Ending ‘suspensions as a first resort’ in early childhood settings

Hertford and Northampton counties aim to eliminate early childhood suspensions

Katie here, writing to you from beautiful Morganton, where Liz and I spent a few days with the community college leaders who prepare the bulk of our state’s early childhood workforce.

Earlier in the week my attention was in the opposite corner of the state, in two majority-Black counties near where I grew up — Hertford and Northampton. The Hertford-Northampton Smart Start Partnership for Children is working with the Educational Equity Institute (EEI) to create a community-based model designed to eliminate the use of exclusionary discipline in early care and education settings.

Exclusionary discipline includes any action that removes a child from their learning environment as a way to address behavior challenges. This might mean sending them to another classroom or an administrative office (exclusion), sending them home for a day or more (suspension), or telling their families the child is no longer welcome at the site (expulsion).

As EEI President Ebonyse Mead explained, in places where staff and resources are strained, staff members might “use suspensions as a first resort” for handling behavioral issues.

There’s no evidence that exclusionary discipline prevents or improves challenging behaviors. And there’s ample evidence that it harms not only the children who are being excluded, but also children who remain and the overall learning environment. Black children — especially boys — are disproportionately affected by exclusionary discipline compared to their peers, regardless of socioeconomic status.

The Hertford-Northampton project to end reliance on exclusionary discipline is being led locally by Stacey Henderson, executive director of the Smart Start Partnership.

Mead told me the first year of this three-year project is about “capacity building.” Her team started by training the Smart Start staff, with emphasis on understanding the historical origins of racialized identities in America, and how perceptions of those identities can affect how educational systems engage with Black children.

The next step in this first year has been recruiting a “strategic planning team” — members of the community with a connection to early care and education who will receive paid training from EEI. That training will prepare them for the second year, when they’ll develop a plan for their community to move away from the use of exclusionary discipline (work for which they’ll also be paid). Their plan will then be implemented in the third year, with a focus on sustainability beyond the official completion of the project.

You can read more about the project and the community where it is based right here.

And heads up! The Week of the Young Child is coming up April 1-7. Let us know of any special events or happenings you want on our radars!

Until next time,