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Restorative Justice Framework
Restorative Justice is a philosophy grounded in the belief that positive, healthy relationships help us thrive. When we do things that impact others and create harm to those relationships, it is our individual and collective responsibility to make things right.
Restorative Practices are the skills and processes that help us build, maintain, and repair relationships to form healthy, supportive & inclusive communities.
Restorative Practices
Restorative practices are used at Tier I for prevention and at Tiers II and III for intervention measures to help schools:
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Build relationships with and empower community members to take responsibility for the well-being of others
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Prevent or deal with conflict before it escalates
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Address underlying factors that lead youth to engage in inappropriate behavior
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Increase the pro-social skills of those who have harmed others
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Build resiliency both in students who have committed harm and in those who have been harmed
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Provide students with the opportunity to be accountable to those they have harmed and enable them to repair the harm to the extent possible.
Restorative Inquiry
When used as an intervention measure, a restorative approach to discipline changes the fundamental questions that are asked when a behavioral incident occurs. Instead of asking who is to blame and how those engaged in the misbehavior will be punished, a restorative approach asks five key questions:
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What happened?
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Who was affected/impacted?
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What can be done to make things better?
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What will keep things better?
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How can others support you?
Effective and consistent use of restorative practices can reduce disciplinary referrals, lower dropout/pushout rates, elevate school climate measures, increase attendance, and promote greater academic achievement. For these reasons and more, PPS is committed to expanding restorative practices throughout the district and to helping educators, students, and families learn to implement them with fidelity.
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
- Martin Luther King Jr
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RJ Team
