Justice in the Balance: How School Leaders Navigate Discipline Decisions

• In Event: Re/Visioning Leadership for Critical and Transformative Changes in Schools

Abstract

This study examines how school leaders conceive of and enact justice in student discipline, drawing on five justice frameworks—substantive, procedural, distributive, restorative, and retributive. Through interviews with 50 principals and assistant principals, we explore how leaders negotiate tensions between authority, fairness, and equity in everyday disciplinary decisions. Findings highlight a tendency to emphasize distributive justice in preventive efforts and procedural or retributive justice in response to conflict. Linking to the conference theme, this inquiry "unforgets" historical power structures in educational leadership and surfaces possibilities for more future-oriented, equitable disciplinary practices grounded in care, recognition, and systemic support.

Authors

• Jeff Walls, University of Iowa

• Akenten Dwamena, University of Iowa

• Sharon D. Kruse, Washington State University - Vancouver