Many schools use exclusionary discipline--such as suspensions and expulsions--to deter students from misbehaving and to protect students from the harms associated with exposure to student misbehavior. Research indicates that, while often implemented with good intentions, exclusionary discipline increases (rather than deters) misbehavior and risks…

Across the country, many schools have adopted restorative practices in an effort to improve school climate and student outcomes while reducing exclusionary discipline. Restorative practices are designed to proactively build community, improve relationships, and help students amend harm when conflict occurs. Using 6 years of student survey data and…

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…

To Educate All Children (TEACH) provides educators with intensive one-on-one training in classroom culture, focusing on de-escalation, conflict resolution, nonverbal communication, and building student's self confidence. Through intensive educator training, TEACH helps educators create safe, calm learning environments for students (TEACH, n.d.).…

Across the United States, schools are implementing Restorative Practices (RP) to improve school climate and address disparities in discipline. The scope of such RP initiatives can remain ambiguous to school leaders. Given the need for greater clarity about RP initiatives, the current study sought to identify the varying components of RP…

The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed the ways schools and other youth-serving agencies are operating. To prevent the continued spread of the virus, many schools and agencies have moved to virtual only or hybrid virtual/in-person activities. Along with adapting many other activities, schools and agencies' approaches to bullying…

Strong anti-bullying policies are foundational to effective bullying prevention. The Youth Bullying Prevention Act of 2012 (YBPA; DC Law L19-167) is among the most comprehensive bullying prevention policies across the United States and its territories. The law and its implementing regulations require all schools and youth-serving agencies…

A trenchant and wide-ranging look at this alarming national trend, "Disrupting the School-to-Prison Pipeline" is unsparing in its account of the problem while pointing in the direction of meaningful and much-needed reforms. The "school-to-prison pipeline" has received much attention in the education world over the past few…

The INVEST sessions are intended to help AISD students and their parents improve communication skills, improve anger management strategies, develop positive conflict resolution methods, develop problem solving skills, and access support services as needed. When a middle or high school student in AISD is removed from the home campus to the…