A Culturally Responsive Examination of School-Wide Restorative Discipline Practices

• In Event: Examining School Discipline Practices and Their Impacts on Students and Families

Abstract

Implementing restorative justice discipline practices may be difficult for school leaders, yet Khalifa et al.’s (2016) culturally responsive school leadership (CRSL) framework could serve as a potential roadmap for carrying out this type of complex challenge. Khalifa et al. (2016) suggests the pursuit of CRSL’s four pillars - critical self-awareness, culturally responsive curriculum and instruction, inclusive school environments, and engaging students and parents in community contexts – may allow school leaders to provide students of color to enjoy a “safe, affirming, and academically challenging” (p. 1297) experience in PK-12 schools. The purpose of our study is to highlight the efforts of two female assistant principals, both attempting to realize their own culturally responsive identity during the implementation of school-wide restorative discipline practices.

Authors

• Leslie Constant, Pasadena Independent School District

• Deidra Perry, University of Houston

• John Tovar Cortes, University of Houston

• Shavonya Rasberry-Vaughan, University of Houston

• Toni Hill-Kennedy, University of Houston

• Madeleine Peery, University of Houston

• Deirdre Riordan, University of Houston

• Denise Coello, Conroe Independent School District

• Margarita Tovar, University of Houston

• Bradley W. Carpenter, Baylor University