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…

This qualitative study is an auto-criticism, an approach that allows researchers to study themselves. This emergent methodology is derived from educational criticism and connoisseurship, which fits under the broader category of arts-based research. School discipline is a programmatic component of any secondary school's educational framework and…

Disparities in exclusionary discipline rates persist for African American students, who often receive harsher punishments than their White peers, especially for subjective offenses. Implicit bias contributes to perceptions of African American children as older, less innocent, and more deserving of severe discipline (Gilliam et al., 2016; Lewis…

Many effective strategies exist to keep students safe, supported, and engaged in school. Restorative practice (RP) is a powerful approach for achieving these goals as it elevates student voice and can strengthen school climate. Annie M. White and John Kenneth Weiss share findings from an initiative through which high school student-faculty teams…

Students in the Anniston School District are placed in the alternative setting (i.e., the Avery Alternative Center) for fighting and violence more than any other disciplinary infraction. The disproportionality of students of color and minority groups enrolled in the alternative setting for fighting is also alarming. Why is this happening? Why does…

This paper provides an exploration of a non-hierarchical model of discipline observed in one Secondary School in the North-East of England, that employed the whole-school use of Restorative Practice enhanced by vertically structured Coaching Groups. This model supported a school community characterised by working restoratively with others to…

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.,…

African American males receive a disproportionate number of referrals that result in punitive and exclusionary consequences. These referrals are often more subjective and include reasons such as disrupting class, disrespect, and refusal to obey. In- and out-of-school suspensions lead to a loss of instructional time for students, as well as a…

The challenge of managing student behavior and fostering a positive school culture has become increasingly important, especially among schools serving diverse and marginalized populations. Restorative Justice Practices (RJP) offer a promising solution by focusing on conflict resolution and relationship-building rather than punitive measures. This…

This guide is designed to help school leaders and educators use restorative approaches to build relationships and address conflict. These practices help facilitate community building and address infractions, enabling students to take responsibility for their actions and repair harm when possible. This report is organized as follows:(1) Part 1:…

Research largely agrees on the importance of building and sustaining a collaborative school culture. However, it is less clear how school leaders should address a balkanized culture and repair harm following staff conflict. This becomes even more challenging when the harm that has been caused is rooted in racial tensions. Restorative Justice has…

Restorative justice is grounded in conflict resolution practices with the goal of psychologically healing the victim while informing the respondent of the harm they inflicted. The purpose of this study was to examine the factors that inhibit or support the adoption of restorative justice practices at Institutions of Higher Education (IHE). The…

Research on school discipline and moral reasoning have typically been construed in separate spheres. The former has examined the outcomes of specific practices - from punitive to restorative - whereas the latter has examined reasoning about a variety of issues pertaining to justice, welfare, and rights. Moral reasoning about school discipline has…

This study examined the use of restorative practices in one school district. As examined in this study, restorative practices are defined as processes that precede wrongdoing in an attempt to prevent discipline offenses from occurring and processes used to respond once an offense has occurred. The purpose of the study was to examine teacher…

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine how beginning teachers' participation in a microcredential based on trauma-informed classroom management and restorative discipline (TIMRD) practices might enhance their self-efficacy (SE), through an understanding of their own trauma response, its neurobiological basis and classroom interventions…