Sentinel Event: Preventing Preschool Expulsion

• In Event: Challenging Behaviors, Expulsion, and Trauma-Informed Practices

Abstract

While research on early childhood expulsion practices and efforts to prevent such an event has dominated the literature, the voices of parents living with the effects of the expulsion have been practically non-existent. To date, it is unclear how families experience their young children’s exclusion or how families fare during and after a child is expelled. Using a Sentinel Event lens and a case study approach, this paper aims to trace 21 families’ experiences with their child’s exclusion. Our ultimate goal is to identify the system(s) that failed each family to prevent another event (preschool exclusion) from happening again.

Authors

• Sarai Coba Rodriguez, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Kate Zinsser, University of Illinois at Chicago