Suspension and expulsion (exclusionary discipline) continue to be common forms of punishment in American schools (Hoffman, 2014). Exclusionary discipline often occurs as a result of "zero-tolerance" policies. School districts enacted zero-tolerance policies in the 1990s to address school shootings and fears about a perceived escalation…

While research shows that exclusionary discipline practices in the early years are ineffective and developmentally inappropriate, young children continue to be suspended and expelled at high rates. An increasing number of states have taken steps to ensure that young children are not removed from programs due to their behavior. This report explores…

The Child Care and Early Education Research Connections collection catalogs resources that researchers, policymakers, and other professionals find and use for child care and early education research. The items outlined in this resource list examine equity in early care and education (ECE). They were published between 2016 and 2022 in the United…

Within neoliberal education systems, elements of marketisation are endemic and this brings with it the invasive pressures of performativity. Against this backdrop, discipline in schools is in many instances being more closely monitored and tightly controlled, with the implementation of strict and in some cases 'zero-tolerance' behaviour management…

Preschool students are expelled from educational settings at higher rates than any other students, and this may serve to be problematic across their lifespan. One of the primary reasons reported is due to their display of social behavioral problems within the preschool classroom. A historical review of social behavioral interventions for preschool…

The goal of every early educator is to prepare all students for school success--but for young Black children, entrenched biases and racial inequities have created an achievement gap that must be closed. Transform your practices "and" work for systemic change with this visionary guidebook, a comprehensive roadmap to promoting racial…

The use of exclusionary discipline practices in schools has been well documented since the 1970s with the passing of the Safe Schools Act and implementation of zero-tolerance policies. Despite research indicating the ineffectiveness of exclusionary practices, students continue to receive suspensions and expulsions at alarming rates. Additional…

Zero tolerance policies were designed to create safety by implementing automatic exclusion (e.g., suspensions, expulsions) for misbehavior in response to rising school violence in the United States. However, evidence over the past four decades shows that these policies fail to increase objective and subjective safety, and instead foster poor…

This article draws upon legislation, policy, guidance and recently published research in order to explore why illegal exclusion, sometimes known as off rolling, is an under-researched area of education, and what the most significant barriers are to gaining a clearer understanding of the scale of, and reasons behind, the practice. In doing so, the…

African American girls in schools across the United States are reprimanded, suspended, and expelled at significantly higher rates compared to their White counterparts. Researchers have deemed the criminalization of African American girls a public health crisis. Given that schools have been described as microcosms of society, African American girls…

Reflecting an overall policy shift in Oregon and nationwide, Oregon passed laws in 2013 and 2015 aimed at changing the way school discipline is applied in grades K-12. The 2013 legislation directed districts to replace zero-tolerance policies with an emphasis on preventing and reducing unnecessary student suspensions and expulsions. Suspensions…

Ample scientific research has documented that exclusionary discipline practices are both ineffective for reducing unwanted behaviors and harmful to the long-term social and academic outcomes of students. Further, exclusionary discipline practices are especially harmful given their disproportionate use with students of color, students with…

Restorative practices (RP) have been shown to decrease the number of suspensions and expulsions being used in schools and increase positive school climate and culture, thus reducing the negative effects on students' personal and academic achievement (Losen, 2015; Skiba et al., 2000, 2015). RP is still relatively new in the K-12 setting, however,…

School principals' leadership strategies and collaborative efforts contribute immensely to defining and managing goals in response to any educational initiatives, including social-emotional learning (SEL) programs. The problem prompting this study was the disproportionate special education referral and school suspension of minority students.…

College tuition costs have risen 33% in the past ten years (NCES, 2016a), forcing college administrators to refocus their efforts on student retention in order to stay competitive (Alarcon & Edwards, 2012; Sanders, Daly, & Fitzgerald, 2016; Tinto, 2006). Although universities have implemented support programs to help students in these…