Posted on 05/17/2005 4:25:56 AM PDT by tuffydoodle
Expulsion rate highest for preschoolers, study shows
By Cynthia L. Garza
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
FORT WORTH - Karen Medzorian didn't claim that her little boy was perfect. Kevin, who is now 5 years old, became frustrated quite easily, threw temper tantrums and became unruly at his day-care center.
Preschool workers tried to work with Kevin's behavior problems and gave him several chances to improve. Eventually, his mother received a heartbreaking message: "Our program is probably not the best program for your son."
Over the past year, Kevin has been through three preschools, after being kicked out of the first two.
"I felt like he had been cast in this misbehaving role, and now he may not know how else to act," she said.
A Yale University study released today found that the youngest students, those in pre-kindergarten, are expelled at a rate more than three times that of children in grades kindergarten through 12. The study found that 4-year-olds, boys and African-Americans are more likely to be expelled from pre-K than other groups.
"Pre-kindergartners Left Behind: Expulsion Rates in State Pre-kindergarten Systems" looked at expulsion data obtained from nearly 3,900 teachers from all 40 states, including Texas, that fund pre-K programs. Data was broken down by gender, race, ethnicity and program setting -- public school, Head Start or private providers. The main study focused on the rate of expulsion in pre-K programs serving 3- and 4-year-olds.
In Texas, one of every 167 pre-kindergarten students is expelled, according to the report. More than 240,000 children ages 3 and 4 in Texas are enrolled in a state or federally funded preschool program, according to the National Institute for Early Education Research. No numbers are readily available on how many other children in Texas attend preschool in a non-publicly funded program.
"What the data does tell us, as does the show Supernanny, is that there are a lot of kids out of control out there, and preschool programs are not having success in setting them on a better course," said pre-K expert Karen Hill-Scott. "Early education programs, unfortunately, are giving up on children when the promise of preschool is supposed to be early identification and prevention."
The study recommends that programs develop clear policies on how to deal with students with behavioral problems, like placing them in an alternative program or providing individual behavioral aides. It also recommends requiring that teachers be trained in addressing behavior problems.
"When we fail to provide these supports, we place children and their families in a very difficult situation, where some children are bounced from one program to the next and parents may end up viewing their child as an educational failure well before kindergarten," said Walter Gilliam, the Yale Child Study Center researcher who led the study.
In addition to straining families, problematic children strain teachers.
"Teaching our youngest children is hard, demanding work, and on some days it can be grueling," said Libby Doggett, executive director for Pre-K Now, a Washington-based pre-kindergarten advocacy group. "This report tells us that in many states, we've failed our teachers."
Heather Kepler, Kevin's teacher at Camp Fire Family Center Child Care in Fort Worth, said many children are not being taught how to express themselves, and their parents are not setting appropriate limits and boundaries, or being consistent with discipline.
The little ones scream, kick, hit and throw things at school.
Kepler, who has taught preschool for 16 years, uses a classroom management program called The Peaceable Classroom, which helps children deal with their problems through a conflict-resolution approach.
"I believe if they can't gain the self-esteem and confidence and social skills, then it's impossible for them to learn anything else," Kepler said.
Kevin has been in Kepler's class for about nine months, and he is inching toward regaining trust in the education system, Kepler said.
Doggett said that the quality of a program makes a huge difference in a child's behavior. High-quality programs offer behaviorally challenged children alternative means of communicating. They also teach, model and reinforce positive behaviors and link children and families with other services when needed, Doggett said.
IN THE KNOW
Study highlights
• Eleven percent of teachers in Texas reported expelling at least one pre-kindergartner during the past year.
• Texas' pre-K expulsion rate ranks 23rd among the 40 states that fund pre-kindergarten.
• One of every 167 pre-K students in Texas is expelled.
• At least 240,000 children ages 3 and 4 are enrolled in a state or federally funded pre-K program in Texas.
my kids considered it a fun place to go for a few mornings per week. it is hardly fair to characterize sending a child to preschool from 9-noon, three mornings a week, instutionalization.
But yours is not the situation with a lot of the kids in preschool. A lot of these little tykes are getting shuffled/ shuttled from daycare to pre-school and back to daycare and are in an institutionalized setting for more than 8 hours per day/ 5 days per week.
However, the article says about its first anecdotal subject:
Kevin, who is now 5 years old, became frustrated quite easily, threw temper tantrums and became unruly at his day-care center.
Although more detail is not given, "day-care center" implies 10-12 hours a day, five days a week.
It's true that many children are not being disciplined by their parents, and one reason is that they're rarely WITH their parents!
Perhaps, Mom need to spend more time with little Kevin teaching him how to behave.
i don't know, maybe my son wasn't particularly highspirited, or maybe he knew he would be punished if i heard he could not behave himself. he is in 7th grade now and will get an occasional demerit for talking in class or acting the fool, and i have told him that if you get yourself pegged as a screwoff that is how you will be perceived. He did it with his spanish teacher and has no hope of anything higher than a B in there, bc she thinks he is a screw off. She is not competent, doesn't speak english very well and doesn't have control of the class. i told him you will have incompetent teachers and bosses in life and you just have to learn to deal, because you can control your own behavior and their incompetence doesn't give you a free pass to act up.
Your are correct. This is an all-day day care center and not a two or three morning a week pre-school.
These kids just need a good swat on the bottom occasionally.
"The study recommends that programs develop clear policies on how to deal with students with behavioral problems, like placing them in an alternative program or providing individual behavioral aides. It also recommends requiring that teachers be trained in addressing behavior problems."
Clear policy - Send 'em home and make Mom and Dad do their jobs.
That is the point I was about to make. Anyone that doubts this is occuring only need to look at the hours 'Day care providers' offer. Some are open until midnight.
I appreciate the accurate information.
There are children who have problems in limited-hours preschool programs as well, of course, but that's a different issue. From my observation, some of those are overindulged by their parents, while others simply are not old enough, irrespective of their calendar age.
apparently we are talking about two entirely different things.
I was totally clueless when I had my first baby, too ... and I'd supported myself as a babysitter until I went to college! It's a wonder she survived!
We managed to do it with our kids. But many parents today often view children's tantrums and other such behavior as "expressing themselves". If Junior has learned how to manipulate/ignore Mom and Dad as a preschooler, then how can parents expect him to behave otherwise when he reaches school age?
How about adding a program to teach idiot parents how to raise a kid. These problems with kids are for NO other reason then bad parenting.
Becky
Our local public pre-school program (in Texas)is 8:00AM to 3:00 PM five days a week, just as every other grade in school. That's because they can't afford to run a separate bus schedule for pre-school and because the mothers don't want the kids home because they work. They would be happy to see a longer class day, say till 5:30, but the school can't afford that either. Yes, this is child abuse and our country pays for its neglect of children and their lack of homelife in many, many ways.
Dollars to donuts the vast majority of these kids come from single parent homes.
Many of us remember a time when children did behave in school (and elsewhere) and teachers were able to TEACH. Teachers and students looked forward to a day of creative instruction with only limited interruption from a miscreant. Now teachers arrive at school defensive and antagonized. Creative lesson plans are useless if presented to an uncaring class. If I was teaching today, I would be tempted to buy body armor to wear each day.
So I don't fall for the "they are just being kids" theory. There was a time when (most) kids behaved. Unfortunately, we will most likely never see that again.
So many of the comments on this thread are on the right track.
First of all, the Campfire center featured in the article is the best childcare facility in Fort Worth. In fact, they offer training to other centers, teachers, and home care providers. However, it is a daycare facility, and not what most would consider as a traditional pre-school. This family found a good place for their child, but it is still a daycare center.
Secondly, the lack of discipline in the home is readily apparent in any classroom, but especially so in a full day program for preschoolers. What the article doesn't mention is that these aggressive children often harm other kids through fighting, biting, kicking, rough play, etc. If a child is expelled, one should suspect that other parents may have complained about those types of behaviors directed at their children.
Unfortunately, if this aggression isn't addressed at an early age, wait and see what they do in first grade.
Taking many years off to raise my own children in the home was the best sacrifice we ever made.
Although this article isn't really about "philosophy of schooling," I have to say that, in my opinion, when the system requires its subjects to be regimented by age 5, or else!, then there's something wrong with the system.
When you look at the education of our founders, vs. the "schooling" of children today ... well, there's no question which produced the better educational outcome, and the better outcome for the Republic! (/political rant off)
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