Soft Expulsion: What Happens When School-Based Supports aren’t Enough

Diana Hoffstein-Rahmey, Keri Giordano, Kayla M. Murphy, Rashel Reizin-Friedman, Amanda Coyne

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Very limited research exists regarding the beliefs and practices of student support teams (SSTs), sometimes called child study teams or IEP teams, in settings with non-expulsion policies for young children with severely challenging behaviors. Previous research examined teacher and administrator beliefs and practices and found that they engage in practices related to soft expulsion (Murphy et al. in Child Youth Serv Rev 158:107441, 2024). Some school psychologists and SST members may also resort to soft expulsion, subtly pushing children out of their schools due to challenging behaviors (Zinsser et al. in Rev Educ Res 92(5):743–785, 2022). This study utilized an anonymous, online, self-report measure to investigate the practices and beliefs of SST members in early childhood education settings with non-expulsion policies. Participants included 108 school-based service providers in one state. The majority identified as school psychologists, held a Master’s degree, had between 1 and 5 years of experience, and worked 36–40 h per week. Results showed that most participants said they had the supports to meet the needs of children with severely challenging behaviors, yet most had worked with a child whose behaviors they were unable to manage. Our examination also uncovered indications of soft expulsion practices and a general lack of knowledge about existing non-expulsion policies. The implications arising from these beliefs and practices are examined and discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1171-1182
Number of pages12
JournalSchool Mental Health
Volume16
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2024

Keywords

  • Beliefs
  • Challenging behaviors
  • Early childhood
  • Expulsion
  • Student support team

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