The purpose of this study is to evaluate current policies using the Early Childhood Behavior Guidance Policy Checklist (EC-BGPEC). The purpose of this study is also to understand conditions that support better guidance policies. Participants included early childcare programs that are National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) accredited. 1,536 NAEYC accredited early childcare programs completed and submitted the demographic and challenging behavior survey and 323 of these early childcare programs submitted guidance policies. Three raters used the EC-BGPEC to evaluate the 323 guidance policies that were submitted. Results indicated that on average policies only addressed about half of the Essential Features of a high quality guidance policy. Results also indicated that the education levels of the directors at the programs were not correlated to the guidance policy quality or the percentage of children expelled from the early childcare program. No significant relationships were found.
