and 0.16% of children were confirmed infected with the coronavirus. Experts say it’s worth taking these low numbers into account.
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June 24, 2020

Let's Tell Our Story

If Crawling Behind hits close to home for you, share your story of childcare stress. Your family’s particular experience informs my understanding of the birth-to-five care landscape. (P.S. Your story is safe with me. I’ll never pass it on without your permission.)