Last week, I attended a webinar hosted by the Alliance for Early Success regarding early childhood mental health supports in a COVID-19 early childhood education environment. One of the webinar’s speakers, Dr. Walter Gilliam of the Yale Child Study Center, outlined the various implications for a child that is expelled or suspended, including immediate consequences such as a lack of access to early education, undermining children and families’ relationships with their schools, obscuring root causes that should be addressed and further calcifying biases regarding about which children are best served in schools and which are most often excluded. Long-run consequences outlined by Dr. Gilliam include academic failure and disengagement, dropping out of school, and increased rates of law enforcement contact and later incarceration. Furthermore, children of incarcerated parents are at 3 times greater risk of being expelled from preschool.
Source: Dr. Gilliam's slides at the Alliance for Early Success Webinar 7.21.21
Preliminary results of the research Dr. Gilliam is conducting through a survey of 21,000 adults working in early childhood education settings indicate that 24.2% of centers had at least 1 child with a family member hospitalized due to COVID-19, and 17.8% indicated that 5 or more children had a family member hospitalized. Furthermore, 11.9% of centers had at least one child had a family member that died due to COVID-19, and 6.5% of centers had at least 5 children whose family member died. The added stress and anxiety that families and children experienced due to the pandemic exacerbated the already difficult tasks early childhood educators face every day.
These preliminary findings bring to light the difficulties that early childhood educators were facing before the pandemic and the pressure that exists for them to provide high-quality care to children without the supports that they need to successfully do their job. Furthermore, these challenges can also further exacerbate the rate of expulsion and suspensions, particularly for students of color, the effects of which will outlive the immediate challenges associated with COVID-19.