A longtime professor at Tufts University, his groundbreaking books — The Hurried Child, The Power of Play and Miseducation informed early childhood education professionals of the possible dangers of "pushing down" the elementary school curriculum into the very early years of a child's life. By doing so, he argued, teachers and parents alike could lapse into developmentally inappropriate instructional and learning practices that may distort the smooth development of learning. He is associated with the belief of decline of social markers.

David Elkind is professor emeritus of Child Development at Tufts University[1] in Medford, Massachusetts. He was formerly professor of Psychology, Psychiatry and Education at the University of Rochester.

Elkind obtained his doctorate at UCLA and then spent a year as David Rapaport's research assistant at the Austen Riggs Center in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. In 1964–65 he was a National Science Foundation Senior Postdoctoral Fellow at Piaget's Institut d'Epistemologie Genetique in Geneva. His research has been in the areas of perceptual, cognitive and social development where he has attempted to build upon the research and theory of Jean Piaget.

Elkind is a member of some 10 professional organizations,[citation needed] is on the editorial board of numerous scientific journals, and is a consultant to state education departments as well as to government agencies and private foundations.[citation needed] He lectures extensively in the United States, Canada and abroad. He has appeared on The Today Show, The CBS Morning News, Twenty/Twenty, Nightline, Donahue, and The Oprah Winfrey Show. He has been profiled in People and Boston Magazine. Elkind co-hosted the Lifetime television series, Kids These Days. He is past president of the National Association for the Education of Young Children.