“It’s relationships over rules”: An Examination of the Tenets of School-Based Restorative Justice

Abstract

As public institutions, schools are environments that provide socialization and opportunities for civic engagement, in addition to environments of academic learning. The understanding of the holistic nature of schooling has contributed to the proliferation of school-based approaches intended to promote student well-being and improve the school environment. Recently, school districts across the U.S. have implemented school-based restorative justice (SBRJ), or a school-wide approach to build student relationships and school community for all students and respond to student conflict for a smaller proportion of students. However, there is disagreement about the definition and scope of SBRJ. This study examined this gap in understanding by addressing the question, through qualitative methods, what is school-based restorative justice? Secondarily, the qualitative data were used to generate items that can be used in future research to quantitatively assess SBRJ processes (an SBRJ quality indicators tool) and restorative climate. I conducted 27 qualitative interviews and one four-student focus group, resulting in 31 participants. The sample was comprised of 10 students, 10 teachers, two administrators, three SBRJ coordinators, one SBRJ trainer/consultant, and five researchers/consultants. I used inductive thematic analysis to analyze the qualitative data. Participants, across school level and role, suggested that school-based restorative justice is a set of beliefs, a way of being, and a set of processes which center building, maintaining, and repairing relationships in the school community. The findings revealed that SBRJ and social emotional learning (SEL), or the development of emotion regulation and social skills, are interdependent processes that can be implemented in a multi-tiered system of support framework. To be a restorative school, participants shared that racial and gender equity must be centered in the relationship building, maintaining, and repairing processes. This study confirmed prior research which highlights that SBRJ is a way of being which centers relationship building and acknowledges students and staff are holistic beings who deserved to be treated with care. This study, combined with prior studies on school climate, highlight the importance of system-wide school reform efforts, rather than individualized approaches which aim to improve a student’s behavior.