There is a need for rigorous experimental research on restorative practices in schools as a means to reduce exclusionary discipline and the disproportionate sanctioning of Black students, male students, and students with disabilities. The current study addressed this need in its evaluation of Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility's…

Exclusionary discipline is commonly employed in U. S. schools and disproportionately affects students of color. This article describes current approaches to discipline and contextualizes these approaches historically with particular attention to racial dynamics and violence. We identify the harmful effects of exclusionary discipline and describe…

We examined the effects of a teacher coaching program on discipline referrals using records from 7,794 U.S. classrooms in secondary schools. Some classroom teachers took part in a trial: They were randomized to receive intensive coaching in a focal classroom or to form a business-as-usual control group. The remaining teachers taught in the same…

Racial disparities in teacher-issued office discipline referrals are less discussed than the well-documented suspension gaps. Discipline referrals, like suspension, can lead to lost instructional time. Although individuals are sent out of the classroom for a range of reasons, Black students, as a group, are at greater risk of being sent out than…

Across the United States, schools are implementing Restorative Practices (RP) to improve school climate and address disparities in discipline. The scope of such RP initiatives can remain ambiguous to school leaders. Given the need for greater clarity about RP initiatives, the current study sought to identify the varying components of RP…

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate how school psychologists can proactively address disparities in school suspension through the examination of office discipline referrals (ODR). Results of two studies examining high school ODRs suggest that there is value in school psychologists disaggregating and analyzing ODRs at the school level and…

Advocates call for schools with high suspension rates to receive technical assistance in adopting "proven-effective" systematic supports. Such supports include teacher professional development. This call is justified given evidence that good teaching matters. But what types of professional development should be funded? Increasingly,…

A large urban district (N = 90,546 students, n = 180 schools) implemented restorative interventions as a response to school discipline incidents. Findings from multilevel modeling of student discipline records (n = 9,921) revealed that youth from groups that tend to be overrepresented in suspensions and expulsions (e.g., Black, Latino, and Native…

School suspension is the most widely used disciplinary practice in U.S. schools. It is a programmatic regularity, as Seymour would say. He would also say "programmatic regularities have implicit or explicit outcomes." Like Seymour, the author is concerned about what he describes as the "frequent discrepancy between regularities and…

The gap in achievement across racial and ethnic groups has been a focus of education research for decades, but the disproportionate suspension and expulsion of Black, Latino, and American Indian students has received less attention. This article synthesizes research on racial and ethnic patterns in school sanctions and considers how…