Race-Evasive Resistance to Restorative Discipline Practices in a Predominantly White Small Town

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 4:20 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 1
  In Roundtable Session: Restorative Discipline Policy and Practice: Dismantling Carceral Schooling (Table 7)

Abstract

In this ethnographic case study of a predominantly white, small-town school district, I explore the ways education stakeholders, many of whom have a stated commitment to racial equity, understood restorative discipline practices in their schools. As a way of approaching student behavior, restorative practices center relationships and advance equity and justice (Winn, 2018). In this school district, restorative practices were introduced in the summer of 2022, with an emphasis on relationships. During the 2022-2023 school year, teachers, parents, and community members raised concerns about discipline and school safety. In the end, discipline policies were revised to be more punitive and exclusionary. This research highlights the importance of understanding how race-evasiveness undermines efforts for just education renewal.

Author

• Emily Olson Miller, University of Wisconsin - Madison