Preschools Are Expelling Students 3x More Than K-12

Over the past few decades, study after study have enumerated the many benefits of preschool for American children. Kids who attend preschool are better prepared for elementary school. Pre-K programs are particularly beneficial for low-income children and English language learners.

Research from James Heckman, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, even found that society at large benefits from such programs: for every $1 invested in quality early childhood programs, we can expect between a $4 and $16 return. So why, if pre-K is so beneficial, does the United States suspend or expel nearly 1,000 children per day?

According to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), preschoolers are suspended or expelled at three times the rate of K-12 students. Boys are four and a half times more likely to be expelled than girls; children with disabilities were three times more likely to face this interruption in their education, particularly children with ADHD; and though Black children represent just 18% of public preschool students, they make up 48% of suspensions and expulsions.

The subject was recently the topic of a panel discussion at St. David’s Center in Minnesota during which Dr. Songtian (Tim) Zeng, Associate Professor University of Massachusetts Boston presented his research on the topic. In addition to supporting HHS’s findings, Zeng found that 49% of pre-school teachers said they suspended a student in the past year. That rate, he calculated, came to approximately 870 suspensions — approximately 2% of the entire preschool population — and 86 expulsions per day. On top of that, Songtian believes that this is likely an underestimate, since he could only measure documented instances of making a child leave school.

While race, gender, and disability were all significant factors in a child’s educational experience, the most common indicator for the behavioral issues that caused suspensions and expulsions, however, was “adverse childhood experiences” or ACEs. This can include witnessing domestic violence, homelessness, incarceration of a family member, and physical or sexual abuse, among others. Children who experienced significant ACEs, Zeng found, were ten times more likely to be suspended or expelled.

Zeng’s presentation noted that suspension and expulsion not only don’t address the heart of the issue that’s causing behavioral problems, but actively feed into them: children need opportunities, he explains, to problem solve in a classroom setting, or even more intensive interventions. Removing them from the class removes them from those vital opportunities.

One explanation for some of these rates of suspension and expulsion, per reporting from MinnPost, came from panelist Cisa Keller, president and CEO of Think Small. “Here in Minnesota, over 80% of our children birth to five, are in some sort of early-childhood setting. Of those, 73% of them are in community-based settings. Legislation [that makes it difficult to suspend or expel students in higher grades] does not apply to those settings.”

HHS offers a number of reasons these rates are so much higher. Implicit bias, particularly (particularly racial implicit bias) plays a factor. High teacher-to-student ratios and lower salaries can lead to more overall stress and lower tolerance for problem behaviors. Less training in identifying trauma responses or disability can also play a factor as well.

And these disciplinary measures are not inconsequential. Young children expelled from preschool not only lose the chance to learn and socialize with their peers, but with positive adult role models who may not be present in their home. They also have fewer chances to learn to correct ongoing behavioral problems that will hinder them as they move forward in their education. They also may begin to see themselves as inherently incapable of learning and develop negative views about learning, school, teachers, and the world around them.

This is not an easy or inexpensive problem to solve: preschools often do not have the resources to tackle what effectively boil down to systemic societal problems. Hopefully, awareness of the scale and scope of this issue can encourage teachers, families, and legislators to work together to better support the kids who need help the most.