Introduction to Restorative Practices

Traditionally, schools have relied on a punitive response to wrongdoing by attempting to extinguish poor behavior by punishment. Rather than making communities inside and outside school safer, there exists a growing consensus among educators, criminologists, and medical professionals that punitive discipline in fact increases the misbehaviors and violence that zero tolerance policies were intended to curb. Restorative justice is an approach to justice that seeks to repair harm by providing an opportunity for those harmed and those who take responsibility for the harm to communicate about and address their needs in the aftermath of a crime. The course is designed for K-12 teachers, school leaders, principals, assistant principals, deans, counselors and other stakeholders with little to no previous knowledge of restorative justice and restorative practices. By the end of this course, participants will be familiar with the core values, understandings and practices of a restorative approach.