Bias in Exclusionary Discipline in Early Childhood: Unpacking the Role of Teacher Attributions About Behavior

• In Event: Early Childhood Education (ECE) Equity: Unpacking Racial Injustice in ECE Access, Readiness, Relationships, and Disparities

Abstract

Much of young children’s behavior is in the “eye of the beholder”, with contextual, teacher, and child factors influencing how behavior is interpreted in education settings. Teacher attributions about behavior are the beliefs that teachers have about why children behave in certain ways (Carter et al., 2014; Nemer et al., 2019). Attributions about children’s behavior can include seeing challenging behavior as unlikely to change, done on purpose, and related to factors internal to the child. Research in parenting and K-12 settings has found that these attributions are related to responses to children’s behavior (Andreou & Rapti, 2010; Robertson et al., 2021), though limited research has explored attributions in early childhood settings. We begin to address this gap with two studies to unpack how attributions may play a role in exclusion. Findings can inform the design and implementation of policies and practices to foster more equitable and high-quality experiences for educators, young children, and families.
In Study 1, we examined how teacher attributions related to proactive and exclusionary teaching practices in a sample of 183 preschool teachers and 470 children perceived by their teacher as showing high rates of challenging behavior (Table 1). Using structural equation models (Table 2), we found that teachers’ responsibility attributions related to their reports of the frequency of their use of exclusionary practices (ß = 0.678, SE = 0.250, p = 0.007), but not proactive practices (ß = -0.231, SE = 0.261, p = 0.376). In terms of covariates, White teachers reported slightly more frequent use of exclusionary practices, and teachers at private centers reported more frequent use of exclusionary practices.
In Study 2, we further explore implicit racial and gender bias in teachers’ attributions about behavior and how these biases and attributions relate to exclusionary discipline. Data collection for study 2 will begin in August 2023. We will conduct a survey with a sample of approximately 400 early childhood educators recruited from ongoing projects. To better measure implicit bias in attributions, we will use vignettes of child behavior from the Preschool Attributions Measure and select child names that are highly gendered and racialized for a Black boy, Black girl, White boy, and White girl. Names will appear with each scenario in a random order for each teacher, allowing analyses to examine variability in attributions within and across teachers as a function of child race and gender. Data will be processed as they come in, and the final dataset will be ready for analysis by February 2024, ensuring sufficient time for analyses to be conducted before the conference.
Given the high rates of exclusion in early childhood settings generally, and in particular for boys, children of color, and children with disabilities (Meek & Gilliam, 2016; Zeng et al., 2020; Zinsser et al., 2022), understanding how attributions may work to push teachers towards using exclusionary practices is an important area of research. Changing teacher attributions may be a promising target for reducing and ultimately eliminating the use of exclusion (Davis et al., 2020).

Authors

• Kelsey Clayback, University of Virginia

• Amanda Paige Williford, University of Virginia