As student discipline has become a growing area of concern in public schools, the staggering number of office referrals and student suspensions has caused principals to seek alternative methods to address student misbehavior. Restorative practices aim to change negative student behavior and restore relationships following behavioral incidents by…

Exclusionary discipline practices (EDPs), including suspensions and expulsions, are used in public schools, from kindergarten to 12th grade (K-12). Excessive use of EDP can have a negative impact as students face delays in completion of their academic work. The problem of increasing use of EDPs at a suburban public school district located in a…

Whole school restorative practice (WSRP) calls for creating supportive, equitable schools, requiring broad systems change. This case study explores the journeys of three schools piloting WSRP in one Midwestern district and examines how school leaders designed and implemented within their school contexts. Schools were purposefully selected from…

Racial discrimination in schools in the U.S. has resulted in a disproportionate number of Black students receiving exclusionary and punitive consequences, in which they are more likely to end up part of the School-to-Prison Pipeline and less likely to graduate. The researcher completed interviews with eight elementary school principals in Chicago…