UPDATED: 10:45 a.m. Aug. 2 | Implicit and systemic racial bias may be a factor in a disproportionately higher number of Black preschool students being removed from classrooms in South Carolina, a tri-county advocacy group said this week.
In a report released July 30 and funded by the American Heart Association’s Voices for Kids initiative, the Beloved Early Education and Care (BEE) Collective, which is based in Charleston, is recommending steps that policymakers, educators and parents can take to reduce the trend.
In March, the BEE Collective and its research partner Impact Stats reported that Black children statewide make up 61% of the early learners who have received one or more suspensions, but they are only 39% of the preschoolers enrolled in early childhood classrooms in the state’s public schools, according to data compiled by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights for the 2017-18 school year, the most recent years available.
“Facing A Broken System: A Crisis of Discriminatory Suspension and Expulsion that Harms Black Children in South Carolina and Charleston County” is the second pre-school suspension analysis the group has released this year through Impact Stats in Buffalo, N.Y.
Report makes 10 suggestions
Among a list of 10 recommendations, the group is calling on elected school board members to recruit more Black early child teachers, especially Black males. The group said educators should build trust and stronger relationships with families while parents should develop a relationship with their children’s teachers, among other measures.
But the new report’s analysis concludes that unconscious bias among educators contributes to the higher rate of Black preschool children being removed from classrooms in Charleston County School District (CCSD) and elsewhere in South Carolina.
“Suspending a preschooler from their environment during critical developmental stages undermines and disrupts the purpose of early education and has severe ripple effects,” said Dr. Melodie Baker, Impact Stats’s president and CEO. “It not only teaches the child — who is too often Black — that they are not safe to learn and don’t belong, but it also sends a similar message to their peers. These peers, who will grow up to be educators, police officers, and adults, may carry forward these prejudices.”
Baker explained this pattern is “how unconscious bias is created. Discriminatory preschool suspensions are not about children’s behavior; they are about adult decisions. This has to change, but first, we must be aware of it.”
Charleston County data
Under the state’s Freedom of Information ACT, the BEE Collective has asked the CCSD to release the early childhood education program suspension records for children 5 years old and younger for the last five school terms. The group wants the district to show the students’ age, race, sex, school and which child development program the student is enrolled in.
Treva Williams, the group’s campaign manager, said, “Perhaps, if we could correct our suspension mistakes with our preschool kids, it might lead to correcting our mistakes in other areas. But we first have to be willing to admit the presence of our personal bias and be willing to take the steps to address our bias.”
CCSD spokesman Andy Pruitt said the district is reviewing the data and documents to respond the FOI request.
The 33-page report is based in part on a social attitude questionnaire or Implicit Association Test (IAT) conducted by Project Implicit, based at Harvard University, Baker said. The study showed that South Carolina has the second highest pro-White score in the country behind Mississippi, she said.
“Since its launch in 1998, over 1.5 million people have taken the IAT online,” Baker said. “The results indicate higher IAT scores, reflecting greater negative racial bias against [Black people] and darker-skinned individuals, particularly in southern states.”
Responding to the claim that Black children are removed from classrooms at a higher rate than white children, Pruitt said, “We believe that for a specific claim of that magnitude to be made about our staff requires more proof than what is included in the BEE Collective’s report. Furthermore, we believe publishing that claim in an article would be at the very least concerning and, at the very worst, damaging.
“CCSD has worked incredibly hard over the last few years to address systemic inequalities, including how discipline is administered,” he said. “Our district-wide professional development for Early Head Start, Head Start, Child Development, and Preschool Inclusion Classes (PIC) staff, are laser-focused on appropriate responses to students’ behavior and social and emotional well-being. We continue to work with early childhood education organizations throughout the state on adopting best practices to support the whole child and the educators in the classroom.”
Pruitt said the report “can negatively affect the relationship district leaders, teachers, and staff are working diligently to build with students, parents, guardians and community members.”
Senate proposal under study
S.C. Sens. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, Katrina Shealy, R-Lexington and Mike Reichenbach, R-Florence, filed Senate Bill 1108 on Feb. 28 to provide for education and training for school administrators, teachers and staff to require efforts toward maintaining student enrollment and to provide for relevant data collection of school suspensions and expulsions. With the General Assembly not expected to return this year, the measure will have to be reintroduced in December for consideration in 2025, Hutto said.
The senators filed the bill after several state agencies and child advocacy groups testified in mid-January before the Joint Citizens and Legislative Committee on Children in Columbia on the need to keep children in school, even when they misbehave.
The problem with pre-school suspensions, Hutto said, requires study to determine why children are being removed from classrooms. The data collection, he said, will determine if the removal of children is due to behavioral problems or whether educators need additional training.
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