RESTORATIVE JUSTICE

By committing to and implementing restorative practices in our schools, we can lessen the instances of suspensions overall, as well as disproportionate suspensions of students of color, especially, Black students. 

 

​From 2011 to 2012, two large and diverse public high schools participated in a study during their first year implementing restorative practices. Students were asked the degree to which they felt respected by their teachers and the degree to which they perceived teachers using disruption or defiance disciplinary referrals. The study found that teachers who were perceived by students as frequently implementing restorative practices, had better relationships with their students compared to teachers who were perceived as implementing restorative practices less. 

 

​Additionally, the study found that increased implementation of restorative practices was associated with lower use of disruption or defiance disciplinary referrals with Latino and African American students (Gregory, Clawson, Davis, & Gerewitz, 2014). Although this is only one study, it shows that restorative practices can be impactful in large, diverse school communities. 

 

This is only the beginning of the conversation regarding implementing restorative justice in our schools and would need the funding mentioned above to train staff, teachers, and students. 

 

Restorative practices are not only intervention practices, but prevention practices that involve all members of the school community across students, teachers, staff, administrators, and families.