Restorative Practice

A Qualitative Research Project

Restorative Practice is a framework and a practice that “has the potential to mend and build relationships, repair harm, and right the wrongs in our public schools.”

Gaye Lang, Ph.D. (2017)

State Director for Restorative Practices at the Texas Education Agency

Why Do We Need Restorative Practice in Schools?

“And, how are the children?”

Shakara pulled down by Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott in Spring Valley High.

  • -75% of schools have adopted ZTPP

    -ZTPP Examples:

    • Suspension

    • Expulsion

    • Cameras

    • Metal Detectors

    (Smith, 2015)

  • -Suspension or Expulsion:

    • African American Students are 5x more likely to be suspended or expelled

    • Latinx Students are 2x more likely to be suspended or expelled

    • 97% of Disciplinary Actions were at School Official’s Discretion

    (Fabelo et al., 2011; Texas Appleseed, 2009)

“When a student was suspended or expelled for a discretionary discipline action, this tripled the likelihood of juvenile justice system contact in the following school year.”
— Texas Appleseed

A 5-Year Collaboration

2018-2022

  • US Department of Education

  • Austin Independent School District

  • University of Texas at Austin

  • American Institutes for Research

The Plan

Employ and train 7 Restorative Practice Trainers (RP Trainers) to support schools to reduce disparities in exclusionary discipline by:

  • Adopting Restorative Practice (RP) school-wide

  • Training Teachers in Restorative Framework and Practice

Meet The Team

  • -Lead Researcher

    • Planned, designed, & managed the research project end-to-end (e.g., proposal, recruitment, timeline, logistics, etc.)

    -Grant Administrator

    • Managed $337,518 grant budget

    -Coach & Mentor

    • Coached and mentored Graduate Research Assistants on research methodologies & process

  • -Lori, Faculty, Co-Researcher

    -Mia, Graduate Research Assistant

    -June, Graduate Research Assistant

    -Kayla, Graduate Research Assistant

    -Audrey, Grants and Contracts Specialist

  • -Alma, Grant Director

    -Simone, Grant Coordinator

  • -7 RP Trainers

    -Alma, Grant Director

    -Simone, Grant Coordinator

Research Process: The Launch

  • Humanity-Centered Researcher

    -Participants are Knowledge Producers

    -Work With & Alongside Participants

    -Perspectives: Critical, Culturally Responsive, Restorative, Sociocultural

  • Ethical Practices

    -Research is Voluntary

    -Right to Withdraw at Anytime

    -Ask Permission to Observe & Interview

    -Maintain Confidentiality

    -Use Participants’ Reporting Verbatim

    -Maintain Transparency

  • Research Timeline

    -2018-2022:

    • Summer 2018: Hire RP Trainers & Training

    • Fall 2018: Institutional Review Board

    • Spring-Fall 2019: Data Collection: Bi-weekly PD & School Campuses; Data Reporting

    • Spring-Fall 2020: Data Collection via Zoom: Interviews; Data Reporting

    • Spring-Fall 2021: Data Collection via Zoom: Interviews; Data Reporting

    • Spring-Summer 2022: Data Reporting & Submit Research Manuscript for Publication

  • Partnership Meeting: UT-Austin & AISD

    -Build Community

    -Objectives:

    • “Capture the human experience”

    • Observe 7 RP Trainers supporting school-wide Restorative Practice adoption and implementation

    -Research Questions:

    • What are RP Trainers’ lived-experiences as change agents?

    • What conditions enable RP Trainers’ to implement Restorative Practice in schools?

  • Research Design

    -Literature Review

    -Qualitative Research

    -Ethnographic Data Collection Methods:

    • Contextual Inquiry

    • One-on-one Interviews

    • Focus Group Interviews

    • End-of-the-Year Interviews

  • Institutional Review Board (IRB)

    -Write Research Proposal

    -Obtain IRB Approval

  • Informed Consent

    -Meet with Participants

    • Provide Research Overview

    -Explain Consent Forms

    • Participation is Voluntary

    -Obtain Participants’ Consent

Research Process: Data Collection, Analysis, & Synthesis

  • Molly + Lori + Mia + June

    Context #1: Bi-weekly Professional Development Sessions

    Methods:

    • Contextual Inquiry

    • Observe

    • Write Field Notes

    • Reflect with Team

  • Molly

    Context #2: 3 RPTs + 6 Elementary School Campuses

    Methods:

    • Contextual Inquiry

    • Observe

    • Write Field Notes

    • Audio record 1:1 Interviews

    • Reflect with Team

  • Lori

    Context #3: 4 RPTs + 4 Middle School Campuses

    Methods:

    • Contextual Inquiry

    • Observe

    • Write Field Notes

    • Audio record 1:1 Interviews

    • Reflect with Team

  • Research Challenge

    -Attend to the Human Beings First

    -Be Flexible, Be Creative

    -Adapt Research to the Socio-Political Context

    -Resume Research via Zoom

  • Data Analysis & Synthesis

    -Transcribe Audio Transcripts

    -Use ATLAS.Ti to Code the Data

    -Locate Patterns in the Data (e.g., field notes, transcriptions, etc.)

    -Reflect with Team

Research Outcome

  • -Advocacy Labor

    -Emotional Labor

    -Intellectual Labor

    -Physical Labor

    “… you start off facing hardcore resistance from people where you have doors being slammed on your face, or you have people actively trying to sabotage and discredit you” (Marie, RP Trainer, 2021)

  • -Culturally Responsive Framework

    -Coaching Partners

    -Restorative Circles

    “… having the [bi-weekly] circles to where we can just receive the benefit of the restorative approach ourselves is really impactful…to have that space where we can be vulnerable, where we can share, we can articulate whatever’s going on for us, have that check-in, have that connection, have that trust build within our team, to share deeply whatever it is, is so important.” (Reyna, RP Trainer, 2019)

Appendix

    • What brings you into restorative practices? Why is this work important to you?

    • How might you define or describe restorative practices?

    • How have you honored the Indigenous roots in restorative circles throughout your work?

    • How has your understanding of building relationships and trust evolved since you began the RP Trainer position?

    • What successes / challenges have you faced so far?

    • What barriers on campus limit your effectiveness? What campus supports would be helpful but currently are not available?

    • What personal changes have you had to make in order to accomplish your work as an RP Trainer?

    • If you could change anything on campus in order to make your job as a RP Trainer more manageable, what would it be?

    • If you could change anything in terms of supports in order to make your job as a RP Trainer more manageable, what would it be?

    • What is one of the things you have done so far as a RP Trainer that you are most proud of?

    • You are about 4 years into your work implementing whole-school Restorative Practices on your campus. How is it going? What were some successes / challenges you encountered?

    • What conditions / factors enabled your work?

    • What conditions / factors prevented your work?

    • In the beginning, you mentioned various support structures that really helped you with this work such as the Bi-weekly PD and your peer group. Is that still true for you? Has anything changed since? What do you find yourself needing (e.g., internal, external resources)?

    • What supports would be helpful but currently not available (eg. specific types of support, training, etc.)?

    • Please share your experiences implementing whole-school Restorative Practices during the pandemic. What was that like? What were some of your adjustments / accommodations? What were some of the successes / challenges?

    • You are about 4 years into this work, from your perspective, do you think Restorative Practice is sustainable? Why or why not? What do we need to do to maintain it?

    • What impacts do you feel you have made on your campus(es)?

Thank You!

I hope you enjoyed reading my case study.

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