The Effects of School-Based Restorative Practices

• In Event: Measurement Validation and Application

Abstract

To avoid the harms of exclusionary discipline, thousands of schools have adopted restorative practices. Research on restorative programs (systems of hiring, training, and support) is ample, but mixed. However, programs do not always shift practices, and research on restorative practices (specific actions that community members might engage in in a restorative school) is wholly lacking. This study leverages student surveys in a novel manner that track school practices over time. Merging school data with student level longitudinal data for hundreds of thousands of students, we find that increased exposure to restorative practices leads to declines in discipline, increases in academic achievement, and declines in related racial disparities, as well as school-level improvements across myriad behavioral and health outcomes.

Author

• Sean Darling-Hammond, University of California - Los Angeles
  Presenting Author