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I have a close friend that has worked as a director of a juvenile corrections facility for boys and girls.  Initially it was a punitive institution.  He changed the facility that was a school first and punishment second.  He and his staff used restorative justice both in the "school" and within the community where they had committed their offenses.  More than 90% got their GED or returned to and finished high school.

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Sarah- did your principal send home a list of questions with the parents that are standard? (i.e. every time they are the same questions for the parents to work with the students?)

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How does "authority" in restorative practices move from AP to classroom teacher, support staff, peer?  How does the community engage in and be aware of the process that was followed and the "learning" that occurred.

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What Sarah was talking about with shift #3: If you can find out the Antecedent it will explain the Behavior, the Consequence will either reinforce or prevent the behavior. (It's an easy way to remember it. )

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Seems to me that at the end you need to include 'despite errant choices they may have made' at the end.

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A technique for proactively building the skills and relationships students will need when challenges arise.

Our students come to school with many issues on their minds and in their hearts. As educators, we can help them process their thoughts and feelings so they can better handle their situations and be more present in class.

Restorative circles are a useful practice to do just that. While frequently used to replace punitive forms of discipline, restorative circles are equally important in proactively building the relationships and skills students need to support one another and collectively address the challenges they face.

Restorative circles are most effective when they're an integral part of school culture. After all, you can't "restore" a community that you haven't built or sustained.

7 Steps for Facilitating Meaningful Circles

1. Cocreate a safe, supportive space: Circles work best if teachers invest time up front to build relationships, skills, and practices to draw on throughout the school year-especially if the going gets tough.

Early in the process, teachers and students together explore values-like empathy, patience, kindness, courage, and open-mindedness-that need to be respected for people to be willing to share openly and honestly in circle. They also determine best ways of working together (circle practices). These include honoring the talking piece, which goes around the circle as an invitation to share while everyone else listens (participants may pass if they don't wish to talk). People are encouraged to speak and listen from the heart. And what is shared in circle, stays in circle, though educators should let students know at the outset that we are mandated by law to report when a student threatens to harm themselves or others, or when students divulge abuse.

2. Be prepared: Make sure that you, the facilitator, are well rested, calm, and focused.

To hold the circle space effectively, it's important to be fully present and able to sit with other people's stories and feelings as well as your own. Center yourself. If you're exploring sensitive issues that may require follow up, consider alerting support staff.

3. Plan ahead: Decide together on a topic or theme that sustains students' interest.

Find a relevant opening ceremony to open the circle space, such as a poem, quote, or piece of music. A mindfulness activity can also be used to bring students into the space after a particularly stressful class or noisy hallway experience.

Look for information to ground the conversation, and develop questions and prompts to invite student perspectives into the circle.

Keep in mind that the bigger the circle, the more time you'll need for the talking piece to go around. Think about how things might unfold and be ready to adapt to what comes up.

Make sure to leave time for a closing ceremony, giving students a chance to transition into spaces that may be less conducive to being vulnerable. A closing ceremony can be a commitment to safeguarding the stories shared in circle, or a breathing exercise in which we provide students with prompts and time to put themselves back together again.

4. Invite student experiences into the space: Encourage students to connect with the circle content by sharing stories from their own lives.

Include storytelling rounds by asking students to talk about "a person in your life who..." or "a time when...." Share authentically of yourself. This gives others permission to do the same. Model good listening as the talking piece goes around the circle. Be fully present as others speak. Remind everyone that listening is the key ingredient in circles. True listening can create the kind of welcoming space that encourages even the quietest voices to speak.

5. Acknowledge, paraphrase, summarize, and practice empathy: Listen closely to what students share so that you can build on their experiences.

When the talking piece comes back to you, touch on what you felt, noticed, or heard. If you sense that there's more than surfaced in the first round, send the talking piece around a second or third time, asking students for their connections, reflections, or additions.

If challenging or painful issues come up, model agreed-upon circle practices for students to follow. Listening mindfully and being present with other people's ordeals and hardships can create supportive, healing experiences that strengthen community connections and build empathy.

If needed, let students know you're available to check in with them later in the day or week. You might also have them consider speaking with other supportive adults or students to find solace if they're troubled.

6. Explore what it means to be an effective ally: Beyond creating a supportive listening environment, ask what else, if anything, students need from you and from each other.

Explore how to be better allies in circle so that students know they don't need to face their challenges alone. Invite them to talk about a person in their lives who is a good friend or ally, or a person they'd like to be a better friend or ally. Discuss the qualities these people have (or lack) and how they make us feel. Invite students to talk about a time they've been a good friend or ally themselves, and what gets in the way of being our best selves with one another.

7. Zoom out to promote understanding on the systems level: Explore whether there are larger systemic forces that underlie the challenges students have touched on (such as racism, sexism, or lack of access to resources). Introduce information, stories, and voices that might shed light on how these systems operate. Look for examples of people who took action to interrupt these and other oppressive systems.

Invite students to connect to this information by sharing their thoughts, feelings, and related experiences.

Studying larger, systemic forces in society can help students better understand their situation, and can be a useful starting point for students to become more active themselves. Action and activism can inspire hope, connection, and healing.

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Building Community With Restorative Circles

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A technique for proactively building the skills and relationships students will need when challenges arise.

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Restorative Practices :: SFUSD Student, Family, and Community Support Department

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Student, Family, & Community Support San Francisco Unified School District

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The science of relationships and community.

All humans are hardwired to connect. Just as we need food, shelter and clothing, human beings also need strong and meaningful relationships to thrive.

Restorative practices is a field within the social sciences that studies how to strengthen relationships between individuals as well as social connections within communities.

Though newer to the social sciences, restorative practices has deep roots within indigenous communities throughout the world.

The IIRP Graduate School is devoted to scholarship and research, graduate education, professional development, world conferences and innovative civil society projects around the world.

Learn more

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The science of relationships and community. All humans are hardwired to connect. Just as we need food, shelter and clothing, human beings also need strong and meaningful relationships to thrive. Restorative practices is a field within the social scie...

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Six lessons learned from replacing punitive discipline with a community-oriented, restorative approach.

© iStock.com/Steve Debenport

Schools across the country are being urged to adopt restorative approaches as an alternative to suspensions, which may disproportionately affect students of color.

But restorative practices do more than supplant punitive approaches to discipline. They can dramatically improve the school climate and strengthen the social and emotional skills of young people and adults. Instead of using punishments and rewards to influence the way students behave, restorative approaches address the underlying reasons for students' hurtful behavior and nurture their intrinsic desire to treat others with care and respect.

Making the transition to restorative approaches isn't easy. Here are six lessons we've learned as we've introduced these practices in New York City public schools.

1. Restorative approaches are all about building community and strengthening relationships. Restorative approaches are based on the idea that when we feel part of a supportive community, we respect others in that community and become accountable to it. Schools can foster this sense of community through daily or weekly circles, in advisory, or in any class -- provided teachers get the support needed to facilitate the practices. Circles help participants better understand each other, engendering a sense of empathy and connection. Adults can build the effort by modeling collaborative, respectful behavior themselves. Adults can also have their own circles, creating a safe place where they too can connect and explore challenges.

2. Circles are powerful, if you respect the process. Circles borrow traditions from indigenous peoples: You sit in a circle around an object that has meaning for the group. You pass a talking piece, and everyone must wait till the talking piece comes to them before speaking -- including the facilitator. In circle, everyone is both a participant and a keeper; no one is in charge and no one is an observer. As students get comfortable with the circle process, they can become co-keepers. Respecting all these practices takes discipline, but it is key to the circle's power. Circle gives everyone a rare chance to share what they are feeling and experiencing. Over time, circle becomes a safe space where everyone feels that they are heard and that they belong. That's a precious thing in a school -- or anywhere.

3. Circles can be strengthened by a curriculum that sequentially builds skills. The circle naturally asks participants to use social and emotional skills that they may not have fully developed, including active listening, handling strong emotions, and respecting differences. A sequenced curriculum can guide circle keepers in gradually building these skills.

4. When problems do occur, you have an array of restorative responses to choose from. Circle provides a foundation that can both prevent problems and help handle them when they arise. You can also use a mediation process or group problem-solving session to address problems. If a serious harm happens, a restorative intervention may be in order: The person causing the harm meets with others, often including the person harmed. They reflect on the harm and agree on how it can be remedied. The person who caused harm has a chance to truly understand the impact of their actions, to be heard and understood themselves, to repair the harm, and to be welcomed back (restored) to the community. That can have a far more positive and lasting effect on a person than punishment or exile. The process can provide insights for everyone else as well.

5. Everyone needs to be part of the gradual shift. Using restorative processes takes skill. It's best if a regular member of the school staff can serve as the restorative practices specialist/coordinator. But everyone in the school needs to embrace the approach. This is challenging, since treating harm as a teachable moment (not an occasion for punishment) runs counter to many ingrained habits and societal messages. For these reasons, moving to restorative practices requires a thoughtful, staged transition.

6. It takes a dedicated principal and school-wide planning. The shift to restorative approaches takes time and commitment. Ideally, the principal convenes a collaborative team (including students) to rethink and reconstruct the school's discipline policy and create a phased implementation plan that includes support for staff.

Many people are struck by the power of restorative practices. As the principal of a Bronx school that instituted them says, "We noticed that we hadn't had a single fight -- physical or verbal -- in 12 weeks. It's because we've been building trust. We've created a climate of civility and respect." That kind of atmosphere is good for everyone, students and teachers alike.

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Bringing Restorative Practices to Your School

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Six lessons learned from replacing punitive discipline with a community-oriented, restorative approach. © iStock.com/Steve Debenport Schools across the country are being urged to adopt restorative approaches as an alternative to suspensions, which may disproportionately affect students of color. But restorative practices do more than supplant punitive approaches to discipline.

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This is an important question for any school or school district considering developing a systemic restorative response to conflicts and rule violations. Below I list (and respond to) some of the criticisms I have heard the most over the past few years. In the case of the last four, these are concerns I myself have, as someone who supports schools in developing restorative systems.

1. It takes too long. This criticism usually refers to the fact that the preparation and actual dialogue can eat up a considerable amount of time, sometimes (if there are many individuals involved) as many as several hours. Punitive discipline typically takes less time, though it should be noted that many schools do engage in a time-intensive investigation process that can either be streamlined or eliminated with a restorative system. But even if RJ takes longer to carry out, to the degree that it is more likely to lead to satisfying outcomes, the time saved by preventing future contact with the so-called discipline system can make RJ much more time-efficient than the alternative.

2. It is too emotionally draining. Well, it's true that a circle can feel draining, but it's also true that many students, teachers, and staff are invigorated by circles because they often see each other in new ways and often feel more connected afterward. Movement is almost always invigorating. What tends to be really draining are ongoing conflicts that feel "stuck." RJ provides a way to get unstuck. I wrote more about this here.

3. Teachers should be teaching, not doing, RJ. It is important (especially for older grades) to have separate spaces and times for learning and for conflict. At the same time, when there is conflict in the classroom, it needs to be responded to or it will escalate. The response can be a plan to engage more deeply at a later time but there does have to be a response. Restorative practices provide teachers with tools to respond in ways that meet both their students' needs and their own.

4. Restorative justice doesn't have accountability. If accountability is defined as punishment, this may be true, though many schools are increasingly utilizing a hybrid model that includes both punitive and restorative elements. But accountability is part of the restorative process, too. It's just conceptualized differently. Rather than being equated with punishment, in restorative justice, accountability takes the form of self-responsibility and various agreements designed to repair harm and make things right. This form of accountability is not soft. To the contrary, it is not unusual for even those who are incarcerated for long periods to report that dialogue with those they harmed was the hardest thing they've ever had to do.

5. Agreements made in restorative processes are not followed. This is one of the challenges of creating a functional restorative system. A well-designed, well-functioning system will include documentation of agreements and ways to check that they are either being carried out or alternative reparative actions are done instead. Agreements not being followed is feedback that the restorative system is not working optimally and the changes may be needed.

6. Restorative justice doesn't work. It's important for both adults and students in schools to be clear about the goals of restorative justice. If adults see it as yet another (perhaps more gentle) way of controlling student behavior, then I would expect students to resent and resist such attempts at control as they resent and resist punitive responses. If, however, both adults and students see restorative justice as a way of sharing power and collaborating to build, maintain, and, when necessary, repair relationships, then the data show that restorative justice does work and "not working" in a particular school is feedback that the current system needs to be tweaked.

7. Restorative justice places an unfair expectation on victims/survivors to talk to those who harmed them. It is important that no one is forced to participate in a restorative process if they don't want to do so. It is also important to understand that those who have been harmed often want to do so because they want those who did the harm to understand the impact of their actions or they want to have dialogue that creates conditions for the harm to stop.

8. Restorative justice places an unfair expectation on victims/survivors to forgive those who harmed them (especially in the context of either sexual assault or actions perceived as racist). It is important that no one is made to believe that they have to forgive. Forgiveness may happen but it's not a goal of restorative justice. The goals are often defined as mutual understanding and agreements designed to address unmet needs identified during the mutual understanding stage. In cases of sexual or racialized harm, restorative responses are particularly tricky. Here's a case study about what it might look like, following one such incident.

9. Restorative justice is not actually implemented restoratively. Whether we are aware of it or not, we all have a high value for congruence. We might not prefer an authoritarian, top-down approach, but in a context that explicitly values hierarchy and control (as schools often do), we tend to go along with it. Restorative justice, however, is designed to be community-owned. It is designed to be a space with shared power where everyone has a voice. It is therefore particularly important that it is implemented collaboratively and, more generally, in ways that are congruent with its core principles. When either the process itself or the method through which the school designed the restorative system are forced on people rather than created with them, there is likely to be substantial resentment and resistance.

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Nine Criticisms of School Restorative Justice

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Some concerns come from misunderstanding. Others are legitimate challenges.