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Improving Systems, Practices, and Outcomes

Developing Policy and Guidance on Suspension and Expulsion in Early Childhood Programs

U. S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U. S. Department of Education Policy Statement on Expulsion and Suspension Policies in Early Childhood Settings (2016)

The U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services provided recommendations to support families, early childhood programs, and States to prevent and severely limit expulsion and suspension practices in early childhood settings.

On This Page

Introduction

This guide was created based on the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U. S. Department of Education Policy Statement on Suspension and Expulsion Policies in Early Childhood Settings. It is intended to support States with developing policy/guidance to prevent and substantially limit suspension and expulsion practices in early care and education programs. The Policy Statement charges states and/or programs with carefully examining the recommendations to determine what policy/guidance is needed to reduce the number of young children who are removed or excluded from early care and education programs. States and/or programs may choose to use the entire template to guide policy/guidance development, or select one or more specific areas to address. For States developing policy and/or guidance, it is suggested that a cross-sector work group representing the State's early care and education partners collaborate in developing, reviewing, and implementing the policy/guidance.

To be effective, policy/guidance needs to be in place and monitored to reduce the number of young children who are suspended or expelled from early education settings. Policies guide, but do not ensure, that exclusionary practices will end. All policy/guidance should align with the Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department Education Policy Statement on Suspension and Expulsion Policies in Early Childhood Settings, and take into account statements developed by other organizations, including the NAEYC Joint Statement on Suspension/Expulsion, the American Academy of Pediatrics Policy Statement on Out-of-School Suspension and Expulsion, and Office of Head Start's Expulsion and Suspension Policy Statement. The U.S. Department of Education also issued Guiding Principles: A Resource Guide for Improving School Climate and Discipline in 2014. This particular document is focused primarily on K-12; however, it provides strategies and action steps for promoting equity, and reducing suspensions and expulsions in educational programs that could be helpful when developing early childhood policy/guidance.

General Recommendations for Getting Started

State or local policy/guidance is intended to be collaboratively written and implemented by early childhood programs. States and/or programs will determine whether to develop policy, guidance, or both. Both are intended to reduce the number of children who are suspended or expelled from early childhood programs. However, guidance documents serve as a "guide" or a set of recommendations, while policy is typically mandatory and enforceable. It is important to determine when policy (versus guidance) is needed; that all partners agree to policies; that they are aligned and not conflicting across sectors; and which programs have the authority to require adherence to suspension and expulsion policies.

Considerations

  • Determine how you will engage your early childhood colleagues (including families) in this work. Determine how you will include all early childhood programs and/or agencies that work with young children (e.g., early intervention, early childhood mental health, child care, Head Start, public PreK).
  • Determine what data you will need to review to identify programs that suspend or expel young children and/or that disproportionately suspend or expel young children of minority groups.
  • Gather and analyze data from cross sector sources, including early intervention and early childhood mental health.
  • Identify the intended audience.
  • Determine if this will be a policy or a guidance document.
  • Determine how the policy/guidance will be promoted and shared.
  • Develop different policy/guidance formats for different audiences.
  • Develop a plan for moving from policy/guidance to accountability.
  • Determine the process and communication plan for development of policy/guidance with stakeholders.
  • Develop an implementation plan for setting goals, collecting data and tracking progress to evaluate the policy/guidance that addresses:
    • the supports/resources necessary for implementing the policy/guidance,
    • the professional development activities needed to help teachers understand the underlying issues associated with suspension and expulsion (i.e., implicit bias), and
    • the kinds of professional development activities needed to assist teachers in implementing evidence-based practices designed to prevent, reduce, and manage young children's challenging behaviors.

Setting the Stage for Policy Development and Promoting Buy-In

An important step in developing suspension and expulsion policy development is to provide the rationale for its importance to promote buy-in among program administrators and practitioners, and ensure that policies are enforced.

Considerations

Reviewing Position Statements from Organizations

Considerations

Review the various statements on suspension and expulsion in early education settings:

Reviewing State Exemplars

Considerations

  • Review state-specific policy/guidance on school-age suspension and expulsion to ensure alignment with proposal for early childhood suspension and expulsion policy and guidance. Explore components of school-age policy and guidance (such as documentation, specific steps in the process, expulsion hearings).
  • Review policy/guidance that has been developed regarding suspension and expulsion for other early childhood programs within the state as part of:
  • Reviewing state restraint/seclusion policies.
  • Reviewing policy/guidance developed by other states regarding suspension and expulsion to:
    • develop a clear definition of suspension and expulsion, including "soft" suspensions and other exclusionary disciplinary practices (e.g., sending child to another room, principal's office, asking parent to come get child early) in which a young child is removed from his/her assigned classroom and deprived of learning opportunities due to a challenging behavior. The definition should be develop through cross-sector partnerships (e.g., ECE, early intervention, mental health, medical community, families from diverse backgrounds).
    • develop a clear plan for communicating suspension and expulsion policies across sectors and engage families, child care programs, elementary schools that include classrooms for young children, the medical community, and other community partners.
    • determine a clear plan for collecting, analyzing, and reporting suspensions and expulsions (including "soft" suspensions and expulsions), to assess progress toward reducing suspensions and expulsions, particularly for Black children.
    • invest in workforce preparation and development to eliminate biases by revising state entry-level credentials, and establishing relationships with institutions of higher education (IHE), state mental health consultation, and developing career pathways for those in leadership positions (e.g., school principals, administrators).
    • establish and implement policies regarding program quality (e.g., staff-child ratios, developmentally appropriate practices, culturally and linguistically responsive practices), that are associated with reducing the occurrence of suspension and expulsion in early childhood programs. Review and eliminate policies that are discriminatory against children with disabilities who are included in these programs (e.g., policies that require children to be potty trained).
    • provide access to and support for learning from free resources designed to develop and scale up best practices such as:

Developing Recommendations for Local Early Childhood Programs

Considerations

Creating and Reviewing Policy/Guidance Recommendations for States

State policy/guidance sets the direction for how Local Education Agencies (LEAs), schools, and early childhood programs develop and implement suspension and expulsion policy/guidance, and provide the necessary services and supports for staff to effectively address the social-emotional needs of young children. States should develop and has a process for period review of policy/guidance to ensure that requirements facilitate the reduction of exclusionary practices in early learning programs.

Considerations

  • Determine how policy/guidance promotes and supports coordinated and culturally and linguistically responsive comprehensive services across early childhood programs, including health, mental health, and other social services.
  • Determine how to best promote policy/guidance to build statewide infant and early childhood mental health consultation (IECMHC) systems as well as social-emotional models and frameworks, including Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS); Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL); Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS); Technical Assistance Center on Social Emotional Intervention (TACSEI) that offer programs support so that:
    • all children can be successful and fully included in educational settings, and
    • teachers, providers, and families have the skills and knowledge needed to promote success.
  • Review resources listed below to establish policy/guidance that address underlying factors that contribute to the disproportionate number of children of color who are suspended or expelled from early childhood programs.
  • Establish policy/guidance to ensure that children can remain in their current early childhood program while the appropriate strategies and procedures are implemented to provide staff and families with the supports needed to address challenging behaviors.
  • Establish policy/guidance to ensure that high-quality classroom settings serve as the foundation for implementing supplementary strategies that support children's social-emotional and behavioral health and provide tools for teachers to prevent and effectively manage children's challenging behaviors. Areas to consider include:
  • Review state policy/guidance to ensure suspension and expulsion are addressed, such as;.
    • how your policy will address prevention and reduction of exclusionary practices (e.g., QRIS, PD),
    • how incentives to programs will be provided to those who develop suspension and expulsion policies, and
    • how your practices and procedures will provide coordinated comprehensive services and supports across early childhood programs to promote the use of evidence-based practices that support the social-emotional health of young children and focus on preventing and managing children's challenging behaviors in a developmentally appropriate manner.
    • Determine how to promote policy/guidance so that future early learning initiatives within the State, including expansion of early childhood programs such as State pre-kindergarten, have specific policies and procedures to:
      • reduce or eliminate the use of exclusionary practices within early childhood programs, and
      • involve Early Childhood Councils, early childhood mental health, family organizations and other early childhood groups as appropriate in the decision-making process.
  • Establish policy/guidance to promote a system of high-quality early learning settings to ensure that all programs are equipped to support social-emotional and behavioral health in young children by:
    • establishing partnerships with private early childhood programs,
    • ensuring that professional development and TA efforts span across public and private community-based programs (including center-based and family child care programs),
    • developing or revising competencies for all personnel standards, credentials, certifications, and licensure requirements to include a clear expectation that all providers have the knowledge about how and skills to address children's challenging behaviors in a preventative and developmentally appropriately manner, and
    • coordinating a statewide professional development system that offers cross-sector professional development and TA to all early care and education program that includes:
      • coordinated professional development supports and coaching,
      • collaboration with itinerant special education professionals,
      • opportunities for family engagement,
      • training and supports that are responsive to program needs,
      • data collection and evaluation methods, and
      • partnering with IHEs.
  • Ensure that families are involved in policy/guidance decisions, including providing support to family organizations to build the capacity of families to meaningfully participate in policy/guidance discussions, planning, and evaluating the State's progress towards implementing suspension and expulsion policy/guidance.