Exclusionary Discipline in Early Childhood Exclusionary Discipline in Early Childhood

: The pur pose of this explor atory qual i ta tive study was to exam ine how the per cep tions and expe ri ences of teach ers relate to the sus pen sion and expul sion of pre school ers in Cath o lic schools. Results indi cated that teach ers have a range of expe ri ences with sus pen sion, from chil dren being removed from the class room tem po rar ily to out-of-school sus pen sions last ing up to a week. Most par tic i pants also had expe ri enced expel ling a stu dent because of behav ior. Patterns that emerged from the data included a fre quency of extreme behav ior from some chil dren, the appli ca tion of var i ous strat e gies in response to chal leng ing behav ior, the use of exclu sion ary dis ci pline when other strat e gies did not work, and a resis tance to change prac tices with out addi tional sup ports. Implications for research and prac tice are discussed.

grow ing inter est and sup port for the inclu sion of stu dents with disabilities in Cath o lic schools as evidenced by resources such as the Program for Inclusive Education (PIE), offered through the Alliance for Cath o lic Education at the University of Notre Dame, and the 2020 spe cial issue of the Journal of Cath o lic Education devoted to the topic of inclu sion in Cath o lic Schools. In fact, in the intro duc tion to the spe cial issue Bonfiglio et al. (2020) noted that stu dents with disabilities are under served in Cath o lic edu ca tion, for while approx i ma tely 1% of all stu dents with disabilities (approx i ma tely 67,000 stu dents) attend pri vate schools, 40% iden tify as Cath o lic (U.S. Department of Education, 2018). Several arti cles in this spe cial issue high light recommended prac tices to sup port the inclu sion of chil dren with disabilities. In addi tion to the small num ber of stu dents with disabilities who attend Cath o lic schools, there are other stu dents with out diag noses who strug gle aca dem i cally and/or behaviorally and also need to be mean ing fully and suc cess fully included.
However, despite the cru cial role of early child hood pro grams in Cath o lic schools, there is a pau city of research ded i cated to this sec tor of Cath o lic edu ca tion. In one study designed to exam ine the land scape of early child hood pro grams in Cath o lic schools, research ers noted a high per cent age of Cath o lic ele men tary schools that had pre school pro grams (Frabutt & Waldron, 2013). Participants in this study high lighted the notion that pre school pro grams offer an oppor tu nity to con nect with fam i lies and pro mote fam ily engage ment within the broader church com mu nity. However, these research ers found wide var i ance across pro grams in terms of pro gram com po nents, such as cur ric u lum, and in teach ers' back grounds and qual i fi ca tions. The research ers did not inves ti gate stu dent demo graph ics, reten tion rates, pro gram qual ity, or dis ci pline pol i cies and pro ce dures, and sub se quently, many things remain unknown about the Cath o lic early child hood land scape.
Despite how var ied indi vid ual pro grams may be from one another, Cath o lic early child hood pro grams face many of the same chal lenges as the broader early child hood field, such as the use of sus pen sion and expul sion as forms of dis ci plin ary approaches. Students may be removed from class rooms on both a tem po rary and per ma nent basis. On a tem po rary basis, stu dents may be removed from their class room and sent to another loca tion, such as a hall way or office, or even home if a care giver can come for the child (often referred to as sus pen sion). On the more extreme, per ma nent basis, stu dents may be asked to leave the school entirely through expul sion, defined as the "per ma nent ter mi na tion of a pre school child's par tic i pa tion in a pre school pro gram for dis ci plin ary pur poses" (Office for Civil Rights, 2018, p. 72).
In his 2005 sem i nal study, Gilliam reported that pre-kin der gar ten stu dents (ages 3-5) were expelled at a rate 3.2% higher than stu dents in K-12th grade. Troubling rates of sus pen sion and expul sion in early child hood set tings have per pet u ated. In fact, Zeng et al. (2019) shared data gath ered from the 2016 National Survey of Children's Health reveal ing approx i ma tely 4,842 sus pen sions and 479 expul sions weekly for chil dren aged 3-5. Additionally of con cern, ram pant disparities exist in the use of these prac tices based on child demo graph ics, with exclu sion ary dis ci pline pro ce dures dis pro por tion ately impacting boys, Black stu dents, stu dents with disabilities, and stu dents who have expe ri enced trauma (Children's Equity Project, 2022;Edge et al., 2018;U.S. Department of Education, 2018;Zeng et al., 2019;Zeng et al., 2020).
Data on the rates of sus pen sion and expul sion in Cath o lic early child hood pro grams are not pub licly avail able. However, there are trou bling indi ca tions that these rates may be high, given that Gilliam (2005) found that chil dren in pri vate pro grams were four times more likely to be expelled than chil dren enrolled in pub lic pro grams. This may be because pri vately funded pro grams, such as Cath o lic early child hood pro grams, do not have to fol low the same direc tives as their pub licly funded coun ter parts. For exam ple, while 19 states have enacted pol i cies to pre vent sus pen sion and expul sion in pub lic pro grams (Children's Equity Project, 2020), these pol i cies are not man dated for Cath o lic schools. Eight of these 19 states also include direc tives aimed at childcare pro grams that may be pri vately funded (Children's Equity Project, 2020). In the home state for this study, state-funded pre-kin der gar ten pro grams are prohibited from expel ling stu dents and are required to par tic i pate in pre ven ta tive efforts such as supporting chil dren's social emo tional com pe tence and work to pre vent chal leng ing behav ior through men tal health con sul ta tion and fam ily engage ment (Governor's Office of Early Childhood, 2020).
Several major pro fes sional orga ni za tions concerned with early child hood have condemned the use of sus pen sion and expul sion with very young chil dren, includ ing the Children's Equity Project (2020), the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC; 2016), and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/U.S. Department of Education (2014). These dis ci plin ary pro ce dures can have dire impli ca tions for young chil dren and their fam i lies includ ing missed edu ca tional oppor tu ni ties, an adverse impact on social and emo tional devel op ment, neg a tive per cep tions of school which may result in a higher like li hood of drop ping out, a dimin ished sense of trust, and last ing trauma (Children's Equity Project, 2020;Palmer, 2020;Stegelin, 2018). As dis ci plin ary prac tices, sus pen sion and expul sion will not auto mat i cally result in decreased fre quen cies of chal leng ing behav ior or sup port the learn ing of new behav iors or skills by chil dren (Palmer, 2020;Zulauf & Zinsser, 2019). This issue is a press ing social jus tice and equity con cern, and it is imper a tive that all set tings serv ing young chil dren work towards elim i nat ing the use of these exclu sion ary prac tices (Meek & Gilliam, 2016).

Method
In a larger pre vi ous study, the authors inves ti gated the per cep tions and expe ri ences of teach ers in pri vately funded early child hood pro grams, includ ing childcare and faith-based pro grams, related to the use of sus pen sion and expul sion (O'Grady & Ostrosky, 2021). The cur rent study included some par tic i pants from that sam ple, as well as addi tional teach ers who were recruited solely for the cur rent inves ti ga tion, which focused only on Cath o lic pre school set tings. Three research ques tions guided this explor atory study: (1) What expe ri ences do edu ca tors in Cath o lic early child hood pro grams describe related to chal leng ing behav ior? (2) What expe ri ences do edu ca tors in Cath o lic early child hood pro grams have related to sus pen sion and expul sion? and (3) What do Cath o lic early edu ca tors per ceive as fac tors that influ ence the deci sion to sus pend or expel stu dents in their set tings?

Participants
Eleven early child hood teach ers in Cath o lic schools par tic i pated in this study, eight of which par tic i pated in the pre vi ous study. All par tic i pants iden ti fied as Cau ca sian and female. Participant age var ied, with one teacher iden ti fy ing as being between 18-24 years old, five stat ing that they were between 25-34, three iden ti fy ing as being between 35-44, one stat ing that she was between 45-54 and one iden ti fy ing as being 55+. Years of teach ing expe ri ence also var ied, from three years to 19 years (M = 10); seven teach ers had ten or more years of expe ri ence. Teachers had diverse edu ca tional back grounds, with one teacher hold ing an asso ci ate degree, seven with bach e lor's degrees, and three with mas ter's degrees. See Table 1 for par tic i pant demo graphic infor ma tion; pseu do nyms are used for par tic i pants to pro tect con fi den ti al ity. Seven par tic i pants were state cer ti fied in early child hood edu ca tion (64%). Teachers reported an aver age class size of 19 stu dents (range = 10-25). All par tic i pants reported hav ing stu dents who were either receiv ing spe cial Note *NR-stu dent race not reported by teacher edu ca tion ser vices or who they believed were in need of a refer ral for ser vices in their clas ses. Seven teach ers had 1-2 chil dren with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) or who were eli gi ble for spe cial edu ca tion ser vices, while across the 11 par tic i pants, an addi tional 21 chil dren were described as need ing a refer ral for ser vices.
After receiv ing approval from the uni ver sity Institutional Review Board, a recruit ment flyer was dis trib uted to prin ci pals at Cath o lic schools that included an early child hood pro gram in three dio ceses in one state the Midwest. The flyer was also shared on social media. Principals shared infor ma tion about the study to inter ested teach ers, who then contacted the first author to ver ify eli gi bil ity. Participants were briefed on the defi ni tions used in this study of sus pen sion and expul sion and were asked to con firm that they (a) served as the lead teacher, (b) taught chil dren aged 3-5 years old, and (c) had a child suspended or expelled from their class room within the last two years. After confirming eli gi bil ity, the first author sched uled indi vid ual inter views with the par tic i pants. In appre ci a tion for their time, par tic i pants received a $30 gift card fol low ing com ple tion of their inter view. Additionally, they were pro vided with a one-page list of resources related to addressing chal leng ing behav ior.

Procedures
Data col lec tion occurred dur ing the fall of 2019 and early win ter of 2020. All teach ers were asked to com plete a demo graphic ques tion naire prior to their inter view to gauge their expe ri ences with sus pen sion and expul sion and col lect descrip tive infor ma tion about their back grounds and class rooms. This ques tion naire included 12 ques tions that addressed par tic i pant age, gen der, eth nic ity, length of time in their cur rent set ting, total num ber of years teach ing, edu ca tional back ground, class size, num ber of stu dents with an Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) or who were eli gi ble for ser vices, num ber of stu dents who were not cur rently eli gi ble for ser vices but that par tic i pants believed needed a refer ral for spe cial edu ca tion ser vices, num ber of stu dents who had been tem po rar ily removed from the class room (i.e., sus pen sion), and num ber of stu dents who had been expelled. Teachers then par tic i pated in a semi-struc tured inter view, which took place either in per son or over the phone, depending on par tic i pant pref er ence.
The inter view pro to col was devel oped by the authors, and after pilot test ing it was revised slightly for clar ity and flow. During the inter views, teach ers were first asked to describe their class room and their stu dents. They were then asked about the chal leng ing behav iors they observed in their class rooms and how they responded when these behav iors occurred. Next, teach ers were asked to describe in detail their expe ri ences with sus pen sion and expul sion. Finally, they were questioned about ideal sup ports that would make it more fea si ble to avoid sus pen sion and expul sion. Interviews lasted an aver age of 41 min utes (range = 19-68 min utes). Interviews were audio recorded and tran scribed; all tran scripts were reviewed for accu racy by the first author.

Data Analysis
A col lab o ra tive the matic and con stant com par a tive approach was used to ana lyze the data (Savin-Baden & Major, 2013). The authors inde pen dently reviewed and coded each tran script. They then met to dis cuss their cod ing and reach con sen sus. As the authors discussed cod ing for each tran script, an under stand ing of the data emerged and evolved. Codes reflected categories anchored by the research ques tions, such as expe ri ences with sus pen sion and expul sion, sup ports used, sup ports needed to respond to chal leng ing behav ior, and bar ri ers to elim i nat ing sus pen sion and expul sion as dis ci plin ary pro ce dures. Codes within each cat e gory were reviewed and discussed by the authors to ensure that data was represented accu rately, and cap tured the breadth and depth of par tic i pant expe ri ences (Saldaña, 2016).

Reflexive Statement
The authors reflected on their positionality through out the study and met reg u larly to dis cuss the poten tial impact of researcher bias (Brantlinger et al., 2005). Both authors are prac tic ing Cath o lics and attended Cath o lic schools for much of their edu ca tion. The first author felt uniquely posi tioned to exam ine the issue of sus pen sion and expul sion in Cath o lic schools because she had expe ri ence from two per spec tives, both as a par ent and as a prac ti tioner. She taught pre school in a Cath o lic school for many years and also strug gled with the use of exclu sion ary dis ci pline with her own child at her home par ish school. The sec ond author has been involved in early child hood spe cial edu ca tion as a prac ti tioner, teacher edu ca tor, researcher, and pro fes sional devel op ment pro vider for 40 years. Both authors advo cate for the use of inclu sive prac tices across early child hood set tings. They rec og nize that sus pen sion and expul sion cause harm to chil dren and fam i lies and dis avow the use of these prac tices. However, they also rec og nize that some teach ers may feel inad e quately pre pared to pro mote social emo tional com pe tence (i.e., turn tak ing, emo tional lit er acy, prob lem solv ing, anger man age ment), and to pre vent and address chal leng ing behav ior when it arises. The authors believe that to address the use of exclu sion ary dis ci pline prac tices, a deeper under stand ing of class room expe ri ences that lead to the use of sus pen sion and expul sion is nec es sary. While conducting the inter views, the first author relayed her empa thy for teach ers and disclosed some of her own expe ri ences with sus pen sion and expul sion to estab lish trust and rap port with par tic i pants. It should be noted that teach ers who par tic i pated in this study did so with assur ances that the inter views were a safe space to share their expe ri ences, with the inten tion to high light the con cerns of some Cath o lic edu ca tors.

Findings
During inter views, after ini tial intro duc tions, teach ers were briefed on the defi ni tion of sus pen sion as refer ring to chil dren being tem po rar ily removed from the class room because of behav ior, such as being sent to the office or being sent home for the day, and the defi ni tion of expul sion as chil dren being dismissed from the pro gram because of behav ior. Participants discussed their expe ri ences over the past two years, includ ing the sus pen sion of 37 chil dren across the 11 teach ers. While all teach ers reported suspending at least one child (M = 3.4; range = 1-7 chil dren); nine of these 37 chil dren who were men tioned were later expelled. Six teach ers reported that sus pen sions did not result in an expul sion. When describ ing occur rences of sus pen sion and expul sion, teach ers were prompted to focus on one child as an exem plar. Data revealed that of the chil dren teach ers described, four were Black, three were White, one was multi-racial, and one was His panic; two teach ers did not dis close the eth nic ity of their tar get chil dren, nor were they explic itly asked to dis close it. Most of the focal chil dren were male (82%). Six of the focal chil dren either were con firmed to have a dis abil ity or were suspected of hav ing a dis abil ity, in need of refer ral for screen ing.
Patterns that emerged from the data included see ing fre quent and extreme behav ior from some chil dren, try ing var i ous strat e gies in response to chal leng ing behav ior, using exclu sion ary dis ci pline when other strat e gies did not work, and resis tance to chang ing prac tices with out addi tional sup ports. In the fol low ing sec tions each of these find ings is described in detail.

Experiences with Challenging Behavior
To help under stand con tex tual fac tors surrounding sus pen sion and expul sion, teach ers were asked to describe their class rooms, includ ing both what they enjoyed about their stu dents and what they found chal leng ing. All teach ers reported that they appre ci ated work ing with young stu dents, as Emily shared, "I just enjoy that they love being at school . . . they come into the class room with a big smile or just ready to start their day, espe cially at this age . . . they love every thing you do with them." Donna noted, ". . . you work with them in a group, and you get to know their personalities so well and I always tell peo ple the best job in the world is being a mom and the sec ond-best job is being a pre school teacher because they kind of become your chil dren for a year." However, teach ers also reported feel ing frus trated because of chil dren engag ing in fre quent chal leng ing behav ior. Most teach ers described see ing chal leng ing behav ior daily, with some not ing that these types of behav iors occurred con stantly through out the school day. Behaviors that teach ers found par tic u larly chal leng ing included not fol low ing direc tions, not lis ten ing, talking back, being defi ant and dis re spect ful, not sit ting still, and hurt ing other chil dren. For exam ple, Emily stated, "He is on pur pose try ing to act out. He knows you're not sup posed to do it, but he's doing it just to get a rise out of you, I think . . . And I think that's some thing that I strug gle with."

Responding to Challenging Behavior
Teachers reported try ing var i ous strat e gies in response to chil dren's chal leng ing behav iors. They men tioned hav ing sup ports in place for the whole class, such as teach ing "feel ing words" (i.e., frus trated, excited, anx ious, lonely) and teach ing social emo tional skills (i.e., turn tak ing, shar ing). Ava empha sized this: "They're very young, so I try to spend a lot of time more on the social emo tional aspect as opposed to the learn ing all the let ters and all that, just because I just feel like it's impor tant." Teachers also shared how they supported stu dents by using visual sched ules and embed ding stu dent choice as ways to pre vent chal leng ing behav ior. Some teach ers, like Julia, had spe cific mate ri als to help lessen the occur rence of inap pro pri ate behav iors, such as a cube chair: ". . . if he's being goofy and silly, and not being a lis tener, then I'll move that chair over. It's funny because he flips it to how he wants [to sit in it]. It's fine by me, and he'll sit, and he's quiet, and lis tens." Kate expressed how impor tant it is to make accom mo da tions for stu dents who need extra sup port, while also not ing her frus tra tion that this mindset was not shared by her col leagues, say ing: . . . it's pos si ble. You just have to just think of what can help. And so, there are stu dents with diff er ent 504 plans [doc u ment outlining sup ports for stu dents as need ed] and every thing, and I said this recently at a meet ing that I had here with . . . a lead er ship team. I said that our staff needs to under stand that accom mo da tions are not optional. It's things that you should be doing and that isn't always, I guess, hap pen ing.
Most teach ers men tioned establishing their own class room pol i cies for dis ci pline, with many not ing that there were no school-wide pol i cies. Several teach ers described using behav ior charts or sys tems, such as Kay who explained, "Green, you're good to go. Yellow means slow down and turn your day around and pink is okay, you have to talk to mom and dad." As part of a class room behav ior man age ment pol icy, some teach ers reported that they had a des ig nated chair or spot in the class room that they used for time out, such as Joan, who had what she called the "sad chair" for stu dents to sit in, ". . . the sad chair is for every body . . . which works tre men dously because they just don't want to be in there." Donna men tioned hav ing a 'peace cor ner' for her stu dents to go to when they needed to calm down. Teachers also described how they inte grated faith in their dis ci pline pro ce dures. For instance, Carrie shared, "We talk about Jesus and how he loves us. If a child is in time-out, I like to express that I love them, and that Jesus loves them, and we both want them to make bet ter choices." Likewise, Kay recounted: I'll say some thing like, 'What if Jesus was right here? Would he like what you are doing?' or 'Is that how Jesus would want you to treat a friend?' Sometimes we do use that in a way just to hope fully get them to think, 'Oh wow, yeah. I know Jesus was so nice and so kind to every one, I don't think he would want me to be that way.' Finally, teach ers men tioned receiv ing sup port from other staff such as their teach ing assis tants or prin ci pals when chil dren engaged in per sis tent chal leng ing behav ior. However, this sup port did not nec es sar ily equate with hav ing direc tion or guid ance as to how to respond to chal leng ing behav ior.
For exam ple, Sara shared, "I did talk to my prin ci pal, but she basi cally said, 'Whatever you want to do is fine with me.'"

Concerns about Challenging Behavior
Most teach ers reported that strat e gies they used to pre vent chal leng ing behav ior did not always work, and that behav iors would con tinue or esca late. They described the impact some stu dents' chal leng ing behav ior had on their peers such as other stu dents copy ing unde sir able behav ior and con cerns from other par ents, who were dis cour aged by their chil dren imi tat ing these behav iors. Teachers also spoke of behav iors inter fer ing with the other stu dents' abil ity to learn. For exam ple, Julia shared, "You have this one kiddo who is not able to, for what ever rea son, self-reg u late their own emo tions along with all of the other stu dents, and then it's kind of inhibiting all of the rest of the kids and their edu ca tion." Safety for staff and the other chil dren was also a major con cern for teach ers, as Ava explained: It was really just the safety of the other chil dren because he threw books . . . it was scary. I had to explain it to the par ent because she was like shrug ging it off and I said, 'Well, let's put things in size per spec tive. If an adult picked up an adult-sized chair and threw it across the room, it would be very scary for another adult. So, let's think about chil dren, all the same size, picking up chairs, over the head, and throw ing them.' I said, 'It's very scary, scary for the other kids' . . . that was my big gest issue.

The Relationship Between Families and Challenging Behavior
Teachers iden ti fied par ents as a source of diffi culty in resolv ing con cerns about chil dren's chal leng ing behav ior, due to a vari ety of fam ily fac tors includ ing long work ing hours and incon sis tency between home and school envi ron ments. For exam ple, Joan shared, "I could do a mil lion things here, but her home life is not great . . . when she walks out this door, she's going back to the same non sense that's going on at home. That's never going to change." Other teach ers expressed chal lenges in work ing with fam i lies to address chil dren's behav ior, such as Donna who noted, "The last school I was in, some of them didn't speak English and that put a really damper into the prob lems and then I've taught with Afri can Amer i cans and they're totally diff er ent." Ava also expressed con cern that some behav iors stemmed from a child's home envi ron ment when she shared, "I can only imag ine that they must have come from homes like that, where every body argued or yelled at each other. It was a low-income area, so it's a very diff er ent demo graphic."

Experiences with Suspension and Expulsion
As teach ers shared their expe ri ences with per sis tent chal leng ing behav ior, it was obvi ous that many par tic i pants reached a point where they felt the best option was to remove a child from the class room tem po rar ily. Often, this meant the child would be sent out in the hall way or to the prin ci pal's office. For Diane, this cul mi nated with one stu dent being out of the class room most of the day. At times, par ents or care giv ers were asked to pick up a child early. Diane explained this as she recounted: If he really could not calm down and could not get him self com posed, then mom and dad is the best option because there is no hope for him, for us to be able to do any thing with him or for him dur ing the rest of the day.
Ava sim i larly noted "There were a cou ple times where I actu ally had the par ent come pick them up just because it just had hap pened so many times that I didn't know what else to do and I thought, maybe if he went home?" Carrie shared that she hoped being sent home early would help her stu dent see the con se quence of his behav ior, yet for him, "he would just come back and like he'd maybe say 'sorry' for the behav ior he did, but it wouldn't be long before he would do some thing else naughty or the same behav ior." For some teach ers, expul sion became the only choice when chal leng ing behav ior reached a cer tain level of inten sity or fre quency. Seven teach ers who had expe ri enced expel ling a child within the last two years described expel ling nine stu dents in total. Diane explained how her stu dent who ended up out of the class room most of the day was even tu ally expelled: "He was phys i cally harming [oth ers] all of the time. At that point it wasn't a hit or miss. It was ran domly through out the day. It was con sis tent, every day, all day. Being sent home wasn't chang ing it." Some teach ers men tioned inci dences where par ents pulled chil dren from the pro gram pre emp tively when con tin ued enroll ment did not seem sus tain able.
While many teach ers relied on sus pen sion and expul sion, there were a few teach ers who expressed the belief that if their school was not able to meet a child's needs, they should help facil i tate a trans fer to a more appro pri ate set ting and not place the onus on fam i lies to find an alter na tive edu ca tional set ting. For exam ple, Amy shared "I think if it's truly a sit u a tion where it's not the best place for the stu dent, then I think it's the school's respon si bil ity to help the fam ily fig ure out where the best place would be for the stu dent." In a sim i lar vein, Kate explained how one of her stu dents trans ferred to a pub lic school: [His moth er] under stood because we had been really work ing . . . we kind of all were like teary about it . . . we know the fam ily really well. And she knew how much we cared. And we're try ing to help him . . . to see what was going to be the best for him. And I felt this was not the best for him . . . through out the pro cess . . . they came and observed him and every thing. And so, then he did qual ify to go to one of our pub lic schools for their early child hood . . . he then transitioned there and had an IEP and every thing . . . And I think he did really well there . . . Kate also shared that the class maintained a rela tion ship with this stu dent, that he came back for their Valentine's Day party and that the stu dents all talked pos i tively about him. She noted, "They were happy to see him. They didn't have like these neg a tive thoughts of him, like, 'Oh, he's bad.' That's one thing I'm big about . . . Sometimes you make bad or sad choices, but he's not bad. None of us are bad."

Resistance to Changing Practices
During the inter views, teach ers discussed fac tors which inhibited them from keep ing chil dren with per sis tent chal leng ing behav ior in the class room. Some teach ers men tioned a high level of stress asso ci ated with stu dents, while teach ers also reported feel ing overwhelmed, help less, and frus trated. Overall, most teach ers expressed a sense of uncer tainty regard ing what else to do when confronted with per sis tent chal leng ing behav ior and the need to keep chil dren in the class room. When asked what their reac tion would be if sus pen sion and expul sion were no lon ger options, many teach ers expressed hes i tancy to change prac tices. For exam ple, Diane shared: If I'm being com pletely hon est, I would prob a bly be really annoyed and mad about it [if sus pen sion and expul sion were not options] because I knew where I was at men tally and it was not okay where I was at men tally with that child.
She went on to add that she also felt that if the one child had remained, other par ents would have pulled their chil dren, adding "I don't think the other chil dren would have con tin ued at this school. They defi nitely would have went some where else." Teachers shared that they could not envi sion chang ing prac tices with out addi tional sup port. For exam ple, Kay explained: If tomor row there was like, 'No, we can't expel [from] pre school any more, ' it could be a really big prob lem. Especially if we don't have the cor rect resources for them in a Cath o lic school. We don't have social work ers, we don't have psy chol o gists. You don't have spe cial ed teach ers.
Other teach ers shared that per haps chil dren could stay enrolled, but not included with their peers, if there was an option for a self-contained class room. For exam ple, Joan thought "We would've had to make some sort of alter na tive class room. Maybe he could have par tic i pated in lunch. But gym, any of those really non-struc tured events, he just could never han dle. Like play time, and gym, and recess, and things like that." Throughout the inter views teach ers discussed the need for addi tional sup port, such as pro fes sional devel op ment in addressing chal leng ing behav ior. A few teach ers expressed a desire for resources to pre vent chal leng ing behav ior in the class room, such as sen sory mate ri als and pic ture books pro mot ing social emo tional skills. Some teach ers also men tioned not hav ing a teach ing assis tant, and how hav ing another adult in the class room would help. Other teach ers reflected on how addi tional sup port staff would be a solu tion, but noted finan cial con cerns asso ci ated with extra per son nel. For exam ple, Ava shared: Back a long time ago, when my kids were all in Cath o lic schools, the funds were here, we had a read ing resource [teach er], they had extra aides around the build ing to always help but now I feel like we operate on bare bones.

Discussion
This study expands the lit er a ture on early child hood pro grams in Cath o lic schools by focus ing on teach ers' expe ri ences with chal leng ing behav ior, and in par tic u lar with sus pen sion and expul sion. Eleven par tic i pants discussed their expe ri ences with chal leng ing behav ior, includ ing how they responded and their con cerns, inci dences of sus pen sion and expul sion, and sup ports they felt they needed, within Cath o lic school set tings. Four issues that arose from the find ings merit fur ther dis cus sion includ ing the need for: a) pro fes sional devel op ment regard ing chal leng ing behav ior, b) col lab o ra tion and fam ily engage ment in responding to chal leng ing behav ior, c) fur ther guid ance and sup port, and (d) sys tems col lab o ra tion.

Need for Professional Development
Teachers in the cur rent study explic itly stated that they needed more train ing on how to pre vent and respond to per sis tent chal leng ing behav ior. In fact, chal leng ing behav ior has been iden ti fied as the top train ing need of early child hood teach ers (Children's Equity Project, 2020). Additionally, in a national study, only 20% of teach ers reported receiv ing train ing in social emo tional devel op ment in the past year (Children's Equity Project, 2020). Research has shown that an increase in train ing that helps pre vent and respond to chal leng ing behav ior leads to a decrease in the use of sus pen sion and expul sion (Children's Equity Project, 2020). As sus pen sion and expul sion are adult responses to chal leng ing behav ior, and ineff ec tive in chang ing chil dren's behav ior as they do not teach chil dren what to do instead of "act ing out, " pro fes sional devel op ment focused on evi dence-based, multi-tiered sys tems of sup port such as the Pyramid Model (Hemmeter et al., 2006) are effec tive in increas ing adults' capac ity to both pre vent chal leng ing behav ior from occur ring in the first place, and to respond with alter na tives to removal from the class room. Both Edge et al. (2018) and Vinh et al. (2016) dem on strated that teacher train ing on the Pyramid Model led to a sig nifi cant reduc tion in sus pen sions and expul sions and resulted in increased teacher con fi dence and com pe tence in responding to chal leng ing behav ior. In fact, implementing evi dence-based prac tices to sup port stu dents who exhibit chal leng ing behav ior through a tiered model such as the Pyramid Model (Hemmeter et al., 2021) ben e fits all chil dren . Additionally, pro fes sional devel op ment in a tiered sys tem of sup port, such as the Pyramid Model, could pre vent teach ers from get ting to the point of even con sid er ing sus pen sion or expul sion because they would now have access to a toolkit of pre ven ta tive strat e gies and ways to pro mote social emo tional com pe tence.
Professional devel op ment related to spe cial edu ca tion, and teach ing chil dren from diverse back grounds (i.e., race, abil ity, lan guage diff er ences, fam ily struc ture, socio eco nomic sta tus), needs to include an empha sis on chang ing adult and child atti tudes and behav iors to value diver sity (Children's Equity Project, 2022). Negative atti tudes from par tic i pants in the cur rent study about chil dren's race and socio eco nomic sta tus could be addressed through train ing on implicit bias and an increased aware ness of the dis pro por tional use of exclusionaly dis ci pline prac tices with chil dren from cer tain demo graphic back grounds. For it is only when we pro vide safe and sup port ive set tings where indi vid u als are encour aged to talk openly about power and priv i lege that we can begin to ensure account abil ity within schools as places that are equi ta ble and inclu sive. Organizations such as the Division for Early Childhood (DEC), the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the National Center for Pyramid Model Innovations (NCPMI) reg u larly release free mate ri als for prac ti tion ers to sup port equity (c.f., DEC, 2021;Fox, 2022;NAEYC, n.d.).

Need to Foster Partnerships
As suggested by Frabutt and Waldron (2013), by wel com ing fam i lies with young chil dren into a school com mu nity with a pos i tive early edu ca tion expe ri ence, pro grams can secure future enroll ment and assure a school's vital ity. However, when exclu sion ary prac tices such as sus pen sion and expul sion are used, those rela tion ships and oppor tu ni ties are threat ened or sev ered entirely. Noteworthy, fam ily engage ment and teach ers' per cep tions of fam i lies have an impact on the use of exclu sion ary dis ci pline, as neg a tive views of fam i lies are asso ci ated with higher expul sion rates (Children's Equity Project, 2020). Also, Zulauf and Zinsser (2019) found that teach ers who had expelled a child in the past year had neg a tive per cep tions of that child's par ents. As noted ear lier, a few par tic i pants in the cur rent study expressed defi cit views of fam i lies and home envi ron ments, most likely mak ing it extremely diffi cult to part ner together to address chil dren's chal leng ing behav ior. Particularly dis con cert ing is that views expressed by some par tic i pants regard ing fam ily demo graph ics was indic a tive of implicit bias, such as the assump tion that fam i lies in lower income areas engage in yelling more fre quently than other fam i lies. The priv i lege and power of the White teach ers in this study jux ta posed with the dis pro por tion ate exclu sion of chil dren of color, boys, and chil dren with or suspected of hav ing disabilities high lights the need to address bias and con cerns around equity (Children's Equity Project, 2022). Teacher train ing and sup port both to exam ine biases and learn about cul tur ally respon sive prac tices is needed and should be a required com po nent of teacher edu ca tion pro grams and pro fes sional devel op ment offer ings (Children's Equity Project, 2020;NAEYC, 2019). Teachers might also con sider ways to fos ter part ner ships with fam i lies to address chal leng ing behav ior, such as pro vid ing par ent train ing and infor ma tion on chal leng ing behav ior and pre ven ta tive strat e gies (Hoffman & Kuvalanka, 2019;Joseph et al., 2021). It is impor tant to note that devel op ing pos i tive, authen tic, and respon sive rela tion ships with fam i lies can not be achieved if teach ers are not aware of the harm of rac ist and ableist per cep tions, prac tices, and pol i cies.

Systems Collaboration and Inclusion
Highlighting the evolv ing makeup of Cath o lic early child hood class rooms, 21 chil dren in the class rooms of par tic i pants in the cur rent study were iden ti fied as pos si bly need ing a refer ral for screen ing for spe cial edu ca tion ser vices. However, the role of Cath o lic schools in partnering with fam i lies and pub lic-school sys tems for eval u a tion and ser vice pro vi sion seemed murky to many par tici pat ing teach ers. For young chil dren with delays and disabilities, early access to ser vices is cru cial (Rosenberg et al., 2008). As man dated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), it is each state's respon si bil ity to cre ate a sys tem to iden tify chil dren who may need spe cial edu ca tion ser vices (Yell, 2019;Yell et al., 2017), a pro cess referred to as Child Find. This man date cov ers all chil dren with disabilities who reside within the state, regard less of edu ca tional set ting. For instance, a child attend ing a pri vate pre school can be screened through their local pub lic school dis trict if a delay or dis abil ity is suspected. Proactive out reach is an impor tant com po nent of Child Find, and infor ma tion about screen ing pro ce dures and loca tions must be eas ily acces si ble to fam i lies. Therefore, all teach ers and admin is tra tors employed by Cath o lic pro grams need to be famil iar with the Child Find pro ce dures in their state.
Additionally, beyond refer ral and screen ing, Cath o lic schools might con sider how to best sup port the inclu sion of young chil dren with disabilities in their early child hood pro grams. It is concerning that chil dren may be excluded from a faith-based edu ca tion based on their dis abil ity sta tus, devel op men tal delays, or their behav ior. The exclu sion or expul sion of young chil dren with disabilities or those in need of addi tional sup port is anti thet i cal to the church's mes sage of wel com ing (Carter, 2020). There are resources avail able to sup port Cath o lic edu ca tors wish ing to facil i tate mean ing ful access for stu dents with disabilities, such as the Program for Inclusive Education (PIE) through the Alliance for Cath o lic Education (ACE, n.d.).

Need for Guidance and Support
Despite the impor tance of the early child hood pro grams within their schools, par tic i pants reported feel ing ignored and unsup ported by school lead ers and struc ture. A lack of sup port for responding to chal leng ing behav ior and leav ing par tic i pants unsure of what else to do align with what has been iden ti fied as a con trib ut ing fac tor to sus pen sion and expul sion rates (Gilliam & Reyes, 2018). Participants in the cur rent study shared a desire for addi tional guid ance in establishing and implementing dis ci plin ary pol i cies. They also described how work ing con di tions, such as hav ing addi tional adult sup port in the class room, and reduc ing the adult-to-child ratio could help them feel more supported and less iso lated.

Discipline Policies
Most par tic i pants in this study reported that they were largely left on their own to imple ment dis ci pline pol i cies and pro ce dures at the class room level. A lack of clear pol i cies has the poten tial for biased inter pre ta tions of behav ior and mak ing ineq ui ta ble and inap pro pri ate dis ci plin ary deci sions (Children's Equity Project, 2020). Teachers in the cur rent study reported using prac tices such as time out which are rec og nized as harm ful and ineff ec tive (Children's Equity Project, 2020; Gartrell, 2001). Established pol i cies may also be prob lem atic, even in pro grams con sid ered to be high qual ity. For exam ple, Garrity et al. (2017) asked 282 admin is tra tors of NAEYC accredited pro grams to share their dis ci pline pol i cies. In the par tici pat ing early child hood set tings that iden ti fied their pro gram type, 14.2% were for-profit pri vate, 43.6% iden ti fied as non profit pri vate, 8.2% were faith-based, 8.9% iden ti fied as pub lic, and 25.1% were labeled as 'other.' The research ers rated the pol i cies using a 26-item check list looking at nine key fea tures of dis ci pline pol i cies such as clearly outlined pro ce dures, evi dence-based dis ci pline prac tices, and devel op men tally appro pri ate behav ioral expec ta tions. They found that most pro grams did not describe evi dence-based prac tices in their dis ci pline pol i cies, and over half of the pro grams received less than half of all pos si ble points on the check list. None of the par tici pat ing pro grams received the highest pos si ble score, with the highest scor ing pro gram still 10 points below a per fect score. These findings reveal that the prob lem is not a lack of recommended prac tices, but a need to ensure evi dence of embrac ing those prac tices through pro gram pol i cies that encour age implementation with fidelity. NAEYC (2019) calls for pro grams to "estab lish clear pro to cols for deal ing with chal leng ing behav iors and pro vide teach ing staff with con sul ta tion and sup port to address them effec tively and equi ta bly" (p. 9).

Work Environment
The fre quency, inten sity and dura tion of chil dren's chal leng ing behav ior left teach ers who par tic i pated in the cur rent study feel ing stressed, which can lead to burn out and teacher turn over (Friedman-Krauss et al., 2014;Zinsser et al., 2016). Working con di tions such as hav ing a large class size con trib utes to higher lev els of teacher-stu dent con flict (Mantzicopoulos, 2005). Noteworthy, a few teach ers in the cur rent study reported hav ing no assis tant or addi tional adult in sup port in the class room, despite rec om men da tions for no more than a 1:10 ratio (Office of Child Care, n.d.). In addi tion to larger class sizes, higher adult-child ratios are asso ci ated with increased rates of sus pen sion and expul sion (Children's Equity Project, 2020). The Children's Equity Project (2020) rec om mends increas ing access to men tal health pro fes sion als and improv ing com pen sa tion to medi ate teacher stress. Giving teach ers these tools and resources can help them be bet ter pre pared to pro mote social emo tional com pe tence, pre vent chal leng ing behav ior, and pro vide indi vid u al ized atten tion and appro pri ate responses to chal leng ing behav iors when needed. These steps in turn pos i tively influ ence teacher-child, and teacher-par ent rela tion ships, lead ing to pos i tive out comes for chil dren and their fam i lies.

Limitations
This study has a few lim i ta tions worth not ing. While the goal of qual i ta tive research is not to gen er al ize, this small sam ple may not be rep re sen ta tive of the broader land scape of expe ri ences of early child hood teach ers in Cath o lic schools. As par tic i pa tion was vol un tary, teach ers were inter ested in shar ing their stories, pos si bly out of frus tra tion. Therefore, the sam ple of teach ers who were interviewed may have had a vested inter est in talking about sus pen sion and expul sion. Also, par tic i pants were from one state that has a law pro hib it ing the use of expul sion in funded pre school pro grams, and while not appli ca ble to pri vate set tings, this may have influ enced teach ers' per cep tions of the use of this dis ci plin ary prac tice. Additionally, research was conducted prior to the pan demic, so teach ers' cir cum stances and per spec tives might be diff er ent in the cur rent cli mate.

Implications for Practice
The find ings from this explor atory study offer sev eral direc tions for prac tice. As arbi ters of social jus tice, the Cath o lic early child hood com mu nity has an oppor tu nity to lead by exam ple of how to be cul tur ally respon sive and inclu sive, in all aspects of early child hood pro gram ming includ ing dis ci plin ary pol i cies and pro ce dures. As noted by par tic i pants, the needs of stu dents are chang ing, and it is impor tant for teach ers to have access to qual ity pro fes sional devel op ment so they can meet the needs of all stu dents. Also, pro gram lead ers should exam ine their dis ci plin ary pol i cies and pro ce dures, eval u ate them for bias, and look to pro grams that have reduced sus pen sion and expul sion rates for guid ance. All pro gram staff should rec og nize the poten tial impact of implicit bias on their inter ac tions and rela tion ships with chil dren and fam i lies and reflect on their own atti tudes and beliefs regard ing chal leng ing behav ior (NAEYC, 2019). The Children's Equity Project (2020) urges pro gram staff to mit i gate the use of sus pen sion and expul sion through cul tur ally respon sive prac tices, the use of pos i tive behav ior sup port and tiered mod els of sup port for young chil dren with chal leng ing behav ior such as the Pyramid Model (Hemmeter et al., 2021), and men tal health con sul ta tion.

Conclusion
The results from this study pro vide insight into the con cerns and frus tra tions of 11 early child hood teach ers in Cath o lic schools. By ele vat ing their per spec tives regard ing chal leng ing behav ior, pro gram admin is tra tors can con sider how sup port for social emo tional skill devel op ment and ways to address chal leng ing behav ior can improve the qual ity of edu ca tion offered in Cath o lic early child hood pro grams. The need to develop a strong infra struc ture in Cath o lic schools (i.e., access to infor ma tional and per son nel resources) so that all chil dren receive a high qual ity, pos i tive, and indi vid u ally appro pri ate edu ca tion can not be dismissed. Inclusive, equi ta ble pol i cies and pro ce dures aimed at keep ing chil dren in their class rooms will allow pro grams to authen ti cally embody Cath o lic ide als, reflect the core val ues of wel com ing and belong ing, and best meet the needs of the chil dren and fam i lies they serve.