Preschool Suspension and Expulsion Part 1

Dr. Katie Herron and Research Associate Lynne Hall talk about the frequency of suspension and expulsion in preschool and some of the reasons behind it. 

Transcript

Welcome to the Early Childhood On-the-Go Podcast, where the Early Childhood Center team shares ideas and strategies for professionals and families.  Dream big, start early. Hey there, this is Dr. Katie Herron with the Early Childhood Center and I'm excited to talk about one of the topics that I'm not going to say it's a favorite, but it's a topic that I don't think we can talk about enough. And that's preschool suspensions and expulsions. And I'm here with Lynne Hall, who is a research associate here at the Early Childhood Center and we're going to dig into this a little bit because on first glance, it sounds kind of nutty that we're even talking about this so, Lynne, welcome, what do we even mean when we're talking about suspension and expulsion in early childhood settings? Yeah, thanks, Katie. And I'm right there with you. Like I hate that we have to talk about this, but it's so important to talk about. I don't know how many people know out there that preschoolers have the highest percentage of suspensions and expulsions. Higher than K through 12?  Higher than K through 12 and disproportionately so for children of color. So, we just have to kind of sit with that for a minute. And I know that you introduced and shared with folks that I'm a research associate here at the Early Childhood Center, but I was also a classroom practitioner for over 15 years. And I worked in many Title 1 schools. I've worked in registered ministry, private preschools, the gamut, right? And all of them have situations where they have suspended or expelled children, whether formally or informally, right? So, that's the right point that we should dig into in a minute. Yeah, we'll definitely talk about that when we say what do we mean about suspension and expulsion in preschool? So, let's  get into that a little bit. So, we have what we call formal suspension and expulsion, where there's paperwork involved, there's notifications, things like that. It's reported to people, right? Then we have what's even more common practice, which is informal suspension and expulsion. And so, what does that look like? Can you come pick so-and so up early? They're having a hard day. Maybe we need to think about changing this child’s schedule to just half days or just two days a week. Some families might hear, I'm not so sure that this is really a good fit for you. I mean, I've known families that have had those experiences and I'm not sure they would have thought of them as suspension or expulsion, but you make a really good point because they are essentially excluding the child from the classroom setting. Right, and it's a very deficit minded approach with the thought that your child is not ready. Your child cannot handle whatever it is we're offering. Instead of thinking about what's going on at the system level, what's going on at the practice level that's causing there to be a disconnect between what's happening in the classroom. And we do know that 90% of the time or more, it’s behavior related. That's why these suspensions expulsions and informally or formally are happening. So, we're seeing behaviors in the preschool that the system or the classroom doesn't seem to know how to handle. I mean, so if we look at the reasons for suspension and expulsion, I mean, dig into that a little bit more. What yeah, let's talk about it. So, when we think about behavior, we're thinking about social-emotional skills. We're thinking about executive functioning with children. These are skills that our preschoolers are just learning. And oftentimes, some of these children have no prior experience with childcare. They have no prior experience being in group settings. And then we start thinking about children from different cultures, right? Different ethnicities. Everyone does things a little differently. But we also know that our preschools are predominantly white middle class expectations and procedures. And so, what can we do differently in a practice level? And what can we do to support children to develop those social and emotional skills and that executive functioning and post-control, those type of things that they need without considering removal, partial or full, informal or formal. And let's take a look at this. There's a lot of research out there. It doesn't work. Suspending and expelling children from preschool does not change behavior. Well, in the short term, but also when we look at what that's related to in the long term, I mean, it's almost like you're having kids get the first taste of school and they're getting the message that it's not working for them, that they're not fitting in, that they're not fitting the mold of the good student right away, and then thinking about what that does down the road in elementary and beyond. And what does that do to engage a family in a school, right? And of course, we know that teachers in school systems, they're not doing this to be mean. It's likely that they're doing this because they either don't have the capacity or don't have the training to know how to handle the behaviors that they're seeing. So, in a few minutes, we'll get into what are some of the things that we might be able to do to shift that dynamic a little bit. But I'm curious, I mean, let's think for a minute. So, this happens, whether it's formal or informal. We have these suspensions and expulsions or, hey, this isn't a good fit, or hey, pick up your kiddo. What's the impact of that on children and also on families? Well, I think you alluded to it in your previous statement when we said this is what our first experience with school is like. The first experience is going to be there's something wrong with me. There's something wrong with my family. We don't fit. And what does that do to self-esteem? Right? Absolutely. I mean, so we've got children starting off in just the way we don't want them to start off. And I also, I've known families personally and professionally who have missed work. And often these families are able to do that because of a professional job that they have. But let's take a family where they are penalized every time they have to leave that job to pick up a child, or lose the job and find it hard to maintain employment. So, then you have a financial impact on the family and the way that it impacts the family relationship, right? So, if families are hearing your child's doing something wrong, and they feel like it's their responsibility to correct that behavior. So, are they going to go home and then there's going to be some more punitive action taken? And we're talking about young children. They're still forming their personalities. They're still coming into their identities. This can have huge consequences. How does it impact their brain development? I mean, we could go on and on, right? Yeah, you know, it's funny. We were just talking off air before we jumped on that having expectations for your child is so important. And everybody has them, no matter where that kiddo is from, where that family is from, families have hopes and dreams for their kids. So, when you start off this young, giving feedback to families that a kid has something wrong, they're not behaving properly. That can really shift a whole trajectory around what that family then hopes and dreams for that child is. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay, well, we're going to talk on the next episode about what are some of the things we can do to address this. Thanks, Lynne, appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Thanks for listening to the Early Childhood On-the-Go podcast from the Early Childhood Center team at Indiana University. Learn more at IIIDC.Indiana.edu/ECC/