Behavior Complaints and Identities Associated with Exclusionary Discipline in Early Childhood Education

High rates of exclusionary discipline in early childhood education (ECE) settings in the US persist, posing significant concerns with links to adverse educational and social-emotional outcomes. This study seeks to address this by examining behaviors deemed problematic by ECE teachers, their association with expulsion, and how they interact with children's social identities in predicting expulsion. Data from 218 parents of children under 5 who received behavioral warnings in ECE programs were analyzed. The study compared an excluded group (N=114) comprising children formally expelled or coerced to withdraw due to challenging behavior with a retained group (N=104) of children who left for non-behavior-related reasons. ECE programs reported behavioral complaints encompassing a range of behaviors, with anger towards others being the most common reason for expulsion (42.11%). While parents on average selected two behavior types, these were not significantly intercorrelated. However, parents reported that programs complained about a greater number of behaviors (behavior count) for children with diagnosed or suspected disabilities (rpb=0.23, p= 0.021). Logistic regression analyses revealed no significant associations between the sum of behavioral complaints (behavior count), children's gender, race, and disability status with exclusion. However, a significant association was found between retention and the behavior warning "refused to sit still/nap" (β = -0.62, SE = 0.28, z = - 2.24, p = 0.03), indicating that this behavior predicted membership in the retained group. Furthermore, the count of behavioral complaints did not significantly interact with children's identities to explain group membership. Our results suggest that factors other than challenging behaviors are what play a significant role in determining whether children are excluded or retained, and that children with disabilities receive more warnings than their counterparts, underscoring the necessity for further investigation into inclusive and equitable ECE.