Exclusionary discipline practices in early childhood settings: A survey of child care directors

Abstract The current study examined the use of suspensions and expulsions in child care settings in Pennsylvania. Among 345 center directors, 82.9% of directors reported at least one suspension request, and 64.0% reported at least one expulsion request in response to challenging behavior in the previous 12 months. Across all directors, a total of 6,884 suspensions and expulsions were reported. Negative binomial regressions were conducted to examine predictors of director-reported exclusionary discipline. Directors who were more satisfied in their current job reported fewer expulsions. Expulsions were also reported less frequently at centers that reported using the Pyramid Model for Promoting Young Children's Social Emotional Competence. Interestingly, higher center-wide use of other types of supports for children with challenging behavior, including using additional staff members, was associated with more expulsions, suggesting that these supports may be used as a tool during the process of expelling a child. These findings have implications for policy and prevention efforts, including the potential value in attending to director well-being and encouraging the use of Pyramid Model strategies in efforts to prevent suspensions and expulsions. Future research is still needed to better understand relations between center-, director-, and teacher-level factors and the use of exclusionary discipline practices.