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.
Mine will be eighteen this week. When he was three, he went to a pre-school in the mornings, three days a week. He had a hard time adjusting to that after being used to being home, but we had no other options at the time and we lived out in the boonies so he had little contact with kids other than his cousins.
He was a bratty three/four year old, but once he was in school fulltime, he loved it. He starts college this fall. We all survived. :)
Illuminating story. I'm glad you shared it.
I never said or implied that preschool has anything to do with how smart a kid is. However, preschoolers as a whole adapt to the school environment quicker than kids who were not preschooled. And often times, kids who have not been preschooled have not learned their alphabet and things like that. So they are behind the others.
See post #63.
individual behavioral aids = drugs
These experts want to drug four year old boys and lock them out of careers from the preschool age.
This is sick. What do they EXPECT four year olds to do, stand around singing tunes from the Mikado?
well you know, i consider myself lucky. i sent my kids to preschool as a social outing 3 mornings per week, even though i was home with them. they learned how to get along in a group, did crafts and sang songs. and as for people who send their kids to daycare centers, well, i am not so judgemental. People do what they think is best and i am not going to condemn someone who is not as lucky as i, to have been able to stay home, work part-time and work from home. I have been blessed.
Yes, but I suspect at the time you were talking about, there were a number of other factors in play as well: fewer single parent families, children not in school until age five or so, children not warehoused into extended daycare, etc. I also think there are different expectations from children of different ages. You're absolutely right about disruptive kids in school... but I think when you start applying these concepts to preschool (which to me means as young as age three, a big difference from age five), there are different problems. I don't disagree that a lot of kids today lack discipline and manners, but I don't think that is the entire story, either.
Which is where they are, but I think a very limited preschool setting at age four or so is a good thing, also. I'd like to find something for a couple hours, three mornings a week or so, just to give them some fun time and to meet some other kids. I'm not looking for someone else to raise or educate my boys, just somewhere for them to play with a group of other children. Years ago, kids could do this in their neighborhoods, but not anymore (at least not where I live).
My husband's theory on my staying home with the children is that when raising kids, as he says, "you pay now or you pay later, but you pay." We're making the sacrifices now, but the parents whose kids are in daycare are going to be paying later, probably in a different way. The parents who think there is a "no cost" (personal, financial, whatever) to raising children are fooling themselves.
No one has mentioned that when this lad gets home, he probably watches whatever violent crap on TV he wants, and then plays "Drug-rape vice" or whatever the name of that videogame is.
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