Restorative Justice
Education news, analysis, and opinion about the school discipline alternative, which focuses on accountability and repairing harm
See also: Discipline
Teaching
Opinion
Ways to Implement Restorative Practices in the Classroom
Educators share their practical experience implementing restorative practices in their schools.
School Climate & Safety
More Schools Are Reporting Serious Violence and Hiring Police
New federal data point to upticks in the percentages of schools reporting violent crimes, hiring school police, and undertaking gentler, more proactive efforts to deal with students’ misbehavior.
School Climate & Safety
School Police Operations to Get an Overhaul in Two Big-City Districts
Municipal leaders in both Chicago and New York are seeking arrangements that are less reliant on assigning local police officers to work in schools.
School Climate & Safety
Opinion
If You Won't Do Restorative Justice Right, Don't Do It
My school tried its best at restorative justice, but we needed something more than good intentions: resources and training, writes former teacher Allison Fried.
School Climate & Safety
Opinion
My School's Peer Court Helps Students Make Amends
The goal of DuPont Hadley Middle School's youth-led court is to help fellow student take steps to repair harm they cause through bad choices and behavior, writes 8th grader Abigail Belch, a second year member of the court who is currently its bailiff.
Equity & Diversity
Leader To Learn From
Confronting and Combatting Bias in Schools
Claiming a school is inclusive doesn’t make it so, says 2019 Leader To Learn From Angela Ward. Building environments where everyone feels valued and supported takes a commitment to challenging, thoughtful work, she believes.
School Climate & Safety
Opinion
Restorative Patience
Matchbook Learning in Indianapolis designed three levels of restorative justice to support children who are suffering from significant levels of emotional trauma and causing harm to others in school.
Education
Opinion
Restorative Justice Creates a Culture of Safety
Restorative justice is not as easy as simply suspending or expelling students -- but it's worth the extra effort.
School & District Management
Opinion
Beyond Academic Personalized Learning: Implementing Restorative Justice
For students to have a truly personalized learning experience, the philosophy has to become a part of the non-academic parts of their learning as well. Based on this, our schools have shifted to adopt a restorative justice model. Here's how we did it--and the positive results we're already seeing.
Equity & Diversity
Opinion
The Effects of Unequal School Discipline Strategies
Guest blogger Amanda Ronan writes, "The harsh reality is that certain discipline practices are the reflections of institutionalized racism and outward discrimination against people of color and other underserved communities."
Equity & Diversity
Inside One School's Approach to Educating Young Black Men
The three-part audio series Raising Kings profiled a high school for young men of color in Washington, D.C., where educators devote as much time to meeting the social-emotional needs of their students as they do their academic needs. Here’s a deeper dive into some of the issues raised by the series.
Student Well-Being
Video
Psychologist Explains How Restorative Justice Works in D.C. High School for Young Men of Color
Charles Curtis is the psychologist at Ron Brown College Prep, a unique public high school in Washington, D.C. for young men of color. As a central member of the school's CARE team, Curtis is responsible for establishing and helping to carry out the school's unorthodox approach to student discipline: restorative justice. Curtis explains what restorative justice means in a school setting and why he believes it's essential for young black men, who disproportionately experience exclusion when they misbehave at school through suspensions and expulsions. Ron Brown--which has an intense focus on developing students' social-emotional skills and creating a culture where students feel safe physically and comfortable expressing themselves in the classroom--also emphasizes a college-preparatory curriculum. For the past year, Education Week's Kavitha Cardoza and NPR's Cory Turner visited Ron Brown weekly -- and some weeks, daily -- to witness the birth of this new school and to see how its staff tackles some of the toughest challenges in education. We spent hundreds of hours there, from the earliest days to the last bell.
Student Well-Being
Video
Raising Kings: A Year of Reporting Inside a High School for Young Black Males
For more than a year, Education Week's Kavitha Cardoza and NPR's Cory Turner reported on the birth of a new high school in Washington, D.C.: Ron Brown College Prep.
Equity & Diversity
Audio
'They Can't Just Be Average': Profound Academic Challenges in a D.C. School for Young Black Men
At Ron Brown, daunting academic challenges have become glaringly obvious as the school year gets under way.