 | Walter Gilliam, shown here with two preschool students, says preschool teachers need access to support staff to help manage the behavior problems that can lead to students being expelled from their classrooms. |
Pre-K students are expelled at a rate more than three times that of children in grades K-12, according to a primary study by researchers at Yale on the rate of expulsion in prekindergarten programs serving 3- and 4-year-olds.
Walter S. Gilliam, associate research scientist at the Yale Child Study Center, led the study, "Pre-kindergartners Left Behind: Expulsion Rates in State Pre-kindergarten Systems," which is based on data gathered in the National Prekindergarten Study (NPS).
The paper reports on expulsion rates by program setting (i.e., public school, Head Start or private providers), gender and race/ethnicity. The pre-K report also presents expulsion data from all 40 states that fund prekindergarten programs.
The study found that, although rates of expulsion vary widely among the 40 states funding prekindergarten, state expulsion rates for prekindergartners exceed those in K-12 classes in all but three states.
The research shows that prekindergarten expulsion rates vary by classroom setting: The rates are lowest in classrooms located in public schools and Head Start centers, and highest in faith-affiliated centers, for-profit childcare and other community-based settings. In classrooms where the teacher had no access to a psychologist or psychiatrist, the study found, students were expelled about twice as frequently. The lowest rates of expulsion were reported by teachers who had an ongoing, regular relationship with a behavioral consultant.
"No one wants to hear about 3- and 4-year-olds being expelled from preschool, but it happens rather frequently," says Gilliam. "Pre-K teachers need access to the support staff they need to help manage classroom behavior problems. Without this support, we are setting up to fail both our children and their teachers."
The study found that 4-year-olds were expelled at a rate about 1.5 times greater than 3-year-olds. Boys were expelled at a rate over 4.5 times that of girls. African-Americans attending state-funded prekindergarten were about twice as likely to be expelled as Latino and Caucasian children, and over five times as likely to be expelled as Asian-American children.
"Classroom-based behavioral consultation appears to be a promising method for reducing prekindergarten expulsion," says Gilliam. "When teachers reported having access to a behavioral consultant who was able to provide classroom-based strategies for dealing with challenging student behaviors, the likelihood of expulsion was nearly cut in half."
The NPS -- completed by Gilliam and Crista M. Marchesseault, associate research scientist at the Yale Child Study Center and co-author of the pre-K study -- is a comprehensive data collection effort across each of the prekindergarten programs operating in the 40 states that fund prekindergarten. A random sample of 4,815 classrooms, or about 12% of the total, was selected.
A policy brief that summarizes findings from the study was supported by the Foundation for Child Development, the A.L. Mailman Family Foundation and the Schott Center for Public Education. The study was funded by the A.L. Mailman Family Foundation. The NPS was funded by grants from the Foundation for Child Development and the National Institute for Early Education Research, with additional support from the Pew Charitable Trusts.
-- By Karen Peart
T H I S
Study: More students expelled
in preschool than in later years
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