Continuing Progress on the Path to Eliminating Expulsion and Suspensions from Early Childhood Settings

Posted on April 22, 2016 by Linda K. Smith

Ed. note: This was originally published on the acf.hhs.gov blog.

Today, in conjunction with the release of the My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) Second Year Report, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a report that highlights states and local communities that are taking important steps to address expulsion and suspension in early learning settings. The actions profiled in the report, range from passing new legislation to restrict expulsions and suspensions in preschool programs and revising regulations to improve the social-emotional supports children in child care programs receive, to expanding coaching programs - such as early childhood mental health consultation- that prevent expulsion and build teacher capacity in supporting children's development.

This resource follows the recommendation to eliminate expulsion and suspension in early learning settings, initially outlined in the MBK Task Force Report to the President; and the subsequent release of the first joint policy statement on expulsion and suspension from HHS and the Department of Education (ED), which issued recommendations to ultimately eliminate expulsion and suspension from early learning settings.

To continue the forward progress to eliminate expulsions and suspensions in early learning settings, a group of more than 30 national organizations, led by the National Association for the Education of Young Children, published a joint statement in support of those recommendations today.

When people think of expulsions and suspensions, they tend to think of older children- teenagers maybe. They don’t usually think of our youngest learners- toddlers and preschoolers in early learning settings. However, some estimates indicate that young children in early childhood programs are expelled at rates much higher than older children. Expulsion and suspension data also consistently indicate racial and gender disparities in these detrimental practices, with boys and boys of color, in particular, being expelled and suspended at higher rates than their peers.

We all lose when young children are expelled. In the early years of life, children’s brains are developing rapidly and are influenced by both positive and negative experiences. Besides experiencing the stress and interruption of being removed from their early learning setting, research indicates that children who are expelled or suspended are more likely to drop out of high school, experience academic failure, hold negative attitudes about school, and face incarceration than those who do not. Early expulsion and suspension predict later expulsions and suspensions, so when we set our children’s trajectories in a negative direction from the beginning, consequences later in life follow.

Parents are negatively impacted too. With their work schedules being interrupted, parents are left stressed out scrambling to find alternative care when their child has been asked to leave. The result is often children bouncing from one program to another, and working families struggling to find and keep care.

And let’s not forget teachers and caregivers. Trying to support the learning and social-emotional development of all young children, including those who may demonstrate challenging behaviors, without access to classroom supports like early childhood mental health consultation, is frustrating. The lack of support to manage challenging behaviors, many of which are developmentally appropriate, can cause disruption and get in the way of learning. Caregivers in these situations are often left feeling like removing children is the only way forward.

A key recommendation from the HHS and ED joint policy statement on expulsion and suspension called for investing in a skilled workforce and making specialized supports available to all caregivers so that teachers have hands-on assistance in supporting all children and engage in self-reflective practice to prevent potential biases in practice.

The report being released today features great progress in communities across the country. States like Arkansas, Colorado and Ohio have invested in expanding early childhood mental health consultation to support teachers and providers. Connecticut, the only state to have a universal early childhood mental health consultation system, passed a state law that prohibits most out-of-school suspensions and expulsions of young children.

Our goal is to share these and other examples to encourage more states and communities to take action to correct this troublesome issue. We hope this report sparks innovative ideas and shared learning for addressing and ultimately eliminating suspensions and expulsions of our youngest learners, in your state and community.

For Immediate Release: See the White House Fact Sheet here.

Two years have passed since the President signed a Presidential Memorandum in 2014 establishing the My Brother’s Keeper (MBK) Task Force (the Task Force), a coordinated Federal effort to address persistent opportunity gaps faced by boys and young men of color and ensure that all young people can reach their full potential. See the report My Brother’s Keeper – Two Years of Expanding Opportunity & Creating Pathways for Success.

Learn more:

Linda K. Smith is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Early Childhood Development