Pulling Policy Levers to Curtail Expulsion

Technically, Aiden never should have been expelled. It was illegal for the program to push him out just because of his behavior. Unfortunately, at the time, his mother and the preschool’s director did not know that Illinois had banned the practice. Legislation is often used to promote social change, and across the country, policymakers are attempting to prohibit young children’s exclusion through a variety of mechanisms. This chapter reviews the history of state and federal school discipline policy and describes several different approaches being used today. Illinois’s progressive approach to banning early childhood expulsion is highlighted, and the chapter concludes with a review of findings from an ongoing evaluation of the law’s implementation, impact, and unintended consequences. Findings from the research-practice-policy coalition guiding the evaluation can serve as a model for other jurisdictions working to prevent children’s exclusion for early childhood education settings.