Buffett Institute Executive Director Walter Gilliam’s research on preschool expulsion in the United States found that children are expelled from public preschool programs at a rate that is about three and a half times higher than that of children in Kindergarten through Grade 12 combined—and that implicit bias plays a role in the disproportionate use of exclusionary disciplinary practices with boys, especially Black boys.

Subsequent investigations have focused on why teachers expel children, effective intervention strategies for reducing challenging behaviors, and how young children experience racial biases.

This research impacted the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014, which specifically allows grant recipients to use CCDBG funds for preschool expulsion prevention efforts, in alignment with the Policy Statement on Expulsion and Suspension in Early Childhood Settings that was jointly issued by the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Education.