Like Checker Finn, I was surprised by Jennifer Steinhauer's article on expulsion from preschool that ran Sunday, May 22 in the New York Times under the headline "Maybe preschool is the problem." The truth about expulsion in preschool almost certainly is less sensational than the results reported by the Yale study Steinhauer cites. The Yale study relied on complex questions in a telephone interview that never used the words "expulsion" or "expelled" and required teachers to guess about facts they did not know. The results may be mostly reporting error. Furthermore, comparing rates from state-funded preschool to K-12 is misleading, since nearly all those preschool programs target high-risk populations where behavioral problems are more frequent. Finn is right on target (see here) when he says we should not shun intellectual and cognitive development in preschool. Hard data do not bear out the charge that preschool programs are overly academic and neglect social and emotional development. In preschool, cognitive and socio-emotional development go hand-in-hand, as do play and learning. Preschool is part of the solution, not the problem.
W. Steven Barnett, Ph.D.
Director
National Institute for Early Education Research