Outcome Evaluation

The implementation of restorative practices in the school setting impacts both the relationships in the classroom and the number of students excluded from school. These evaluations discuss the impact of restorative practices on different measures.

Video Review: An Introduction to Restorative Practices at Endeavour High School

This video describes the positive results of restorative practices implemented in a school with behavioral and performance problems in England.

Safety with Dignity: Alternatives to the Over-Policing of Schools

This report examines six New York City public schools that are successfully maintaining safety while simultaneously promoting a nurturing school environment. This report explores the methods employed by these schools, including the tangible and intangible qualities that have contributed to their success. It concludes with practical recommendations to help the New York City Department of Education (DOE)—and urban school districts across the country—replicate their successful approaches to discipline and security. The report was prepared by The New York Civil Liberties Union, the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University and Make the Road New York.

Restorative Practices and the Transformation at West Philadelphia High School

West Philadelphia High School has undergone a transformation. It has been on Pennsylvania’s “Persistently Dangerous Schools” list for six years, but the implementation of restorative practices and strong leadership, headed by principal Saliyah Cruz, have made a huge difference. The culture and climate of the school have improved significantly, violent and serious incidents have plummeted, and rates of discipline procedures such as suspensions and expulsions have decreased dramatically. (from the article written by Laura Mirsky for the Restorative Practices E-Forum).

Improving School Climate: Findings from Schools Implementing Restorative Practices

From the International Institute for Restorative Practices e-Forum: The International Institute for Restorative Practices has compiled a 36-page booklet of findings from schools in the United States, England and Canada that are implementing restorative practices.

Introducing Restorative Practices into Scottish Schools

In 2004, the Scottish Executive allocated funding for a 30-month pilot project to introduce restorative practices into schools in three Local Authorities. An August 2007 evaluation report outlines the implementation process for the different areas and the progress made in establishing restorative practices in the school.

Nelson, Tanya. Merrill Middle School Meets Restorative Justice.

Schools are a microcosm of our world. They demonstrate the outcome of our investment, the potential, and its continuous need to adapt to changing times. Walking into an elementary school, middle school, high school, you may actually be able to feel this. Conflict is palpable much of the time. On the surface, Merrill Middle School in Oshkosh, WI, has a lot working against it. Oshkosh is a largely blue collar town and about 50% of Merrill's students are from families at or below poverty level. Many families are unable to stay an entire school year.Relationships are difficult to establish. How has Merrill brought it all together? In 2003, it ended its "honor level" approach to discipline in favor of a restorative justice approach. By creating circles and a core concept of restorative justice, staff and students have joined forces to create better communication when problems occur. (excerpt)

Kelly, Richard. Draw a circle and be sure to include me in it. Restorative practices with children under 12.

Restorative Practices has assumed international prominence as a preferred approach for working with children and youth at risk. There has been significant activity in Ontario implementing the model in school boards and in youth justice contexts. The Child and Youth Worker at George Brown College is the first CYW program to embrace this philosophy and model within the curriculum, as a focus of research and as a platform for equip ping students and practitioners with the concrete tools for implementation. This article details the 6-year journey from inception and its current robust stage of work with children under 12 in a variety of settings ranging from Inner City schools to children’s mental health settings. (author's abstract)

Wong, Dennis S. W. and Ma, Stephen K. and Wing Lo, T and Ma, Stephen K. and Lok, David P. P. and Wing Lo, T. School Bullying Among Hong Kong Chinese Primary Schoolchildren.

The first comprehensive survey of 7,025 Chinese primary schoolchildren found that 24% of respondents reported that they had sometimes physically bullied another child. When children observed school bullying, 56% said they immediately reported it to their teachers. Another 20% tried to stop the bullying by approaching the bullies. The study also identified factors associated with bullying. These included coming from an adverse psychosocial background and having more contact with violent values through association with deviant peers and exposure to the mass media. On the basis of the research findings, potential methods of bullying intervention are discussed. (author's abstract). Restorative practices are discussed among the interventions.

Claassen, Roxanne and Claassen, Ron. Discipline that Restores:STrategies to Create Respect, Cooperation, and Responsibility in the Classroom.

Discipline That Restores is a restorative discipline system for schools, classrooms, and homes that parallels, contributes to, and draws from emerging international conflict resolution education, peace education and restorative justice movements with emphasis on the last. (excerpt)

McCold, Paul. Evaluation of a Restorative Milieu: CSF Buxmont School/Day Treatment Programs 1999-2001. Evaluation Outcome Technical Report

The Community Service Foundation (CSF) and Buxton Academy operate six school/day treatment programs in southeastern Pennsylvania. They are community treatment settings for adjudicated delinquent and at-risk youth. CSF also operates other programs for youth in trouble. All of the programs use restorative practices. McCold speaks of a "restorative milieu" because the CSF Buxmont culture consists of many restorative techniques and processes, not just isolated restorative interventions, and because the restorative approach extends beyond staff interaction with youth to staff-to-staff and student-to-student relationships. In this paper McCold presents results of an evaluation of the CSF Buxmont school/day treatment programs to assess the effectiveness of their restorative practices in encouraging positive changes among youth in the programs. The analysis covers the outcome experiences of more than 900 youth discharged from the programs over a two year period between 1999 and 2001.

Webb, Deanna L.. My Classroom’s Journey with Restorative Practices.

The first change I made to begin building community was to rearrange my classroom management system to reflect the new focus of our classroom. I created “Community, Inc.,” a classroom management system that was “publicly owned; created communities; invested in relationships and made a profit from the positive growth and relationships it created.” In this new system every student had a job, along with responsibilities to the overall “company.” My classroom had “corporate meetings” at least twice a day, and sometimes more frequently if we needed to address an issue in the classroom. “Community, Inc.” pushed the typical boundaries of classroom rules to a system where the students decided the norms of behavior in the classroom, along with how each student would be held accountable, not just to the teacher and administration, but also to the community as a whole. (excerpt)

. A case study of comprehensive schoolwide improvement at a high needs elementary school.

A qualitative case study method was used to examine one elementary Title 1 school's experiences in implementing a continuous, comprehensive school improvement plan over a five year period from 2003-2008. This is a high needs school with over 80% of the families living in poverty. The researcher conducted 14 on-site interviews including the principal, faculty, and staff from the school to assist in determining the most important school wide improvement strategies from the faculty's perceptions at the case site. The Assistant Superintendent of Instruction and Human Resources of the case site school district was also interviewed in regards to the school leadership and collaboration at the case site. The researcher also made several site visits, observed different team sessions and collected several cultural documents. The strategies followed in implementing a comprehensive school improvement plan at the case site included: Value Added teacher training and collaboration, implementing the Circle of Courage frame work, the Restorative Justice Center, ELL home liaison, extended school day focused specifically on vocabulary instruction, Bright Future's Health Literacy Center, school leadership and teams, and professional learning communities. The student achievement gradually improved over the five year process of school wide comprehensive improvement. (author's abstract)

Farrington, David P and Ttofi, Maria M.. School-based programs to reduce bullying and victimization.

This report presents a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effectiveness of programs designed to reduce school bullying perpetration and victimization (i.e. being bullied). The authors indicate the pitfalls of previous reviews and explain in detail how the present systematic review and meta-analysis addresses the gaps in the existing literature on bullying prevention. (excerpt)

Knight, Lorrie. Creating Safe Schools with Classroom Meetings

Lorrie Knight is Dean of Students for Albion Central School District in Orleans County. Her primary responsibility is the discipline of 1200 students. Here is her story about the use of circles with children in public schools. (author's abstract)

Warren, Cathy. Evaluative Review: Lewisham Restorative Approaches Partnership.

This report examines the progress of Lewisham’s Restorative Approaches Partnership in its work in schools and attempts to identify: 1) Evidence that restorative approaches are having an impact on behaviour in schools; 2) Lessons learnt from those who have made most progress in implementing the approaches; and 3)Future needs to support continued development of restorative work in schools. (excerpt)

Bitel, Mark. Preliminary Findings from the Evaluation of Restorative Justice in Schools.

The preliminary evidence from the pupil surveys does not show clear effects between the schools which are in the pilot (programme schools) and the comparator schools (nonprogramme schools). However, when comparing the pre- and post-intervention surveys in schools that have implemented restorative practices to a significant degree, there are clear trends that suggest that restorative practices are having a significant effect. (excerpt)

Edgar, Kimmett and Bowen, Gillian and Bitel, Mark and Bowen, Gillian and Thurlow, Jane and Bitel, Mark. The evaluation of the Lambeth Restorative Justice Conference Pilot Project in Schools.

In May 2000, the Youth Justice Board in England initiated a plan to test, in two schools in Lambeth, restorative justice approaches in response to robbery and bullying in school settings. This was part of the Board’s overall exploration of interventions that might reduce youth crime. The project was devised in partnership with the Metropolitan Police in Lambeth. To evaluate the project, the Youth Justice Board engaged Partners in Evaluation and the Oxford Centre for Criminological Research. The evaluation, reported in this document, reviewed a number of key areas: levels of victimization, bullying, and robbery in the two schools; means for introducing restorative justice approaches in the schools; satisfaction of participants (victims and offenders) in the schools’ restorative justice conferences; short-term and long-term effects of the conferences on participants; and the larger effects of conferences, if any, on the nature and frequency of acts of victimization in the two schools. This paper presents research findings and analysis in these key areas, as well as a number of recommendations to enhance the use of restorative justice conferences in school settings. Additionally, several appendices provide further information on the study methodology, data-gathering, and research instruments.

Chmelynski, Carol. Schools find 'restorative justice' more effective than expulsion.

School administrators, who until now have used expulsion as a last disciplinary option, have begun to employ restorative justice as an effective alternative solution. Central to the restorative justice method, students who have disciplinary problems learn about the impact their behavior has on others in an environment focused on healing and learning. School staff members, who have been trained in these methods, facilitate these programs through peer mediation, classroom circles to discuss problems, and family group counseling. More school districts, including six in Wisconsin, are now implementing these programs, encouraged by the successful results of schools like PEASE Academy. PEASE, a Minneapolis/St. Paul school for students recovering from chemical addiction, experienced a decrease in disciplinary issues since beginning these programs. Because restorative justice focuses on community involvement, students who have felt neglected or misunderstood are now learning that their community wants to understand their problems and help them improve their lives. Abstract courtesy of the Marquette University Law School-Restorative Justice Initiative http://law.marquette.edu/cgi-bin/site.pl?2130&pageID=1831

Crow, Gill and Holton, Liz and Marsh, Peter and Crow, Gill. Supporting Pupils, Schools and Families: An Evaluation of the Hampshire Family Group Conferences in Education Project

Hampshire County Council Social Services Department was one of the first UK agencies to promote the use of Family Group Conferences (FGCs) as a means of involving wider family networks in the support of children and young people. They took their first referrals in 1994. The model originates in New Zealand and has now been subject to significant development and testing (Marsh and Crow, 1998). In 1998 a bid for education funding by the Principal Welfare Officer allowed the setting up of 'Education FGCs' to be developed. The Conferences try to help young people experiencing some difficulty in school, but as this report will show there are often family issues and welfare concerns as well. The report evaluates the work of the Education FGC project from its first implementation through the experience of the young people many months after their FGC. (excerpt)

Youth Justice Board for England and Wales. Summary of the national evaluation of the Restorative Justice in Schools Programme

In May 2000, the Youth Justice Board for England and Wales launched a pilot initiative in two schools in the London borough of Lambeth using restorative justice conferences to tackle exclusions, truancy, bullying and other forms of anti-social behaviour. Following early signs of promise, in April 2001, the Board gained three years, funding under the Treasury's Invest to Save scheme to extend the programme to the borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, and two other London boroughs, which subsequently withdrew from the scheme. (excerpt)