Evaluation of the Whole School Restorative Practices Project: One-Year Implementation and Impact on Discipline Incidents

There is a need for rigorous experimental research on restorative practices in schools as a means to reduce exclusionary discipline and the disproportionate sanctioning of Black students, male students, and students with disabilities. The current study addressed this need in its evaluation of Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility's Whole School Restorative Practices (RP) Project. The study was conducted in a large Northeastern city using a cluster randomized control experimental design in 18 elementary, middle, and high schools. The RP Project was a 2-year initiative which was interrupted in its second year of implementation given the global health pandemic and the shift to remote schooling. After two years, it was anticipated that the nine RP project schools, relative to nine comparison schools, would have lower discipline incidents and narrowed discipline disparities across subgroups. Given the pandemic disruption, the effects of one year of implementation were examined despite that change was anticipated after two years. The 5,878 student sample was drawn from discipline incident record data provided by the public school district. After only one year of implementation, the study found that overall, students in the RP Project schools were less likely to receive a discipline incident record (11.1%) compared to students in the comparison schools (18.2%). In the single year of the two-year project, no differential effects of the intervention were noted based on student race, gender, or disability status. Given the project anticipated change after two years, the reduction in discipline incidents was striking. Future research will need to examine whether reducing incidents in year one of implementation sets the stage for narrowed discipline disparities in year two.