Grantee Highlights

Doughtery School System (P2C3) Successfully Implements Restorative Practices in Elementary Schools Across the District

As schools across the United States work to mitigate the impact of violence within their communities, restorative practices have become a popular strategy to do so. As conflict arises among students, it is important to teach them strategies to cope and repair relationships, while focusing on reflection. Why do we need it? Research shows that punitive measures such as removing students from learning environments for extended periods of time is ineffective; zero tolerance policies typically do not work or make schools safer; punishment via exclusionary suspension often hurts relationships with students and teachers; and out of school suspension has disproportionate impacts on students of color and disability. One of NCSSLE’s Project Prevent (Cohort3) grantees, Dougherty School System in Albany, GA has made the transition from punitive to restorative practices across their school district. 


Implementing Restorative Practices 

Building relationships is a crucial part to building safe and supportive school environments, and utilizing restorative practices to do so strengthens those relationships amongst students, teachers, and staff.  When Dougherty first began the implementation of Restorative Practices, there was some pushback; staff feared it was adding another technique to the list for teachers and staff to implement. What made a big difference in the buy-in was working with the schools to find what works best for their schedules, as well having the administrators receive the behavior training early and ensure it was a priority. They showcased how it would benefit each one of their students and staff. The training and implementation were broken up into segments, which was beneficial in that it did not take administrators out of the classroom for long periods of time. 


Teachers then went through training and began using restorative techniques with their students; utilizing restorative circles in their daily routines, doing check-ins with students to determine their needs and ensure they are appropriately supported in the classroom. Students now know the expectation is to start in their restorative circles every morning, and they have learned to respect each other because of these practices. When conflict arises, they want to utilize the circle. Schools have found these practices to be effective, giving students a chance to regroup and build relationships amongst their peers and teachers. Now that students have grasped the restorative circles, teachers are able to expand these circles to a range of topics, including curriculum content circles, community circles, check in and check out circles, and more. These restorative circles give students a chance to speak and freely express how they are doing, allowing them to feel heard and supported. 
 

As Dougherty has actively implemented restorative practices in their districts and schools, they have found the following activities essential to their success: 

  1. Engage the teachers, parents, staff, and entire community. The more they communicate together the better off and more equipped the students will be to move forward in school. 
  2. Get buy in at the district level, since the effects of restorative practices permeate through the schools and into the community. 
  3. Offer professional development to teachers, parents, students, and staff to teach them specific strategies and tools to create a restorative environment. 
  4. Continue to grow and incorporate practices into daily routines. 
  5. Operate as one team for their schools and communities and their students and teachers. 
     

Moving Forward 

Dougherty has already seen the impact these restorative practices are having in schools: students are making better choices; they have goals, aspirations, and dreams; and their critical thinking skills have improved. The measure of success is to ensure students are growing and becoming great members of the community. There is a need with restoring relationships and helping with conflict resolution, as well as building community, and restorative practice is a great tool to address this need.


For more details on Dougherty’s successful Implementation of Restorative Practices, listen to an episode of our In Session podcast
 

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