03. Preschool teachers’ responses to challenging behavior: The role of organizational climate in referrals and expulsions

Challenging behavior in preschool can lead to harmful outcomes for some children. While interventions have been shown to be effective in reducing or eliminating challenging behavior, evidence suggests that young children with challenging behavior are under-identified for services, increasing their risk for expulsion from early childhood programs. This study surveyed preschool teachers working in Florida Voluntary Prekindergarten (VPK) programs, to examine factors related to exclusion of children with challenging behaviors. Specifically, the study examined whether teachers’ perceptions of the organizational climate of their workplace, including access to behavioral supports, the utility of those supports and the consequences of referral predicted teachers’ responses to challenging behavior in their classroom. Results indicated: that teachers’ perceptions of the availability of resources to provide behavioral support varied by program type; that the quality of supervisory relationships was significantly related to teachers’ perceptions of availability of resources; and that teachers’ perceptions of the availability of resources to provide behavioral support was a significant predictor of child expulsion from preschool. The results of this study have implications for increasing the availability of behavioral supports and high quality supervision, as means of stemming the tide of expulsions of children from preschool programs.