Early childhood education (ECE) consists of activities and/or experiences that are intended to support developmental growth in children prior to their entry into elementary school (“Early Childhood Education”, n.d.). The discipline helps educators who are entering the field have an understanding of the developmental stages of children and their lived experiences. It explores the various stages and how childhood experiences, both positive and negative, affect development. In many ECE degree programs, students take courses dedicated to some type of diversity awareness; however, current biases towards young children of color in ECE programs remain. Lack of cultural competency on the part of scholars and educators in the field have created a situation in which very young children are being sanctioned for not fitting the mold put forth by educational standards and policies. Children who act out, fail to use their words, or demonstrate what is often developmentally appropriate but unpleasant behavior, are being treated in a developmentally inappropriate way. Early childhood educators are tasked with scaffolding skill building to students who are just beginning their engagement with society, and the teacher’s role to guide them is a powerful one. We are witnessing children not receiving nurturing guidance but rather, punitive interventions that do not help them learn from their actions. An example of this is suspension and expulsion of children as young as 3 years old.
An opinion paper by Dr. Dolores Steglin, Senior Fellow at The Institute for Child Success and Professor Emerita at Clemson University, examines this alarming trend and the problems associated with it (Stegelin & Emerita, 2018). At present over half the states allow for expulsion of preschool aged children. However, “recent legislative efforts to address school discipline policies have focused on: restricting expulsion and suspension by grade level and infraction;limiting the length of exclusion; implementing and enhancing reporting mechanisms; and strategies to re-engage the student and family” (Rafa, 2018). The use of suspension and expulsion at the preschool level is higher than K-12 and over 40% of those expelled are African-American boys (Dobbs, 2005). These early experiences in the educational system affect how students fare in school going forward so this practice has long lasting consequences. So why are these practices taking place at such a high rate and why are they disproportionately affecting very young (3-4 year olds) students of color, in particular Black boys? A tool used in ECE, Early Childhood Discipline Policy Essentials Checklist (ECDPEC) found “that most early childhood program discipline policies fail to sufficiently address those essential features known to contribute to reducing challenging behavior and promoting pro-social behavior in youngchildren.” (Longstreth, Brady, & Kay, 2013). The authors of the study go on to provide a framework for decreasing the uses of suspension and expulsion which can be attained by teacher practices of cuing into socio-emotional development. In fact the role of the teacher was shown to be key in student success.
This study provided helpful information on specific practices within preschool classrooms that are likely to lead to decreased or increased rates of preschool expulsion and suspension. This study also confirmed the importance of environmental factors and positive teacher-child interactions in reducing rates of preschool expulsion. This study serves to validate the importance of providing program support in the areas of social and emotional development as well as focused interventions for children with special needs and/or mental health issues (Longstreth,Brady, & Kay, 2013).
Implicit racial bias on the part of teachers also plays a role in the treatment of their students based on their race or ethnicity and the levels to which they will address what can be considered discipline worthy behavior. A way to offset this is to train culturally competent teachers working in classes that are not overcrowded and underfunded. Early Childhood Educators (ECEs) are often the first non-familial adults to interact with the children in their care. This is a pivotal time for students to learn social norms and practice behaviors. Research conducted using the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) measurement scale suggests that the impact of preschool expulsion and suspension can lead to:
Early trauma on the child’s later development and the relationships between early trauma and associated health conditions, both physical and mental. As such, expulsion and suspension practices in early childhood settings–two very stressful and negative experiences young children and their families may encounter in early childhood programs–should be prevented, severely limited, and eventually eliminated. (Felitti et al., 1998; U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, n.d.).
Policy work is being done both within certain states and on a national level to reduce or remove the use of expulsion and suspension as a tool for ECEs while also helping young children develop their socio-emotional skills effectively. This involves implementing policies without bias, involving families, hiring a highly skilled workforce, transparently stating goals, and collecting data to measure success (Stegelin & Emerita, 2018) Children are apt to stumble along the way and the role of the teacher is to guide and redirect, not punish and disregard them. By doing this, a child is forever wary of a system that was supposed to teach them but instead failed them. Rather than expulsion or suspension, ECE’s can look for ways to reach children in an effective way that helps them navigate social rules and norms.
