Can Restorative Practices Help to Reduce Disparities in School Discipline Data? A Review of the Literature

Can Restorative Practices Improve School Climate and Curb Suspensions? An Evaluation of the Impact of Restorative Practices in a Mid-Sized Urban School District

“…Research on school climate, more generally, has led to the theory that students may be most responsive to authority when schools have a climate in which student voice is honored and adults show care for students and are firm in expectations of behavior (Gregory et al, 2010). Restorative practices have been promoted as a research-based approach to improving school climate (e.g., Kline, 2016).…”

“…Restorative practices, as they are typically called in a school or community setting, include many specific program types and do not have one specific definition in the literature; they are broadly seen as a nonpunitive approach to handling conflict (Fronius et al, 2016). Restorative practices both prevent harm through relationship-building and respond to conflict in ways that repair damaged relationships (González, 2012;Kline, 2016).…”

“…The task force's study also found that suspensions and expulsions did not reduce future student misconduct (American Psychological Association Zero Tolerance Task Force, 2008). Although zero-tolerance policies are intended to deter negative behavior by making a clear point to students about what is not permitted, these policies might fail to teach students preventive strategies (González, 2012;Kline, 2016), so that they do not repeat the same misbehaviors. These types of criticisms have led to a growing interest in interventions, such as restorative practices, that help students understand the impacts of their actions.…”

Influence over school discipline policy: Variation across levels of governance, school contexts, and time

“…Positive behavior interventions and restorative practices have shown promise at reducing exclusionary discipline (Baker, 2008;Bradshaw, Mitchell, & Leaf, 2010;Horner et al, 2009;Gonzalez, 2015;Morrison, 2007). Though some studies have questioned whether such approaches reduce racial disparities in discipline within schools (Vincent, Sprague, Pavel, Tobin & Gau, 2015), the increased use of these practices in schools serving greater proportions of minority students, where such practices are currently less likely to be used, does hold potential to reduce disparities (Kline, 2016;Payne & Welch, 2015). Along with such policy shifts, principals may also look for ways to train their staff to actively reduce the use of exclusionary discipline and racial disparities therein through continued professional development.…”

The Hand of Professional School Counseling Meets the Glove of Restorative Practices

“…Although the field of school counseling has dutifully taken up the disposition of advocating for and being more responsive to students from traditionally undervalued groups, it has yet to call attention to perhaps the most pernicious and egregious systemic impediment to student success: The model of punitive discipline that dominates U.S. schools. The literature on punitive discipline systems strongly suggests that such approaches inform inequitable suspension rates and the school-to-prison pipeline for Black and brown students and for students with emotional disabilities (Kline, 2016;Payne & Welch, 2015). Furthermore, the extant literature points to a clear correlation between school suspension rates and a decrease in academic achievement (Morris & Perry, 2016).…”