Building equitable foundations: policy solutions to address preschool suspension, expulsion, and exclusion inequities

This work contributes to the recent special issue in Frontiers in Psychology, titled "Bridging Racial, Economic, and Intersectional Equity Gaps in Developmental and Educational Psychology: The Key Roles of Caregivers and Early Childhood Interventions and Approaches," which calls attention to the important role of innovative approaches to protect and nurture the learning experience of young children. The present conceptual review paper aims to provide policy recommendations to education researchers, practitioners, instructors, and other key stakeholders to bring awareness to and eradicate the practice of suspension, expulsion and exclusionary practices in early care and learning environments. Accordingly, by drawing on Critical Race Theory, we highlight the positive efforts of the North Carolina Coalition for Inclusion, Not Expulsions as a model for paving the way toward the elimination of harsh disciplinary methods used in preschool contexts. Then, we introduce several policies and objectives that should be enacted across all systems that govern preschool settings. Finally, we conclude with thoughtful implications and future directions.