Some educational systems have been making a transformation in practices from punitive discipline practices to restorative justice practices. School systems have been using a zero-tolerance policy, which has shown a negative effect on students with disabilities and low-income students of color (Waggoner, 2018). Even more specifically, these same students have been suspended or expelled more than twice as often as their non-disabled, middle to upper income, white peers (U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, 2014).The purpose of this causal comparative study was to examine the relationship between the use of restorative justice practices in a medium sized district in southeast Texas and the number of student suspensions over a three-year period. In addition to looking at the overall trends in suspension rates over the three-year period, the study broke down the data further for the African American, special education, and low-socioeconomic in junior high (Grades 7-8), and high school populations (Grades 9-12). It was determined that restorative justice practices significantly decreased the amount of time spent out of the classroom by students due to disciplinary consequences for the overall K-12 student population, African American population, junior high population, and high school population. The findings for the special education and low-socioeconomic populations were insignificant. Based upon these findings, a professional learning project was designed for K-12 public schools. This training addressed the discipline data that highlighted the need to move away from punitive discipline practices. The training also focused on utilizing the components of restorative justice practices as an alternative, and finished with key tools to implement restorative justice practices in the classroom and school setting. The objective of this training is to give educators an alternative discipline tool that will keep students in the classroom and ultimately improve student achievement outcomes. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]