What Happens When They Get It? Evaluating the Effects of Student Exposure to School-Based Restorative Practices

• In Event: Disrupting Discipline: An In-Depth Examination of Restorative Practices’ Impacts and Implementation

Abstract

This paper explores how students' educational outcomes relate to their stated levels of exposure to restorative practices and, specifically, community building and conflict resolution practices. Prior research has assumed that teachers who receive professional development in restorative practices will utilize these practices at a higher level than teachers who do not receive professional development; and that they will use these practices uniformly with students of varying backgrounds. This paper first documents reasons to question these premises. It elevates evidence from prior work documenting how school-level randomization into a "restorative practice professional development" condition did not drive increases in student exposure to restorative practices. And it provides new evidence that White students' generally express higher levels of exposure to both community building and conflict resolution practices than their Black peers in the same school. The paper then presents a novel means of leveraging student self-reports to ascertain the extent to which students experience, and school staff utilize, restorative practices. Next, the paper presents findings from analyses relating student level exposure to a variety of outcomes, some frequently explored (e.g., academic achievement and disciplinary outcomes) and some underexplored (e.g., mental health and gang membership). Having presented evidence that markers of actual exposure to restorative practices are related to a variety of positive outcomes, the paper then concludes by discussing implications for school practice and policy.

By combining data (from CALSCHLS) regarding the practices in place in 485 middle schools with detailed school attendance and student outcome data (from California administrative data sources), we can generate student-level panel data sets for approximately 2 million middle school students. In student fixed effects models, increased exposure to conflict resolution practices during the sensitive transition from 5th to 6th grade related to improved standardized test performance in both English and math, reduced the probability of experiencing a suspension, and decreased the number of days suspended among students receiving suspension.

In cross-sectional regression models, students of all backgrounds (including White and Asian students) saw a positive association between restorative practice exposure and academic achievement; and a negative relationship between exposure and disciplinary outcomes. However, potential benefits were slightly stronger for Hispanic students and substantially stronger for Black students. For example, a 1-unit increase in restorative practice exposure was associated with a 7-unit increase in English language arts scores for White students and a 17-unit increase for Black students. Because associations were stronger for Black and Hispanic students than for White students, all else being equal, these findings suggest that expanding access to restorative practices could reduce racial disparities in discipline and academic achievement.

Schools that evidenced increases in their estimated utilization of restorative practices generally saw multiple benefits: declines in schoolwide student misbehavior, gang membership, victimization, depressive symptoms, and substance abuse; and improvements in average school GPA and school climate. In contrast, schools that saw reductions in their estimated utilization of restorative practices saw declines in these outcomes (i.e., more misbehavior and lower school climates).

Author

• Sean Darling-Hammond, University of California - Berkeley