Expulsion from Community Childcare: Administrators Share Beliefs of Causes and Potential Solutions

In response to notably high levels of early expulsion in the United States and the potential negative outcomes of this experience, this study explores early childhood administrator beliefs regarding the causes of and potential solutions to early expulsion in community childcare settings. Centering the voices of administrators (n = 212), who ultimately make expulsion decisions in community childcare settings, this study presents responses to two open-ended questions examining administrator perceptions in an online anonymous survey. Thematic analysis identified five main causes of expulsion: issues related to teachers and administrators, child-specific factors, parental behaviors, insufficient resources, and programmatic challenges. Regarding solutions, six key themes emerged: enhanced training and education, improved resources and supports, programmatic adjustments, addressing parental behaviors, increasing access to services, and viewing expulsion as sometimes necessary. These findings highlight the complex nature of early expulsion and draw attention to the need for collaboration between practitioners, families, researchers, and policymakers. Implications of these findings are discussed.