This report from the RAND Corporation looks at restorative practices. Many feel restorative practices can empower students by changing how discipline is enforced and by improving school climate by purposefully building relationships between students and adults as well as fellow students. This study of the implementation of a particular program which utilizes restorative practices in the Pittsburgh Public Schools district (PPS) in school years 2015–16 and 2016–17 represents one of the first randomized controlled trials of the effects of restorative practices on classroom and school climates and suspension rates.
This Atlantic article provides a summary of the report’s findings and would be a good overview to read prior to jumping into the report. The report will be of interest to researchers as well as school leaders working to improve school climate.
Source Organization: RAND Corporation