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This joint letter between HHS adn ED discusses a guidance document and recommendations to assist States and their public and private local early childhood programs in preventing and severely limiting expulsions and suspensions in early learning settings. Recent data indicate that expulsions and su spensions occur with regularity in preschool settings, a problematic issue given the well established research indicating that these practices can influence a number of adverse outcomes across development, health, and education. In addition, stark racial and gender disparities exist in these practices, with young boys of color being suspended and expelled at much higher rates than other children in early learning programs. These trends warrant immediate attention from the early childhood and education fields.
The purpose of this guidance document is to set a new vision for monitoring and oversight policy and practice within states that (a) improves the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of oversight with regard to early care and education programs; (b) creates a culture of health and safety that better supports the healthy development of children; and (c) enables states to be successful in meeting the goals of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act of 2014, (P.L. 113-186), which includes monitoring many more child care providers.