Institutionalizing Transformative Practices: School Models of Restorative Justice and Partnerships for Transformative Justice

• In Event: Where Are We Now? School Discipline Policy and Practice in the Nation's Most Populous State

Abstract

In this presentation, researchers discuss how schools are currently taking up restorative justice to foster positive school culture and climate and move away from punitive discipline practices. We consider the ways in which universities, schools of education, or research centers engage and partner with educators, schools, and nonprofits in reducing inequities in school discipline.

Drawing on data from a state-wide, qualitative comparative case study of 27 schools, researchers found that the range of restorative justice programs were shaped by underlying values varying in emphasis along dimensions of restoration-harm and critical racial consciousness. These values, in addition to issues of implementation, often limited restorative justice to operating as a programmatic alternative to discipline rather than transforming how educators understood the role of discipline in schools. These findings led us to consider the following guiding questions: What role does/should/can the university play in the reduction of school suspensions? What are the ways in which schools of education go beyond research and offer practical tools, resources, services, or opportunities to directly impact school discipline? How can teacher education programs prepare pre-service teachers to respond to inequities in schools? This presentation will use data and draw upon the history and experience of the Transformative Justice in Education Center (TJE) located at the University of California, Davis. The Transformative Justice in Education Center (TJE), housed within the School of Education at UC Davis, was founded in 2016 to collaborate with practitioners, community members, educators, teachers, students, and researchers to create and support restorative and humanizing learning spaces. Between 2017 and 2019, began conducting studies, offering restorative justice trainings, and hosting community workshops/symposiums to address the disparities in school discipline. The efforts of the center coincided with the release of the GET OUT! Black Male Suspensions in California Public Schools(2018) report which revealed that school districts in Sacramento County such as Sacramento City Unified School District, Elk Grove School District, Twin Rivers, San Juan, and Natomas Unified have the highest number of suspensions for Black males in California. During the two-year span (and currently), TJE has trained educators and partnered with schools and nonprofits in the Sacramento region. TJE addresses inequities in learning spaces by using four pedagogical stances (Winn, 2018) – History Matters, Race Matters, Justice Matters,and Language Matters. Informed by restorative justice theory and practice (Zehr, 2015; Riestenberg, 2012), these stances have proven to be essential for educators to consider when they seek justice in school settings by putting restorative justice theories to work.

Authors

• Lawrence Torry Winn, University of California - Davis

• Mary Louise Frampton, University of California - Davis