Early Childhood Suspension and Expulsion Prevention Program (ECSEPP)
Frequently asked questions
Introduction
A 2022 survey conducted by the Department of Early Childhood Learning (DELC) found that over 9% of all families with a child under the age of five had a child either suspended or expelled from a childcare program. This confirms a disturbing trend. Since at least 2019 there has been an increase of children between the ages six weeks to five years being removed from childcare. And the rates of suspension and expulsion for Black and African American children and children with disabilities is particularly high – 16.1% and 22.1%, respectively. Not only do children lose important learning experiences at a formative time in their lives, but families also experience significant impacts such as economic instability often due to job losses. In response to these negative outcomes, the Oregon legislature passed two Bills in 2021: House Bill 2166 and Senate Bill 236. As a result, the Early Childhood Suspension and Expulsion Prevention Program (ECSEPP) was established.
In 2023, the Coalition of Communities of Color (CCC) partnered with DELC to conduct a comprehensive review of existing data and policies regarding suspension and expulsion specific to Oregon and from across the country. This led to the “Baseline of Knowledge” report, which can be read here.
This Frequently Asked Questions page provides answers to questions about the legislation, what approaches and activities — including research — are a part of ECSEPP, and it clarifies some terminology and acronyms.
Q1. What does the legislation say about suspension and expulsion in early learning and care contexts?
In 2021, the Oregon Legislature passed House Bill 2166 (2021), which established the Early Childhood Suspension and Expulsion Prevention Program (ECSEPP). This bill states that the purpose of the ECSEPP is to both reduce the overall use of suspension and expulsion in Oregon’s early learning and care settings as well as to reduce the disparities in suspensions and expulsions “based on race, ethnicity, language, ability, or any other protected class.”
In 2021, the Oregon Legislature also passed Senate Bill 236 (2021)1, which establishes a ban on the use of suspension and expulsion. The ban goes into effect on July 1, 2026. It states that any early learning and care program receiving money from the DELC (formerly the Early Learning Division of the Oregon Department of Education) or any registered or certified early learning and care program “may not suspend or expel any child.”
Q2. What is the overall aim of the Early Childhood Suspension and Expulsion Prevention Program (ECSEPP)?
As established by House Bill 2166, ECSEPP is to be implemented in time to provide the resources and supports to early child care providers and educators so that they are prepared for the suspension and expulsion ban that goes into effect on July 1, 2026, per Senate Bill 236.
Q3. What does suspension and expulsion mean in the context of early education?
Early learning and care educators in Oregon provided direct information about their use of suspension and expulsion in a recent statewide survey. In 2022, nearly 1 in 5 early educators reported having asked a child in their program to leave or take a break in the last year (19.3% of the 2,166 early educators who completed the survey). In a recent review of research on suspension and expulsion in early learning and care, researchers report that “[a]cross studies, between 9.0% and 39.3% of teachers or programs had used exclusionary discipline, indicating that this is common across care settings.” Exclusionary discipline can look like:
Exclusionary practices: any action taken by an early care and education program that limits the enrollment, participation, or attendance of a child due to the child’s ability, needs, or behavior.
Expulsion: permanently dismissing a child from their early care and education program.
Suspension: temporarily dismissing a young child from the early care and education environment, either through in-program suspension or out-of-program suspension:
“In-program suspension” means temporarily prohibiting the child from engaging in the classroom or group setting by sending the child to a different location within the program or building. In-program suspension does not include a supported break.
“Out-of-program suspension” means dismissing or sending the child home early, prohibiting them from returning to the program for one or more days, or otherwise reducing the hours the child spends per week in the program.
Q4. Why are we focusing on race and disability?
Research clearly demonstrates that certain groups of Oregon children are disproportionately suspended or expelled. In particular, studies show that children racialized as Black and children with disabilities are more commonly portrayed as demonstrating “challenging behaviors” and therefore more likely to be removed from a learning space. A prevention program, like ECSEPP, must confront and focus on how a child’s race and disability status makes them more vulnerable to suspension and expulsion. Equally, early child educators must be resourced and supported to ensure all children remain in these programs.
Q5. How will research support ECSEPP?
An important part of ECSEPP is to understand what kinds of resources and supports are relied upon and needed by early child educators and care providers as well as what is working to keep children in programs. Research is therefore underway to learn about the resources and strategies that early educators in Oregon access to build relationships with children and families. We will learn what keeps children with diverse needs, abilities, and identities in their early learning and care programs as well as the resources and strategies that families use to advocate for their children and to connect with their early educators.
A second aspect of this research will learn about what DELC can and should do to promote and expand the strategies and resources that are currently working to reduce the use of suspension and expulsion in early learning and care settings. This approach will support DELC with being accountable to using the research and findings to inform the implementation of ECSEPP. These learnings will be paired with a Baseline of Knowledge study, which was conducted prior to the start of this research, that answered the following questions:
Who does or does not use exclusionary practices in Oregon? Why or why not?
Who in Oregon is or is not suspended or expelled? Why or why not?
How can Oregon’s early learning and care system better support early educators, families, and young children, with the ultimate goal of eliminating the use of exclusionary discipline practices?
Ultimately, this comprehensive research process centers racial equity by using a strengths-based approach.
Q6. Who is involved in this research?
The research was commissioned by the Department of Early Learning and Care (DELC), a state government agency “dedicated to early care and education policy and program administration.” Oregon's DELC was established by House Bill 3073 (2021) to be a stand-alone agency starting on July 1, 2023. In June 2023, DELC commissioned researchers at the Research Justice Institute (RJI) at the Coalition of Communities of Color (CCC) to design and conduct a research study on suspension and expulsion in Oregon’s early learning and care environments, focusing on ways to reduce the use of those practices.
Q7. What is the research process?
Researchers will first identify specific community-based organizations, early learning and care programs, and/or early educators who we want to engage for the study. To do this, researchers may focus their engagements around types of early learning and care settings that have lower rates of using suspension and expulsion. Researchers will then collaborate with the identified early educators and other early learning and care staff to co-design study plans that are tailored to their specific communities. This will include co-creating detailed protocols for individual interviews and/or focus groups and determining the appropriate amount of compensation (within the parameters specified contractually by DELC) for each organization’s and individual participant’s level of involvement.
Q8. How will we know what works well in early education and care programs?
A strengths-based approach to this research means that researchers will speak directly with early childhood educators and families about what is working well, including what kinds of resources, supports, and relationships they rely on to ensure that children thrive. These findings will shape the implementation of ECSEPP and provide a baseline of “assets” that can be evaluated during and after its implementation.
Q9. What do all the acronyms mean?
Below is a list of commonly used acronyms used in the early child education and learning context.
