Introducing restorative practices into high schools’ multi-tiered systems of support: successes and challenges

ABSTRACT

We report findings from a recent field test assessing the feasibility of training teachers in implementing restorative practices within a multi-tiered approach to supporting student behavior. First, we provide an overview of our training content, training delivery, and follow-up coaching. Second, we present overall outcomes from our field test with three non-traditional high schools. Results indicated improvements in overall school-wide implementation of restorative consequences, and gains in teacher use of existing discipline approaches as well as restorative practices. Results also indicated increases in early adopters’ confidence level with motivating students and engaging them in appropriate behavior across the duration of the study. Challenges associated with implementation included aligning administrative commitments to restorative practices with individual teachers' willingness to change classroom practices, allocating sufficient time to change policies and practices and overcoming logistical challenges to maximize coaching benefits. Finally, we discuss our field test findings within the current recommendations for advancing the evidence-based supporting restorative practices in schools.

KEYWORDS:

• Restorative practices
• high schools
• professional development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through R305A170631 to University of Oregon. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education.

Notes on contributors

Claudia Vincent

Claudia Vincent, Ph.D., focuses her research on promoting equitable school outcomes across students from various racial/ethnic backgrounds, abilities, and sexual orientations.  Specifically, she is interested in school systems and teacher practices that promote positive teacher-student and peer relationships, improve students’ perception of their classrooms as fair, and decrease the impact of biosocial stressors.

John Inglish

John Inglish, JD, currently serves as Director of the Conflict Resolution Master’s Program at the University of Oregon Law School. As a skilled mediator, he provides training in restorative practices to school personnel and regularly assists schools in implementing restorative practices to prevent student suspensions and expulsion. He also trains and supervises law school students to provide coaching in restorative practices to teachers.

Erik Girvan

Erik Girvan, JD, Ph.D., focuses on investigating how stereotypes, attitudes, and other biases might impact decisions in the legal system. He empirically tests practical ways to reduce or eliminate implicit biases by working with a diverse variety of legal and other professionals. His work with schools focuses on increasing awareness of implicit bias on disciplinary decisions.

Mark Van Ryzin

Mark Van Ryzin, Ph.D., focuses on social-ecological risk and protective processes related to parents, peers, teachers, and mentors, and how these processes contribute to adolescent behavior and adjustment. His work is framed by a number of social/developmental theories, including attachment theory, self-determination theory, contact theory, and theories of coercion and social learning.

Rita Svanks

Rita Svanks, is a University of Oregon research assistant, managing two projects related to safe and equitable schools. One of her roles is to function as liaison between researchers and school sites which gives her insight into the challenges of introducing interventions into the day-to-day school operations. She is particularly interested in high school interventions and practices that focus on building strong teacher-student relationships.

Shareen Springer

Shareen Springer is a doctoral student in the Critical and Sociocultural Studies in Education program, a restorative justice practitioner, and a Graduate Employee in the Education Studies Department at the University of Oregon. Her research interests are rooted in a commitment to educational justice through pre and post service training, specifically looking to critical participatory action research as a means of examining modern applications of restorative justice and disciplinary practices in schools.

Allison Ivey

Allison Ivey, (M.Ed. Urban Teaching),is a doctoral candidate in the Critical and Sociocultural Studies in Education program and Graduate Employee in the Education Studies Department at the University of Oregon. She is interested in intersectional work around the raced and gendered discipline practices in schools as well as understanding how teacher professional development grounded in storied notions of self and futurity can impact teacher pedagogy.