5.5 Whole School Implementation

While the previous topics provided learning activities to support social and emotional development in the classroom, the implementation of restorative practices requires commitment and focus school-wide. Community building outside the classroom, when consistently implemented, will strengthen school culture and reduce the instance of disciplinary issues requiring a response.

schoolwide implementation

When restorative practices are introduced to the entire school, it is important for school leadership to identify the areas of greatest need, and the preferred outcomes. Some districts and/or schools with sufficient resources will establish a school site implementation team(s) to do the work of collecting school climate data, and establishing a discipline baseline. If you school or district does not have these resources, chances are that you and the educators you work with will be part of the front line in the assessment and strategic planning processes. It is important to provide ongoing professional development to all educators, not just the school leadership, in restorative practices. Systems of support must be put in place that sustain the implementation and allow for the measurement of outcomes so that staff can clearly see what benefits have been achieved, and what work is yet to be done to further facilitate implementation.

If the preferred outcomes from the adoption of restorative practices have not been stated in writing, ask for them. Review both the school and community preferred outcomes, and the tools to be used for the ongoing checks on progress. The more you understand them, the more effective you will be in supporting the initiative.

Examine the school policy on restorative practices. If it is not separate, but included instead in the overall policy on student discipline, look for statements that relate to how members of the school community will:

  1. Have an opportunity to be heard
  2. Understand the greater impact of one’s actions
  3. Learn to take responsibility
  4. Repair the harm one’s actions may have caused
  5. Recognize one’s role in maintaining a safe school environment
  6. Build upon and expand on personal relationships in the school community
  7. Recognize one’s role as a positive contributing member of the school community

Also look for any statements related to practices that help to prevent harm and conflict by building and supporting a sense of belonging, safety, and social and emotional responsibility in the school community. Consider the work you have done to this point in this course, and relate what you have learned to what your school or district policy states. Reflect on what you believed about restorative processes when you began this course, versus what you believe now.


Assignment:

It is time to complete your final diary for the course. If less than 30 days have passed since your last diary entry, you can repeat what you documented in the previous diary, but provide whatever new perspectives or insights you may have on what you previously submitted. Download and fill out your personal Restorative Practices Diary, detailing any strategies, activities or events that you are or have been a participant in, or have observed to this point in time that relate to restorative practices. As before, if your school does not have a restorative practices policy, interpret any disciplinary or community-building activities you have observed in the context of the restorative processes presented in this course. Once you have completed the diary entry, upload a copy using the tool provided below. Create a one- or two-paragraph posting in the Course Discussion Forum summarizing your restorative practices experiences and observations. Include a brief description of how your observations have changed or been informed by events you have witnessed or been a part of, and what you have learned from these observations while working through this course.

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