You asked how states with low pre-school expulsion rates structure their programs to achieve fewer expulsions.

SUMMARY

States with low rates of pre-school expulsions have (1) informal policies of not expelling children in public pre-school programs, and (2) partnerships with other state agencies, most notably mental health, in providing a multi-faceted approach to prepare at-risk children for academic success.

Walter S. Gilliam’s report entitled Prekindergarteners Left Behind: Expulsion Rates in State Prekindergarten Systems details the rates, class compositions, ages, and ethnicities of children expelled from state-funded prekindergarten programs. Based on this report, we contacted Kentucky, Michigan, and South Carolina, three states with low expulsion rates, to determine the program characteristics that lead to successful outcomes.

Although these three states have an informal policy of not expelling children from a prekindergarten program, no state has a statute or agency regulation prohibiting pre-school expulsions, according to Kathy Christie at the Education Commission of the States. In addition, expulsion rates do not appear to be correlated to teacher qualifications

since education levels of pre-school teachers appear not to be significantly different among states with such programs. Most of the states require pre-school teachers to have a degree in a field associated with childhood education.

KENTUCKY

The Kentucky program was created in 1990 to help children succeed in school by providing a developmentally appropriate program for children at risk of educational failure (http: //www. ecs. org/dbsearches/search_info/PreK_ProgramProfile. asp?state=KY). Kentucky discourages expulsion in prekindergarten by reasoning that it is more effective to deal with troublesome behavior at an early age. In addition, Kentucky created a comprehensive training network for prekindergarten teachers. The Kentucky Initiative of Social Skills and Emotional Development (KISSED) is an eight-day training program focused on socio-emotional development. KISSED is a strength-based model with the goal of providing teachers with problem-solving skills. Instead of expelling a child, instructors approach troubling behavior by teaching socio-emotional skills. Kentucky’s program also collaborates with interested parties, including special education and mental health programs, to provide troubled children with additional resources to reduce disruptive behavior.

MICHIGAN

Michigan’s program was established in 1985 with a goal of serving at-risk children who are not eligible for Head Start (http: //www. ecs. org/dbsearches/search_info/PreK_ProgramProfile. asp?state=MI). Similar to Kentucky, Michigan has an informal policy of not expelling prekindergarten children. Educational leaders believe dealing with problems at a younger age can prevent future problems; therefore expulsion is not a viable option for disruptive children. Michigan has a pre-school expulsion prevention program that provides teacher training and works with the Mental Health Department to provide a larger support network to at-risk children. Lastly, Michigan ties pre-school funding to enrollment. Therefore, if a child gets expelled and is not replaced, the pre-school program will not receive its full funding.

SOUTH CAROLINA

The South Carolina legislature created a pre-school program to address academic deficiencies in four-year-old children to prepare them for kindergarten

(http: //www. ecs. org/dbsearches/search_info/PreK_ProgramProfile. asp?state=SC). South Carolina Department of Education (DOE) officials believe that expelling children from pre-school further harms the development of at-risk children. Therefore the DOE trains pre-school teachers to solve disruptive behavior with options other than expulsion. In addition, the pre-school program has created a referral process with mental health providers to help children address troublesome behavior.

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