No Longer Welcome : The Epidemic of Expulsion From Early Childhood Education

"Lance, is a curious, energetic little boy who lives in southern Illinois with his Dad, Stephen, and step-mom. As a toddler, Lance took easily to art and loved animals. When I interviewed Stephen in 2020, Lance was about halfway through his kindergarten year at the local public school and thriving, but it had been a long and frustrating road to get there. Between the ages of two and five, Lance attended and was expelled from, or pushed out of seven different child care programs"-- Provided by publisher For over 15 years, researchers have described a crisis in our nations'early learning classrooms. Hundreds of children are expelled from childcare and preschool every day; a rate nearly three times that of kindergarten-12th grade students. While policymakers have taken steps to mitigate this crisis, disparities in who is expelled persist. Boys and Black children are routinely over-represented among those pushed out of the exact environments that are supposed to help prepare them for school. Each child's expulsion is symptomatic of a larger crisis--an overburdened, underfunded, undervalued, and fragmented early education system. In early childhood, expulsion is the result of a series of adult decisions made within constrained contexts and at times blind to downstream consequences: exhausted and underpaid teachers deciding how to expend their limited attention and energy in a chaotic classroom; administrators on razor-thin budgets deciding among hiring additional personnel, providing high-quality training, or investing in adequate classroom resources; fragmented state agencies separately deciding on standards and policies and allocating funds for early intervention and consultation services. By examining these complex causes, No Longer Welcome starts a critical conversation between and across sectors of the early childhood field. Parents, teachers, preschool administrators, researchers, and policymakers all have a role to play in ensuring that all children can be retained in high-quality early care and education settings. Drawing on her research and interviews with teachers, program administrators, parents, and policymakers, Dr. Zinsser presents the reader with a rich description of the myriad of factors contributing to the expulsion crisis. She presents a compelling argument for not only the importance of ending the practice of excluding young children but also outlines roles that each and every member of the field (from classroom aide to legislator) must play in sustaining this For over 15 years, researchers have described a crisis in For over 15 years, researchers have described a crisis in our nations' early learning classrooms. Hundreds of children are expelled from childcare and preschool every day; a rate nearly three times that of kindergarten-12th grade students. While policymakers have taken steps to mitigate this crisis, disparities in who is expelled persist. Boys and Black children are routinely over-represented among those pushed out of the exact environments that are supposed to help prepare them for school. Each child's expulsion is symptomatic of a larger crisis--an overburdened, underfunded, undervalued, and fragmented early education system. In early childhood, expulsion is the result of a series of adult decisions made within constrained contexts and at times blind to downstream exhausted and underpaid teachers deciding how to expend their limited attention and energy in a chaotic classroom; administrators on razor-thin budgets deciding among hiring additional personnel, providing high-quality training, or investing in adequate classroom resources; fragmented state agencies separately deciding on standards and policies and allocating funds for early intervention and consultation services. By examining these complex causes, No Longer Welcome starts a critical conversation between and across sectors of the early childhood field. Parents, teachers, preschool administrators, researchers, and policymakers all have a role to play in ensuring that all children can be retained in high-quality early care and education settings. Drawing on her research and interviews with teachers, program administrators, parents, and policymakers, Dr. Zinsser presents the reader with a rich description of the myriad of factors contributing to the expulsion crisis. She presents a compelling argument for not only the importance of ending the practice of excluding young children but also outlines roles that each and every member of the field (from classroom aide to legislator) must play in sustaining this For over 15 years, researchers have described a crisis in "For over 15 years, researchers have described a crisis in our nations' early learning classrooms. Hundreds of children are expelled from childcare and preschool every day; a rate nearly three times that of kindergarten-12th grade students. While policymakers have taken steps to mitigate this crisis, disparities in who is expelled persist. Boys and Black children are routinely over-represented among those pushed out of the exact environments that are supposed to help prepare them for school. Each child's expulsion is symptomatic of a larger crisis--an overburdened, underfunded, undervalued, and fragmented early education system. In early childhood, expulsion is the result of a series of adult decisions made within constrained contexts and at times blind to downstream consequences: exhausted and underpaid teachers deciding how to expend their limited attention and energy in a chaotic classroom; administrators on razor-thin budgets deciding among hiring additional personnel, providing high-quality training, or investing in adequate classroom resources; fragmented state agencies separately deciding on standards and policies and allocating funds for early intervention and consultation services. By examining these complex causes, No Longer Welcome starts a critical conversation between and across sectors of the early childhood field. Parents, teachers, preschool administrators, researchers, and policymakers all have a role to play in ensuring that all children can be retained in high-quality early care and education settings. Drawing on her research and interviews with teachers, program administrators, parents, and policymakers, Dr. Zinsser presents the reader with a rich description of the myriad of factors contributing to the expulsion crisis. She presents a compelling argument for not only the importance of ending the practice of excluding young children but also outlines roles that each and every member of the field (from classroom aide to legislator) must play in sustaining this change."-- Book jacket For over 15 years, researchers have described a crisis in early learning classrooms in the United States. Hundreds of children are expelled from child-care programs and preschools every day, a rate nearly three times that of kindergarten–12th grade students. While policymakers have taken steps to mitigate this crisis, disparities in who is expelled persist. Boys and Black children are routinely over-represented among those pushed out of the exact environments supposed to help prepare them for school. Each child’s expulsion is symptomatic of a larger crisis—an overburdened, underfunded, undervalued, and fragmented early education system. No Longer Welcome starts a critical conversation between and across sectors of the early childhood field. Parents, teachers, preschool administrators, researchers, and policymakers all have a role to play in ensuring that all children have the opportunity to be retained in high-quality early care and education settings. Drawing on research and interviews with teachers, program administrators, parents, and policymakers, this book presents a detailed description of the myriad of factors contributing to the expulsion crisis. No Longer Welcome offers a compelling argument for the importance of ending the practice of excluding young children and outlines roles that each and every member of the field (from classroom aide to legislator) must play in sustaining this change. For over 15 years, researchers have described a crisis in our nations' early learning classrooms. Hundreds of children are expelled from childcare and preschool every day; a rate nearly three times that of kindergarten-12th grade students. While policymakers have taken steps to mitigate this crisis, disparities in who is expelled persist. Boys and Black children are routinely over-represented among those pushed out of the exact environments that are supposed to help prepare them for school. Drawing on her research and interviews with teachers, program administrators, parents, and policymakers, Dr. Katherine Zinsser presents the reader with a rich description of the myriad of factors contributing to the expulsion crisis "Lance, is a curious, energetic little boy who lives in southern Illinois with his Dad, Stephen, and step-mom. As a toddler, Lance took easily to art and loved animals. When I interviewed Stephen in 2020, Lance was about halfway through his kindergarten year at the local public school and thriving, but it had been a long and frustrating road to get there. Between the ages of two and five, Lance attended and was expelled from, or pushed out of seven different child care programs"-- Page 1, Introduction Cover Half Title No Longer Welcome Copyright Dedication Contents 1. Introduction 2. Defining the Problem 3. A Challenge for Whom? 4. Biased Perceptions of and Responses to Behavior 5. Teacher Well-​Being and Exclusionary Decision-​Making 6. The “How” of Exclusion 7. The Power of Relationships 8. Promising Pathways Forward 9. Pulling Policy Levers to Curtail Expulsion 10. Conclusion Creating a Healing Village: An Afterword by Iheoma U. Iruka Acknowledgments References Index