The younger they're expelled, the harder they'll fall later

Valuing a child's self-esteem over his or her ability to behave or perform does that child no favor. We became convinced long ago that a disruptive child must be dealt with. A child who can't pass a standardized test shouldn't be given a free pass.
Teachers and schools that sweep children's failures under the rug only set those children up for bigger failures and harder falls later in life. We subscribe to more of a tough-love approach.
That said, even we were taken aback by the results of a study released this week by the Yale Child Study Center that found that 6.7 preschool children per 1,000 are being expelled for behavioral problems from state-funded programs, compared to about 2 per 1,000 elementary, middle and high school pupils. And the rates of expulsion are nearly twice as high at for-profit and faith-based pre-schools as at public schools and Head Start programs.
A theory, but wrong
Perhaps, we thought, these figures represented the expulsion of children who were sent into preschool programs at too young an age. Three-year-olds and even some 4-year-olds might not be potty trained or might not have developed other social skills that allowed them to fit into a classroom situation.
But in reading the report, we found that the higher percentage of preschool expulsions were among 5- and 6-year-olds. They were children who simply would not or could not conform to the reasonable demands of a classroom situation and, in some cases, their unruly behavior created a threat to their own safety or that of their classmates. (Remember the videotape of the 6-year-old Florida girl who went on a rampage that ended with her being handcuffed by police?)
It should be noted that the numbers of children involved her are relatively small: less than one child in 100 in the public school settings; a little more than one child per 100 in the private and religious schools. But it is not a small number if you are that child.
Note, too, that preschool expulsion rates are likely to be higher than those for elementary school because preschool education is not mandatory. That gives preschools the ability to expel now and let some first grade teacher worry about it later.
That isn't a good educational plan.
The study found that programs that had counselors and mental health professionals available to them had better rates of success. It concluded with a suggestion that preschool teachers should be getting more support than they are in dealing with troubled children.
It's natural
It is not surprising that preschool administrators resort to expulsion when they feel that they have to. Indeed, given that the school and the teacher are responsible for the safety of every child and for maintaining an environment that is conducive to learning, it could be argued that they have a responsibility to remove an unmanageable child from the classroom.
The study calls for elimination of expulsion in state-funded programs. That's fine as a goal, but it is not realistic -- especially since the state funded programs are already doing twice as good a job of assimilating troubled children into their classrooms as the private or faith-based programs.
This is the first comprehensive study of the preschool expulsion phenomenon, so there is no way of knowing whether the numbers are growing. There are no data with which this study can be compared. But anecdotal evidence suggests the problem of unruly young students is worsening.
This study may provide the impetus for preschool programs to develop strategies for working with troubled child at younger ages so as to avoid a crisis.