Implementing Restorative Justice in an Urban Elementary School: A Principal’s Commitment and Experiences Eliminating Exclusionary Discipline

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 48-62
Author(s):  
Bridget Farr ◽  
Mackenzie Gandomi ◽  
David E. DeMatthews
Keyword(s):  
School Improvement ◽  
Restorative Justice ◽  
Racial Bias ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
School Personnel ◽  
Urban School District ◽  
Exclusionary Discipline ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Urban Elementary School

Principals play a critical role in creating safe, inclusive, and equitable schools. Unfortunately, many schools maintain a legacy of exclusionary discipline and racial bias. In such contexts, principals can work collaboratively with school personnel and community members to interrogate existing policies, practices, and outcomes to inform subsequent school improvement efforts. In this case, a principal in an urban school district situated within a gentrifying school–community identifies her school’s legacy of racial bias and works to enact restorative justice. However, the principal confronts challenges and resistance during the implementation process.

Pressures of Managerialism and its Implications: Perspectives from the Centre and the Secondary School

1997 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 276-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bridget M. Leggett
Keyword(s):  
School Improvement ◽  
Secondary School ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
School Administration ◽  
Central Office ◽  
School Personnel ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
Approach To Teaching ◽  
Secondary School Administration ◽  
Western Australian

CENTRALLY prescribed managerialist practices have become part of the assumed processes of secondary school administration. But the logic which linked the new practices for central office bureaucrats was absent in the understandings of teachers in Western Australian secondary schools in 1992. There were substantial differences in the meanings attributed to key concepts and the value ascribed to the required procedures. The implications of these differences are established in this paper, using insights from central office and school personnel. Particular attention is given to the three agendas of school improvement, accountability and participative decision making. The pressure to re-norm the management of schooling has been applied through a range of discursive practices including the use of language, the presumption of meaning and the enforcement of policy. Although claims have been made that these changes have resulted in a more professional approach to teaching and learning, questions remain as to their real impact.

The readiness of various communities for the implementation of restorative justice in the community setting: A perspective of community organization

2018 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 386-398
Author(s):  
Taufik Mohammad
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Criminal Justice System ◽  
Restorative Justice ◽  
Justice System ◽  
Community Organization ◽  
Community Setting ◽  
Offender Rehabilitation ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Criminal Cases

The method of community organization can be used to implement restorative justice within the community. This study aimed at understanding whether members from seven communities in Malaysia would assume responsibility for restorative justice initiatives, accept various elements of restorative justice, and welcome offenders back into the community. The findings are mixed. Some community members believed that the community setting may offer resources for offender rehabilitation that the criminal justice system does not have; others raised concerns over various limitations such that communities may not be equipped to deal with criminal cases.

Restorative for All? Racial Disproportionality and School Discipline Under Restorative Justice

2021 ◽  
pp. 000283122110626
Author(s):  
Miles Davison ◽  
Andrew M. Penner ◽  
Emily K. Penner
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
Black Students ◽  
Restorative Justice ◽  
School Discipline ◽  
Student Discipline ◽  
Exclusionary Discipline ◽  
Difference In Difference ◽  
Racial Equity ◽  
Racial Disproportionality ◽  
Suspension Rates

A growing number of schools are adopting restorative justice (RJ) practices that de–emphasize exclusionary discipline and aim for racial equity. We examine student discipline as RJ programs matured in Meadowview Public Schools from 2008 to 2017. Our difference–in–difference estimates show that students in RJ schools experienced a profound decline in their suspension rates during the first 5 years of implementation. However, the benefits of RJ were not shared by all students, as disciplinary outcomes for Black students were largely unchanged. While the overall effects of RJ in this context are promising, racial disproportionality widened. Our results suggest that the racial equity intentions of RJ may be diluted as schools integrate RJ into their existing practices.

Developing a Pedagogy of Restorative Physical Education

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Michael A. Hemphill ◽  
Yongsun Lee ◽  
Sarah Ragab ◽  
Jeremy Rinker ◽  
Omari L. Dyson
Keyword(s):  
Physical Education ◽  
Restorative Justice ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
Social And Emotional Learning ◽  
Emotional Learning ◽  
Social And Emotional ◽  
Field Notes ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Transformative Approach ◽  
External Program

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the process of developing an alternative physical education program using restorative justice practices as a transformative approach to social–emotional learning. Method: This study utilizes qualitative case study methods to examine the implementation process and short-term outcomes. Data sources include focus group interviews, student journals, observations, and reflective field notes. Trustworthiness of the findings are supported by triangulation, peer debriefings, prolonged engagement, and external program reviews. Results: The implementation of social and emotional learning was substantiated by student engagement with four class goals in which they aimed to participate in physical education as “champions,” “heroes,” “achievers,” and “peacemakers.” Restorative pedagogy included restorative chats, listening circles, community circles, and healing circles. Conclusion: This study suggests that transformative curriculum, such as restorative justice, offers a transformative approach to social and emotional learning that is applicable to physical education.

Tightening the Gap

2019 ◽  
pp. 154-176
Author(s):  
Maria Ray Langheim ◽  
Ann Maureen McCaughan
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Law Enforcement ◽  
School Violence ◽  
School Personnel ◽  
The United States ◽  
School Shooting ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Essential Step ◽  
Successful Communication ◽  
Common Goals

Between January 1, 2012 and January 30, 2018 alone there were 27 school shooting incidents, accounting for 62 victim deaths, 108 victims injured, countless witness and community members affected, and 10 assailants who committed suicide or were killed by a police officer during the attack, at schools or campuses across the United States (U.S.). Clearly, further intervention and prevention strategies are necessary for school personnel and law enforcement, as well as our greater communities, in reducing instances of school violence. Identification of individuals and groups who are at higher risk for violence toward self or others is one essential step in prevention. When prevention is unsuccessful, a student may begin down a path toward violence, eventually posing a threat to the extent that identifying and intervening becomes necessary. Encouraging law enforcement and school personnel to become well-versed in both, so that they might successfully support each other's efforts and develop common goals, is essential to successful communication regarding students and groups of concern.

Investigating the Role of Data-Driven Decision-Making Within School Improvement Processes

2021 ◽  
pp. 1707-1725
Author(s):  
Venesser Fernandes
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Organizational Change ◽  
School Improvement ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Data Driven Decision Making ◽  
Continuous School Improvement ◽  
Decision Making Processes

This chapter provides a detailed literature review exploring the importance of data-driven decision-making processes in current Australian school improvement processes within a context of evidence-based organizational change and development. An investigation into the concept of decision-making and its effect on organizational culture is conducted as change and development are considered to be the new constants in the current discourse around continuous school improvement in schools. In a close examination of literature, this chapter investigates how key factors such as collaboration, communication, and organizational trust are achieved through data-driven decision-making within continuous school improvement processes. The critical role of leadership in sustaining data cultures is also examined for its direct impact on continuous school improvement processes based on evidence-based organizational change and development practices. Future implications of data-driven decision-making to sustain continuous school improvement and accountability processes in Australian schools are discussed.

Building Bridges, Building Community: Transformational Leadership in a Challenging Urban Context

2005 ◽  
Vol 15 (5) ◽  
pp. 519-545 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corrie Giles ◽  
Lauri Johnson ◽  
Sharon Brooks ◽  
Stephen L. Jacobson
Keyword(s):  
Transformational Leadership ◽  
School Improvement ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Transformative Leadership ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
Case Study Methodology ◽  
Urban Elementary School ◽  
Building Community ◽  
Study Methodology

Few empirical studies have been undertaken concerning successful leadership practices within challenging urban schools. Given that much of the school leadership literature relies on principals as the source of evidence for school improvement, this article explores, through multiperspective case study methodology, how one failing urban elementary school has become successful largely as a result of the transformative leadership of the principal. Our findings support more recent school-derived iterations of transformational leadership theory, in which principals stress support, care, trust, participation, facilitation, and the building of consensus. However, our data also draw attention to how this particular successful principal transcends the administrative immediacy of short-term innovation, by paying considerable attention to longer term, socially transformative, and morally grounded principles, rooted in democracy, equity, and social justice.

Factors affecting the implementation of the NSW Department of School Education child protection curriculum

1995 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 99-110
Author(s):  
Daphne Hewson ◽  
Anne Nielsen ◽  
Caroline Powell
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
Child Protection ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
School Personnel ◽  
Further Education ◽  
School Education ◽  
Practical Consideration ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Child Sexual Assault ◽  
K 12

In response to increased awareness of the negative consequences of child sexual assault, the New South Wales Department of School Education has developed the Child Protection: Preventing Child Sexual Assault curriculum, which is a K-12 school based program. The attitudes and experiences of 250 members of staff in the Metropolitan North Region were analysed to identify some of the factors which affect implementation of this curriculum in schools. The results indicate that the most important factors were not the quality of the package or the beliefs of staff, but the support of those staff responsible for implementing the program and practical consideration of the day-to-day running of the school. The findings have implications for (1) further education of school personnel prior to specialist training, (2) the importance of establishing support for the curriculum as a priority within the school community, and (3) practical strategies and support for teachers in the implementation process.

Delivering Staff Development to the Small Rural School

1995 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 23-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Storer ◽  
Diana J. Crosswait
Keyword(s):  
Staff Development ◽  
School Personnel ◽  
Training Model ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
University Campuses ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
Training Project ◽  
Small Rural Schools ◽  
Distance Travel

Most staff development activities for school personnel are held in large cities or on university campuses. Small rural schools are generally geographically distant from these locations. Therefore, this type of school usually has to absorb greater expense and hardship to take advantage of staff development activities. Long distance travel and overnight stays make it very difficult for parents or community members to also benefit from training. The Iowa Intervention Initiative (III), a U.S. Department of Education Drug-Free Schools School Personnel Training Project, was designed to address these problems. The III was able to overcome many practical and logistic problems to successfully hold workshops for 79 schools throughout rural Iowa. This paper presents successful responses to many of these problems and discusses how this training model can be adapted to other rural situations.

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