Restorative Practices

Educators across the nation recognize the importance of fostering positive, healthy school climates and helping students learn from their mistakes. Increasingly, they are partnering with parents, students, district officials, community organizations, and policymakers to move away from harmful and counter-productive zero-tolerance discipline policies and toward proven restorative approaches to addressing conflict in schools. Restorative practices is an emerging social science that studies how to strengthen relationships between individuals as well as social connections within communities. Restorative justice also promotes a positive, orderly school environment. Students and all members of the school community can learn and practice self-discipline, empathy, and accountability.