Susan Ochshorn

Susan Ochshorn is a writer, policy analyst, and one of the nation’s leading activists for the whole child. She works to integrate early childhood into the education reform conversation and to catalyze social change. A former journalist, she has written for CNN Opinion, the Los Angeles Times, Education Week, Parenting, and many other publications. Susan blogs at ECE Policy Matters and at the Huffington Post, and is the author of Squandering America’s Future – Why ECE Policy Matters for Equality, Our Economy and Our Children. She is working on a book about play as the foundation for democracy and civil society. Susan has worked in a broad range of settings at the local, state, and national levels to bridge research, policy, and practice—her mission at ECE PolicyWorks, which she founded in 2010. Among the many organizations with which she has worked are Defending the Early Years, the National Center for Children in Poverty, the United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona, ZERO TO THREE, New York Zero-to-Three Network, City University of New York, National Center for Children and Families, the Early Care and Learning Council, the National Association for the Education of Young Children, and New America. Susan has served in a number of advisory positions, including on the council of the Early Learning Initiative at the Education Commission of the States. A member of the board of directors of the Network for Public Education, she is the author of numerous briefs, reports, and other publications as well as a frequent speaker and moderator. Susan holds a B.A. in English from Barnard College, and an MS.Ed with a concentration in public policy from Bank Street College of Education. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, an attorney, and a revolving assortment of launching twentysomethings, and is the grandmother of three utterly delicious children.