A National Snapshot of Preschool Expulsion and Suspension Laws and Regulations in the United States

• In Event: Research on School Discipline Policy: Exploring Bias, Race, and Local Context

Abstract

After a landmark study that found that preschoolers in the United States were being expelled at three times the rate of K-12 students (Gilliam, 2005), there has been a national discussion on how to mitigate this phenomenon, including a rare joint statement from the United States Department of Education and Department of Health and Human Services (DOE & HHS, 2014). Moving forward, the responsibility will fall on the states for legal action. This paper provides a snapshot of the status, as of the summer of 2017, of suspension and expulsion policies at the state level for preschools and child care centers. It presents the existing laws and regulations in their original language and provides an analysis of how they vary.

Authors

• Sarah Emma Grossman-Kahn, Yale University

• Chin Regina Reyes, Yale University

• Angela Maupin, Michigan State University

• Walter Gilliam, Yale University