Restorative Practice Impact on School Climate PDF Download

Author: Sophia L. Mitchell
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : At-risk youth
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine the phenomenon of restorative practices and the implementation process and how it relates to the impact on student behavior, relationships, and overall school climate.

Author: Vah Seliskar, Holli
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1799838390
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 135

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Book Description
Restorative practices in schools emphasize a focus on non-punitive strategies to handle student disciplinary issues within schools and can include practices such as peer mediation, conflict resolution, restorative circles enabling a respectful dialogue, reparation of harmful and/or wrongful actions, and a primary emphasis on building relationships between all members of a school community. With a movement away from harsh disciplinary policies including suspensions, expulsions, and zero tolerance policies, restorative practices encourage school community members to work together in a productive and meaningful way without the use of exclusionary discipline practices, which often result in the removal of a student from a school community. Restorative practices emphasize inclusive strategies that aim to restore a school community and provide schools with strategies to improve their school climate overall. Transforming a School Community Through Restorative Practices: Emerging Research and Opportunities is a critical scholarly resource that can provide schools with the tools needed to successfully implement a restorative approach to effect change within a school. Featuring a wide range of topics such as conflict resolution, school safety, and school community, this book is ideal for teachers, counselors, school administrators, principals, academicians, education professionals, researchers, policymakers, and students.

Author: Catherine H. Augustine
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 112

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Book Description
Across the country, school districts, their stakeholders, and policymakers have become increasingly concerned about suspensions, particularly about suspending students from elementary school and disproportionately suspending ethnic/racial minority students. Suspended students are less likely to graduate, possibly because they miss the instructional time they need to advance academically. Restorative practices have gained buy-in in the education community as a strategy to reduce suspension rates. By proactively improving relationships among students and staff and by building a sense of community in classrooms and schools, students may be less inclined to misbehave. And by addressing severe misbehavior through a restorative approach, students might realize the impacts of their actions and be less likely to offend again. This study of the implementation of restorative practices in the Pittsburgh Public Schools district (PPS) in school years 2015-16 and 2016-17 represents one of the first randomized controlled trials of the effects of restorative practices on classroom and school climates and suspension rates. The authors examined a specific restorative practices program-the International Institute for Restorative Practices' SaferSanerSchoolsTM Whole-School Change program-implemented in a selected group of PPS schools under a program called Pursuing Equitable and Restorative Communities, or PERC. The researchers found that PERC achieved several positive effects, including an improvement in overall school climates (as rated by teachers), a reduction in overall suspension rates, and a reduction in the disparities in suspension rates between African American and white students and between low- and higher-income students.

Author: Oladapo Adekunle Ariyo
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : California
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Despite widespread acknowledgment about the viability of alternative behavioral interventions in our urban high schools across the nation, there is scarcity in research studies that specifically examine the impact of restorative justice practices on school climate. This mixed method study used a case study research design to examine the impact on school climate of the implementation of a restorative justice (RJ) practice in an urban high school in the State of California. Data were collected using interviews, survey, district documents and school site archival documents. Triangulation of data from these sources was used to validate the research findings. The high school chosen, California City High School (CCHS), a pseudonym, was a public high school located in a southeastern neighborhood of a large metropolitan city in southern California. District documents indicated that the school was in its third year of RJ implementation having completed the training necessary to facilitate the shift from traditional approaches of behavior management to a RJ approach, making this school a good fit for the study. This study highlighted the use of restorative circles and community building, and positive behavior support as the most pragmatic and effective RJ practices in the CCHS school environment. Students who have undergone restorative circles, and community building mediations, are perceived by teachers and administrator as exhibiting improved behavioral decision-making, and lower levels of recidivism when compared to similar age students before implementation of restorative circles. The school district's disciplinary data of 2007 through 2014 showed a marked decline in both instructional days lost to suspension and suspension rate following the implementation of restorative justice practices. Problems encountered during implementation at this school site involved inadequate and inconsistent training methodologies, time constraints for implementation, metrics for rating implementation success, and staff's attitude to change. This study would have benefited from the inclusion of data from additional schools and from parent and student interviews. The inclusion of additional schools would have enabled the analysis of staff perceptions at the school level. Hence, future studies should employ data from a larger number of schools to cross-validate the current findings. Some limitations should be noted when drawing conclusions from this research. The study examined staff and teacher survey and discipline referrals during three years of RJ implementation at CCHS. However, I did not have outsider observers to verify quality of RJ implementation, which many consider the "gold standard" for measuring fidelity of implementation. Also given CCHS has only been implementing its RJ program across a 3-year period, this study may not have captured the full effect of RJ implementation on school climate. Similar to most of the school climate research, this study was neither longitudinal nor experimental. This is a problem for the research because causal inferences are not possible. Future studies examining causal relationships with interventions or a longitudinal design are clearly warranted. A longitudinal design would also account for the fact that school climate perception is not static. It potentially changes and evolves during different points in the school year (e.g., proximity to holiday periods or examination periods) and corresponding with different events at the school (e.g., administrative changes or the introduction of a new initiative). Hence, longitudinal designs should be adopted in future research, as they would account for the impermanency of school climate perception.

Author: Margaret Thorsborne
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1351704052
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 67

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Book Description
Outlines the techniques to learn and apply when planning and facilitating school conferences. This book contains key documents such as preparation checklist, conference script, typical agreement, evaluation sheet and case studies. It includes guidance on: analysing school practice; deciding whether to hold a conference; and preparing a conference.

Author: Lorraine Stutzman Amstutz
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1680990438
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 88

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Book Description
Can community-building begin in a classroom? The authors of this book believe that by applying restorative justice at school, we can build a healthier and more just society. With practical applications and models. Can an overworked teacher possibly turn an unruly incident with students into an "opportunity for learning, growth, and community-building"? If restorative justice has been able to salvage lives within the world of criminal behavior, why shouldn't its principles be applied in school classrooms and cafeterias? And if our children learn restorative practices early and daily, won't we be building a healthier, more just society? Two educators answer yes, yes, and yes in this new addition to The Little Books of Justice and Peacebuilding series. Amstutz and Mullet offer applications and models. "Discipline that restores is a process to make things as right as possible." This Little Book shows how to get there.

Author: Jessica Elyse Sanborn
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : School administrators
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
School discipline has been a widely discussed topic in American education for decades. Many programs have been instituted as a solution to the discipline needs; however, they fall short of addressing the root cause of the problem and historically have simply punished students through exclusionary discipline methods (Adams, 2000; Allman & Slate, 2011; Gonzalez 2012; Kupchik & Catlaw, 2015). Restorative practices, a system that is built on relationships and community, strives to target the same behaviors through a different approach. Instead of relying on punishments (such as detention, suspension, or expulsion) restorative practices brings both victim and offender together to share their perspective, repair harm, and move forward (McCluskey, Lloyd, Stead, et al., 2008; Morrison, 2007; Vaandering, 2014; Wachtel, 2016). This mixed methods historical case study investigated how one school district in the state of Connecticut implemented restorative practices and the administrator, and student perceptions on the impact, if any, restorative practices had on school climate. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with 20 participants. In addition, independent samples t-tests were performed using district Comprehensive School Climate Inventory data over the 3 years post implementation of restorative practices to identify any statistically significant indicators of school climate as a potential result of implementing restorative practices. Interviews and focus groups revealed a strong sense of belonging and connection to the school and increased relationships, in addition to building student leadership in implementing restorative practices and a reduction in behavioral incidences that warrant exclusionary discipline measures; however, only one indicator for staff indicated statistical significance on the independent samples t-test. This research suggests that if schools begin to implement restorative practices, they can create a strong school climate and reduce the amount of ineffective exclusionary discipline consequences by shaping student behavior though connection to the school community and relationships.

Author: Kay Pranis
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1680990411
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 76

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Book Description
Our ancestors gathered around a fire in a circle, families gather around their kitchen tables in circles, and now we are gathering in circles as communities to solve problems. The practice draws on the ancient Native American tradition of a talking piece. Peacemaking Circles are used in neighborhoods to provide support for those harmed by crime and to decide sentences for those who commit crime, in schools to create positive classroom climates and resolve behavior problems, in the workplace to deal with conflict, and in social services to develop more organic support systems for people struggling to get their lives together. A title in The Little Books of Justice and Peacebuilding Series.

Author: Margaret Thorsborne
Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers
ISBN: 0857007378
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
Restorative practice is a proven approach to discipline in schools that favours relationships over retribution, and has been shown to improve behaviour and enhance teaching and learning outcomes. However, in order for it to work, restorative practice needs a relational school culture. Implementing Restorative Practice in Schools explains what has to happen in a school in order for it to become truly restorative. Section 1 explains the potential of restorative practice in schools, describing the positive outcomes for students and teachers. It also outlines the measures that need to be in place in order to embed restorative practice. Section 2 examines the process of understanding and managing change, providing realistic and pragmatic guidance on the practical and emotional barriers that may be encountered. Finally, Section 3 provides in eight practical steps, strategic guidance for achieving a restorative culture that sticks. Featuring useful pro formas and templates, this book will be an indispensable guide for educators, administrators and school leaders in mainstream and specialist settings.

Author: Dominique Smith
Publisher: Corwin Press
ISBN: 1071886495
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Utilize restorative practices to create a safe, accepting, and equitable school climate where learning can flourish. When students have unfinished learning, educators create opportunities for students to learn. Unfortunately, this role seems to end when it comes to behavior. How can we turn behavior into a teachable moment? The Restorative Practices Playbook details a set of practices designed to teach prosocial behaviors based on strong relationships and a commitment to the well-being of others. Implementing restorative practices establishes a positive academic and social-emotional learning environment while building students’ capacity to self-regulate, make decisions, and self-govern—the very skills students need to achieve. In this eye-opening, essential playbook, renowned educators Dominique Smith, Douglas Fisher, and Nancy Frey support educators with the reflection prompts, tools, examples, and strategies needed to create restorative practices around several key concepts: A restorative school culture, grounded in respect, that builds agency and identity, establishes teacher credibility, sets high expectations, and fosters positive relationships Restorative conversations that equip adults and students with the capacity to resolve problems, make decisions, and arrive at solutions in ways that are satisfactory and growth-producing Restorative circles that promote academic learning through dialogue, build consensus in decision making, and help participants reach resolution through healing Formal restorative conferences that foster guided dialogue between victim(s) and offender(s) and include plans for re-entry into the school community By becoming adept in the skillful use of restorative practices, educators will foster equitable discipline that reduces exclusion and creates a school community driven by relationships and respect.