Restorative justice is an increasingly common discipline policy, as schools grapple with historic inequities in traditional exclusionary discipline. This mixed-methods study examines the implementation of restorative justice in 28 intentionally diverse charter schools in five jurisdictions in the U.S. Qualitative findings suggest a range of…

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…

Exclusionary disciplinary practices negatively and disproportionately impact Black students academically, socially, and emotionally and have been attributed to the school-to-prison pipeline. This research was conducted to determine the impact of restorative justice practices on exclusionary discipline by evaluating the lived experiences of school…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore African American students and school administrators' experiences with out-of-school suspension (OSS) and their perceptions of strategies to reduce suspensions. Researchers have identified research-based strategies to reduce OSS, including restorative practices and Positive Behavior…

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 original design of zero-tolerance policies was meant to support school safety through an anti-drug and violence campaign but in the years following their implementation, school districts have employed them repeatedly without merit. Exclusionary practices have become controversial, leading to high rates of recidivism, imbalanced implementation…

The continual use of suspension and expulsion remains an unsettling concern for many educational stakeholders. With some guidance from the federal government, states have begun to address the issue of discipline disproportionality through policy reform that restrict the use of suspension and expulsion for certain student groups (e.g.,…

School districts historically approached conflict-resolution from a zero-sum perspective: suspend students seen as disruptive and potentially harm them, or avoid suspensions and harm their classmates. Restorative practices (RP) -- focused on reparation and shared ownership of disciplinary justice -- are designed to avoid this trade-off by…

As school systems across the United States seek to address school behavior and examine ways to decrease suspension rates, school administrators face challenges that revolve around maintaining a safe learning environment that fosters a positive school climate while facilitating a balanced approach to discipline and relationship building with…

Research demonstrates harmful effects of disparate discipline practices on outcomes for students of color. The Office of Civil Rights (OCR), under the Obama administration, significantly increased investigations under the mandate of Title VI. In this study, we examine OCR's investigation of Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) to establish the…

The purpose of this study was to examine the Problem of Practice (POP) to determine if Restorative Practices (RP) can have an impact on the disproportionality of out of school suspensions (OSS) for Black and Multi-Race students at Eastern High School. RP has emerged as a promising intervention to mitigate racially disproportionate practices in…

Discipline referrals and suspensions are used as a last resort to address inappropriate student behavior in schools. The problem investigated in this study was the inconsistent trend in the number of discipline referrals and suspensions during implementation of three different discipline policies (zero tolerance, progressive discipline, and…

Well-documented racial disparities in rates of exclusionary discipline may arise from differences in hard-to-observe student behavior or bias, in which treatment for the same behavior varies by student race or ethnicity. We provide evidence for the presence of bias using statewide administrative data that contain rich details on individual…

Exclusionary discipline practices (EDPs) have been linked to poor academic performance and student dropout rates. Research shows that students suspended, expelled, or placed in alternate learning environments fare worse academically than their peers. This qualitative case study explores the experiences of classroom teachers in Northwest Louisiana…