Schools

This video includes the entire plenary session from day two of the IIRP’s 16th World Conference on the topic of restorative practices in schools. Dr. John Bailie, IIRP assistant professor and director of continuing education, moderated the panel. The panelists have all overseen restorative practices whole-school change in their respective schools and districts. In order of presentation, they are:

According to a piece in the St. Louis Review, a publication of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Catholic schools there  and in several other states are adapting restorative practices to a Catholic-school context with great success. In the article titled, "Restoring a safe, positive, welcome for all students," writer Joseph Kenny begins:

Fourteen schools in the Archdiocese of St. Louis have become certified as virtue-based restorative discipline (VBRD) schools, addressing bullying issues through Catholic identity and restoring a safe, positive and welcoming environment for all.

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Dignity in Schools, a national organizations that unites parents, youth, advocates and educators to support alternatives to a culture of zero-tolerance, punishment and removal in schools, reports on its National Week of Action Against School Pushout:

"The Fourth Annual National Week of Action took place from September 28 to October 5, 2013. Over 60 organizations in 22 states joined the Dignity in Schools Campaign to 'Push Back Against

Bryce Stucki, a reporter at The American Prospect, takes a look at Growing Fairness, a new documentary by Teachers Unite that critiques punitive school discipline policies and suggests they be replaced by restorative practices. He writes:

“Education was where my heart was,” says Tyrone Sinclair in Growing Fairness, a documentary showcasing the impact restorative-justice programs can have in our nation's schools. Sinclair

RAND Corporation, in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health, is embarking on a randomized controlled study to measure the effectiveness of restorative practices in influencing school environments and decreasing problem behaviors.

The five-year project begins its first year with a planning phase. RAND will coordinate with the International Institute for Restorative Practices and its licensee, the Restorative Justice Project of the Midcoast, based in Belfast, Maine, to deliver

An article titled "The Use of Restorative Practices as a Strategy for Closing the School-to-Prison Pipeline" by IIRP Assistant Professor and Director of Continuing Education Dr. John Bailie has just been published in Race, Law, and Justice: Strategies for Closing the School-to-Prison Pipeline, a series of articles as a follow-up to a symposium held in February 2013 by the District Attorney's office of Kings County, New York, and Medgar Evers College, City University of New York. Bailie's piece is printed below. The entire journal, which includes an array of articles looking at many relevant issues and perspectives on race, zero tolerance and alternatives like restorative justice, may be Read More

On the very first day at all Community Service Foundation and Buxmont Academy schools (demonstration programs of the International Institute for Restorative Practices Graduate School), students meet in circles to set “norms"(agreed-upon standards) for their school.

This starts off the school year with a restorative practice, doing things with students instead of telling them what to do. The thinking goes, if students set their own norms, they feel ownership and want to abide by them. They also feel responsible for holding their fellow students accountable to do the same.

Karen Engle, coordinator of the CSF Buxmont school in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA, says staff engages students to come up with norms for their classroom, groups, lunch and school bus.

Diane Lefer discusses restorative justice in Los Angeles schools in the LA ProgressiveThis post from the LA Progressive by Diane Lefer discusses a lot of the issues that are coming to the fore in many urban centers with regard to schools, including the failure of zero

In the US and Canada, the failing policies of zero tolerance are giving way in many schools to restorative justice and restorative practices. These schools are demonstrating one after another that restorative practices can successfully reduce suspensions, expulsions and other punitive responses to wrongdoing. Schools using restorative justice address wrongdoing, but they do it in an inclusive way that does not stigmatize students but instead aims to teach and reintegrate them into regular school programming.

In the Kawartha Lakes region in central Ontario, Canada, the local newspaper (Read More

Photo by woodleywonderworks at Flickr Creative CommonsRoss Brenneman at EdWeek's "Rules for Engagement" blog reports on a recent pole, the "Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup annual national survey," that shows few Americans have heard of "...

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Cami Anderson, State District Superintendent, Newark Public SchoolsIn a press release titled "Zero Tolerance for Zero Tolerance Policies," Newark Public Schools (NPS) and Newark Police Department (NPD) announce the launch of a "Historic Initiative with the International

Here's a radio program about a therapeutic boarding school located in northern Idaho for at-risk teens where restorative justice circles are becoming more and more embedded for responding to problems and helping teens work through conflict. The host is Lon Woodbury and the interview is with Lisa Hester, director of student life at Boulder Creek Academy in northern Idaho.

The player will popup in a new window at LA Talk Radio.

There are so many lovely short videos now that demonstrate restorative approaches in schools. This one features the voices of many students as well as staff and administrators at two schools in Greater London.

When the teachers at Country Day School, an American private school in Costa Rica, were trained in restorative practices several years ago, Veronika Marenco, a third grade teacher at the time, knew she had found something really useful. She started the school year with circles for her students to get to know one another, and followed it up every day with daily circles to check in and check out, play games, review math concepts and also address problems between students. A few weeks in, when parents were invited to "Back to School Night," Veronika even arranged the classroom in a circle of chairs and let parents (and a few children who came along)

Here's a five-minute "teaser" for a forthcoming documentary from Teachers Unite titled Growing Fairness. The first part of the trailer offers a critique of the so-called school-to-prison pipeline and zero tolerance policies.

On Tuesday, July 16, the New York City Comptroller's Office issued a report called “The Suspension Spike: Changing the Discipline Culture in NYC’s Middle Schools,” which "offers a blueprint for replacing the DOE’s failed zero-tolerance policy with restorative justice practices that help middle-school students stay in school and remain on the path to college and career readiness."

According to a Read More

This 9-minute video from Leeds City Learning Centres in the UK gives a good overview of restorative practices use in the Carr Manor Community School. Many students, along with teachers and administrators, explain in their own words what restorative practices are, how they are used and what impact they have on the school environment.

Watch Carr Manor Restorative Practice on Vimeo.

Watch another film about Leeds' use of the "Family Learning Signature."

"From the schoolhouse to State House, 'academic skills' have been emphasized, tested, and reported upon, but another essential aspect of a child’s education — social and emotional learning (SEL) — has been underemphasized or altogether forgotten — with serious consequences to children, schools, and communities," write Jennifer Buffett, member of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) Board of Directors and NoVo Foundation

Katy Hutchison, of British Columbia, Canada, lost her husband when he was brutally beaten to death by teenagers at a party in their neighborhood. Katy would later meet the young man who murdered her husband, and she now advocates and speaks about restorative justice. This moving talk incorporates the restorative lessons she learned from her father, the lessons she tries to teach her own children, and the restorative approach she believes would work better not only for addressing wrongdoing throughout society, but also for changing lives and building community through its use in schools.

Restorative Practices to Resolve Conflict/Build Relationships: Katy Hutchison at TEDxWestVancouverED - YouTube.