Michigan State University College of Education scholars are leading a research-practice partnership to sustainably implement restorative practices for behavior issues in K-12 schools.
The partnership examines alternative approaches, such as community building and conflict resolution, in comparison to exclusionary approaches for student discipline (i.e., suspension or expulsion).
“Restorative practices build community and relationships between students and between teachers and students to prevent misbehavior from occurring within schools,” said Assistant Professor Tasmin Dhaliwal. She is one of three scholars serving as co-principal investigator. “[They also] increase the amount of connections students and teachers have to each other. When misbehavior does arise, the approach emphasizes non-punitive methods. It focuses on repairing harm and repairing the relationship that was fractured because of misbehavior and integrating students back into the school community.”
Restorative practices can include:
- Proactive approaches, such as circles, to build relationships and community
- Responsive approaches, such as restorative conferences, which brings together multiple parties in a conflict or who experienced an incident to address and repair harm
“We have to ask ourselves: What is suspension or expulsion teaching a student? It’s not providing a good lesson. We ought to be nurturing them, teaching them,” said Kaitlin Anderson, fellow co-principal investigator. Anderson is a researcher at the American Institutes for Research. From 2017-2019, she was a post-doctoral researcher at MSU’s Education Policy Innovation Collaborative.
YEAR ONE DATA
At the end of year one of the partnership, most leaders and educators were trained in restorative practices. Yet, there were requests for more ongoing support.
In 2017, Michigan passed a law for schools to consider restorative practices before suspending a student. The project’s scholars have found educators are implementing the practices, albeit less frequently than recommended by an International Institute of Restorative Practices model.
Students surveyed agreed the educators were using the practices — but weren’t as likely to agree the practices were impactful.
Research over the project will further examine the effects of implementation and how implementation can be sustained in the school ecosystem. The researchers seek to answer questions such as: What challenges preclude educators from using restorative practices? How do outcomes differ in places where educators overcome such challenges and have better implementation fidelity?
“We know from other studies that removing ‘disruptive’ students from the classroom doesn’t clearly lead to tangible gains or benefits for their peers,” said MSU Assistant Professor Jerome Graham, who is also a co-principal investigator. “We also know suspensions and expulsions have a really detrimental effect on those punished, like with higher dropout rates or higher likelihood to be sent to jail or prison,” said Graham. “The consequences of not doing something different for our students are dire.”
RESTRUCTURING SCHOOLS
The current work expands on a Michigan Applied Public Policy Research grant, led by Graham. That grant focused on trying to understand schools as they currently exist with disciplinary practices. The current research-practice partnership continues the exploratory work while also introducing new practices.
“This is not just a response to misbehavior or a discipline intervention,” said Graham. “It’s about supporting students’ social-emotional well-being and growth. This is about restructuring schooling in ways that develop skills in students to resolve conflict in more positive ways.”
The work is funded through a three-year grant from the Steelcase Foundation, led by Dhaliwal, which began in 2022. In 2023, the scholars received a multi-year, $250,000 grant to continue the work through 2026.
“As scholars, we often think of publishing papers, which is great, but it also often has limited reach,” Graham added. “This research-practice partnership is working directly with schools, with students. This will have an actionable impact. This is why I am an educator. This is why I am a researcher.”
Dhaliwal and Graham are faculty in the MSU Department of Educational Administration.