Racial disparities are consistently present in the office discipline referral data for schools. Beginning in primary grades, African-American students are frequently punished more severely and more often than their peers who display similar behavior. Nationally, during the 2017-1018 school year, over two million K-12 public school students were…

Since 2012, the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Justice and the Supportive School Discipline Initiative (SSDI) collaborated in helping schools move toward a more restorative way of engaging students, and using suspensions and expulsions only as a last resort. The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if there is a…

This paper aims to detect the motivations, structures, and conditions that both promote and hinder commitment and buy-in regarding the implementation of restorative practices in schools. In addition, the components that contribute to the long-term sustainability of the restorative idea in school settings are also identified. The article summarizes…

This study explored the impact of secondary administrator perceptions on implementing restorative discipline practices in Texas middle school campuses. Ten secondary middle school administrators from diverse Texas school districts that utilized restorative practices for non-expellable offenses participated in open-ended, semi-structured…

Youth vaping is a concern and schools may use many approaches to discipline students caught vaping at school. This study identified the prevalence of school staff seeing vaping in schools and the measures used to discipline students. A state-wide sample of 7,938 staff from 255 middle and high schools reported whether they saw any students vaping…

The purpose of this quantitative, non-experimental study was to explore the association between school success after the tier-one introduction of a three-tiered restorative practices program. To understand school success, student factors were examined using middle school data from a suburban school district located outside of a large metropolitan…

Principals have several responsibilities pertaining to the school environment. One of their primary responsibilities is overseeing school discipline and creating a positive school climate and culture. This qualitative study examined the perceptions of middle school principals regarding the implementation of restorative practices in their middle…

This dissertation explores how four critical teachers of color learn and develop through dialogue and reflection about their own educational and life histories as well as their work in ethnic studies classrooms. As K-12 schools in states like California integrate ethnic studies into their curricula, educators are looking to established ethnic…

This study examined the impact Restorative Justice (RJ) practices had on black boys and the teachers who teach them school experience. The setting of this study was an urban inner city middle school, located in the Northeast region of the United States. This study examined the experiences of these two distinct groups, and ultimately how their…

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the thoughts, feelings, and actions of middle school administrators regarding their school leadership and their influence on the use of exclusionary and restorative justice practices. Theoretical Framework: This research was on grounded by two foundational theories: Sociocultural Theory…

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to explore how Southern California middle school teachers trained in Restorative Justice describe their use of learned practices to establish fair and supportive environments, foster positive relationships, and address conflict and repair harm to decrease the use of exclusionary discipline.…

Historically marginalized students, especially urban students attending under-resourced schools, experience lower levels of belongingness than their white peers in suburban, well-resourced schools. Much research highlights that student belongingness increases student outcomes such as on-time graduation, standardized test achievement, and lifetime…

This study tests the impact of adding Restorative Practices within secondary schools implementing the Diplomas Now turnaround model in 8 large U.S. urban districts on: (a) the severity of disciplinary problems in these schools, (b) the probability that students would be suspended three days or more during the school year, and (c) the chronic…

Exclusionary discipline practices are frequently utilized in schools despite decades of research indicating their ineffectiveness (American Psychological Association Zero Tolerance Task Force, 2008; Losen & Skiba, 2010; Muñiz, 2021). Research shows that removing students from the classroom does not change student behavior, is administered…

The COVID-19 school shutdown took students out of the school building and into the virtual classroom. With this, students lost opportunities to connect with their peers and school members. With students reentering the schools, there is a great need for structures built within the school day for community building. Restorative circles are safe…