Children in Wisconsin State-Funded Prekindergarten Programs Five Times Likelier to be Expelled Than K-12 Students

Thursday, September 21st, 2023 -- 10:00 AM

(Natalie Eilbert and Madison Lammert, Green Bay Press-Gazette) Stephanie Springer can’t help but tear up when she tells the story of the 6-year-old girl who came under her care last year.

According to Natalie Eilbert and Madison Lammert with the Green Bay Press-Gazette, although the girl is not yet in first grade, she’s already experienced trauma from varying origin points. She expresses her painful past in big, aggressive behaviors toward children and adults.

A child and family advocate at Encompass Early Education and Care, Inc., Springer’s job is to add extra layers of support for children, educators and families. In the case of the 6-year-old girl, this meant working with the child one-on-one, her mother to set up counseling services and the school district to arrange an Individualized Education Program (IEP).

“She's really getting support from every single adult that she's interacting with within the day,” Springer said. While the cases Encompass advocates see vary in intensity, the notion of having all hands on deck, families, educators and the child, remains a common theme.

Years before becoming an Encompass child and family advocate, Ashley Eslinger worked with a little girl who would have outbursts daily at 10 a.m. All it took to prevent future incidents was ensuring the family made time for breakfast.

For other children, the remedy may be noise-canceling headphones when the cacophony of other young children gets too overwhelming. Encompass's Child and Classroom Advocate Program is just one example of the many potential solutions cropping up across the state working to reduce the large number of early childhood suspensions and expulsions. 

Children in Wisconsin state-funded prekindergarten programs, which include those within child care programs, schools and other settings, are five times likelier to be expelled than students in the state’s K-12 schools, a novel 2005 study found.

Encompass's Child and Classroom Advocate Program is just one example of the many potential solutions cropping up across the state working to reduce the large number of early childhood suspensions and expulsions.

Children in Wisconsin state-funded prekindergarten programs, which include those within child care programs, schools and other settings, are five times likelier to be expelled than students in the state’s K-12 schools, a novel 2005 study found.

Before Encompass established the Child and Classroom Advocate Program in 2018, its expulsion rate was on the rise for years. Families didn’t always have the resources to set their children up for success, whether due to financial stress or limited access to early intervention programs.

This affected classroom dynamics, Encompass executive director Missy Schmeling said.

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