Teachers' racial biases can impact disparities in their perceptions and expectations of students and contribute to inequitable student outcomes. Therefore, interventions that train teachers on strategies for reducing racial biases may hold promise for mitigating inequities. However, research on bias-reduction interventions in applied contexts is…

Zero tolerance policies in urban schools increased the disparities in urban school discipline for Black youth in comparison to white youth. Restorative interventions continue to be a popular response to deviant student behaviors; however, exploring the impact of restorative interventions in reducing harsh discipline on Black youth should be a…

Discipline practices wield significant influence over the social dynamics within educational settings and profoundly impact students' ability to attain academic and social gains crucial for their success. The racialization of school discipline has been linked to negative effects on student's academic trajectories and life outcomes. Consequently,…

During recess a conflict occurred between two fourth graders. A peer attempted to mediate unsuccessfully. Frustrated, the student protested, "[Teachers] never listen to us!" The student felt unheard and sought to play a more active role in conflict resolution. This article explores the use of literature to facilitate restorative…

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…

This paper uses critical race theory to analyze several case studies focused on the experiences of two restorative justice coordinators (RJCs), both Black women and how they understood and responded to perceived racial injustices in urban schools with white leadership. These schools were attempting to address unequal disciplinary practices toward…

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…

Beginning in the fall of 2017, forty-one districts and charter schools entered into three-year legal agreements with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights to reduce the racial disproportionality in their district or school's exclusionary discipline practices, specifically the overrepresentation of students of color in suspensions and…

In this essay, I articulate the value of understanding antiracism from a materialist perspective, drawing from the concept of racial capitalism. I critique the lack of accounting for race in class-first paradigms of critical scholarship in music education, arguing that racial hierarchy laid the foundation for capitalist exploitation through…

This is the first story in a new series of success stories focused on restorative justice work. The work featured in these stories seeks to acknowledge the impact of harmful practices and creates opportunities to heal that harm between those who enacted it and those impacted by it to transform the community. This report discusses The Hive, which…

Paying reparations to Black Americans has long been contentiously debated. This article addresses an unexamined pillar of this debate: the United States has a long-standing social norm that if an individual or community has suffered a harm, it is considered right for the federal government to provide some measure of what we term "reparatory…

Using critical discourse analysis, this article reveals how power is inherent in and maintained through Title IX campus-based adjudication processes. We interrogate the role of identity and power in Title IX adjudication processes through an intersectional analytic framework. We challenge the reliance on fairness and neutrality, which leads…

Amidst numerous curricular reforms across the USA that censor reading materials and promote standardized literacy policies, the authors ask in this article: What rights do early childhood teachers and students have in curriculum-making, and to the very materiality of their own classrooms? More broadly, they wonder: How do material regulations in…

This study explored the perspectives and lived experiences of urban youth in relation to Restorative Practices at a free public charter school in Los Angeles, California. This qualitative study used a series of semi-structured interviews with four high school students. This adaptable design allowed for the nature of questions to evolve and shift…

School leaders across the state of California seek tools to reduce the use of exclusionary discipline and improve school climates. Research suggests that restorative practices (RPs) have the potential to achieve these ends, particularly when staff throughout the school implement, and students throughout the school experience, these practices.…