Restorative Practices

Restorative Practices are an Indigenous, equity-based, multi-tiered system of building, maintaining, and repairing relationships in our classrooms, schools, and community. Zehr et al state that Restorative Practices proactively create community and honor students' voices to create healthy, supportive, and inclusive communities (2022). Further, Restorative Practices are a non-punitive approach to student behavior, which can reduce the harmful impact of traditional punitive discipline practices.

When we do things that impact others and create harm in the community, it is our individual and collective responsibility to make things right. Restorative Practices help create spaces that hold us accountable in supportive and inclusive ways.

Restorative Practices are an alternative to in-school, out-of-school suspensions, and permanent explusions, therefore not sending students on the school-to-prison pipeline. The school-to-prison pipeline refers to practices and policies that disproportionaelt place students of color into the criminal legal system. The expansion of zero-tolerance policies into the school system has led to an increase in exclusionary practices such as in-school suspensions, out-of-school suspensions, and explusions.

Adl (2023); Flannery (n.d.) both note that when students are suspended or expelled, they are three times more likely to be arrested the following year. Black, Latinx, and Indigenous studetns are four times more likely to be suspended and expelled than their White peers. Black students miss almost five times as any days as a result of out-of-school suspensions compared to White students. Students from marginalized communities are more likely to end up in the school-to-pirsion pipeline due to systemic racism. Restorative Practices alevate the need for punitive, exclusionary practices by keeping students in school and working with them to learn from their mistakes, make amends, and keep it right.

References:

Adl, W. I. T. S. P, |. (2023, February 21). What is the school-to-prison-pipeline? | ADL. ADL. https://www.adl.org/resources/lesson-plan/what-school-prison-pipeline

Boyes-Watson, C., & Pranis, K. (2015). Circle forward: Building a restorative school community.

Flannery, M. E. (n.d.). The school-to-prison pipeline: Time to shut it doens | NEA. https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/school-prison-pipeline-time-shut-it-down

Knapp, L. (2020). Restorative Practices in schools have power to transform communities. https://youtu.be/quKa7C-wxZk

Mooiman, L. (2021). What is Restorative Practices in schools? https://youtu.be/0AU-tbilTYs

Schools for Children, Inc. (n.d.) https://schoolsforchildreninc.org/a-qa-on-the-benefits-of-restorative-practices/

Zehr, H., MacRae, A., Pranis, K., & Amstutz, L. S. (2022). The big book of Restorative Justice: Four classic justice & peacebuilding books in one volume. Simon and Shuster.