Transforming early childhood discipline policy through collaborative research and evaluation.

Abstract

Nationwide, 17,000 3-and 4-year old children are expelled or suspended from preschool each year (Zeng et al., 2019). In response, advocates and researchers have called on policymakers to implement policies and legislation to prevent our youngest learners from entering the "preschool-to-prison pipeline" before they have even begun formal schooling. This article, coauthored by a team of academic researchers, advocates, and policymakers, includes findings from a multimethod, longitudinal study of the implementation of one state's approach to curtailing early childhood expulsion, Illinois Public Act 100 -0105. Original survey and interview data were collected for this study from early childhood program administrators throughout the state. Our findings have already been used to enhance practice, policy, and dissemination efforts, while also documenting barriers and a need for more data. By sharing how our multidisciplinary coalition collaborated to collect, interpret, disseminate, and translate findings from this study, we hope to inform the development of collaborative partnerships in the study of similar policies in other jurisdictions. What is the significance of this article for the general public?This report describes the experiences of a multidisciplinary team seeking to end the expulsion of young children from childcare and preschool programs in Illinois. Through our iterative collaboration, research on the implementation of a new legislation was translated and disseminated to stakeholders reducing unintended consequences and supporting children and programs statewide.

A Qualitative Examination of the Parent–Teacher Relationship and Early Childhood Expulsion

“…Expulsion is occurring with surprising frequency in early care and education settings within the United States, with approximately 10 out of every 1,000 children younger than 6 years being permanently removed from their program, a rate more than three times that of grades K–12 combined (Gilliam, 2005; Silver et al, 2021). Expulsion at any age is disruptive to a child's academic growth (Gregory, Skiba, & Noguera, 2010; Lamont et al, 2013).…”

“…As children spend increasing time in early care and education settings, teachers take on a larger role as a child's socializer (Denham et al, 2012). Teachers in early care and education settings report managing challenging behavior on a daily basis (e.g., biting, hitting, scratching, screaming, and running away; Martin et al, 2018; Silver et al, 2021). Challenging behaviors may be a great source of stress for early childhood teachers (Friedman-Krauss, Raver, Morris, & Jones, 2014), who often acknowledge the problem but lack the resources needed to address them (Quesenberry, Hemmeter, Ostrosky, & Hamann, 2014).…”

A Systematic Review of Early Childhood Exclusionary Discipline

“…Future research and the evaluation of public policy and intervention programming will require data that can be disaggregated by child and program characteristics. The proactive formation of research-policy partnerships (e.g., Silver et al, 2021) can help inform data systems development and ensure that exclusionary discipline is monitored before and during legislation implementation. In sum, research into exclusionary discipline in early childhood is lagging behind that of school-aged children, but the research to date spans various settings and levels of the ecological model.…”

“…Regardless of how children are excluded from ECCE settings, these practices deprive children of valuable early learning experiences and place them at risk of disengagement and diminished educational opportunities. There is a bipartisan agreement (Silver et al, 2021) that children should not be expelled or suspended from ECCE, yet it continues to happen to thousands of young children every year. Investments are being made at record levels into ECCE infrastructure, professional development, and social and emotional learning programming, but without empirical evidence informing policy crafting, these investments may be misguided.…”

Engaging public policy with psychological science.

“…Sabol et al (2021) show how kindergarten students make meaning of college savings accounts to demonstrate how younger children’s perspectives can serve as a unique tool to inform the implementation of early childhood policies. Silver et al (2021), an interdisciplinary team of academics, advocates, and policymakers, examine a policy designed to interrupt the preschool to prison pipeline by reducing expulsion from preschool. In addition, Roben et al (2021) describe the large-scale implementation of Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-Up (ABC) within Minnesota and carefully examine how policies can successfully prioritize detailed measurement and monitoring of intervention fidelity in home visiting programs.…”