Expulsion of preschoolers: ‘Let’s take that option off the table’
Children who are expelled or suspended from preschool are more likely to have problems – including higher rates of incarceration – later in life, according to new report titled Point of Entry: The Preschool-to-Prison Pipeline.
Preschoolers in public programs, according to research from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights cited in the report, were expelled at more than three times the rate of K-12 students in 2014.
Behavior that can lead to suspension or expulsion, such as being defiant to adults or aggressive to other children, may indicate a need for counseling or mental health support, according to the report by the progressive policy group Center for American Progress. Exclusion from school
“The school to prison pipeline is not a natural phenomenon,” said Maryam Adamu, one of the study’s authors, in a recent interview with EdSource. “It’s so important in the early years that discipline practices are developmentally appropriate. There are ways that schools imitate the criminal justice system.”
The report, released in October, examines a range of research on suspensions and expulsions in preschool settings. The findings include:
- African-American preschoolers were the most likely to be enrolled in low-quality preschool and the least likely to be enrolled in high-quality preschool.
- African-American children make up 18 percent of enrollment in public preschool, but they account for 42 percent of out-of-school Expulsion of preschoolers: ‘Let’s take that option off the table’ | EdSource:
