Positive Discipline Student engagement with restorative practice models.

Positive Discipline Student engagement with restorative practice models

Georgene Fountain Montgomery County Public Schools Maryland ES Music Educator

Baltimore City Community College - EnglishTuskegee University - SociologyTuskegee University - Special EdIndiana University School of Music

Make practical sense of disparities in suspensions

Student engagement alternatives to suspension

Improve education organizations

Make practical sense of disproportionate suspensions

Seminal work on mass incarceration

Michelle Alexander

Go Michelle Alexander!

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Make practical sense of disparities in suspensions

“What is your organization doing about the mass incarceration of 2.3 million

Americans?”

-Michelle Alexander

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Make practical sense of disparities in suspensions

MSEA Maryland State Department of Education: Feb 2012

Report on Disparities in Out of School Suspensions & In-school Arrests

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Make practical sense of disparities in suspensions

Male students of color & disabled students

Disproportionally higher suspension ratesDisproportionally higher in-school arrest rates

5 minute ACTIVITY

What are some causal factors for disparities in suspensions? What inspires you to stop the disparities?

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Make practical sense of disparities in suspensions

“an act more as a perpetuator of racial order than an objective

arbiter of infraction and penalty.”

“adult perceptions of a student’s appearance, neighborhood, family,

social background”

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Make practical sense of disparities in suspensions

“Instead of schools being a pipeline to opportunity, schools are feeding our

prisons.”

-Michelle AlexanderRethinking Schools, Vol. 26, No. 22, 2011-12

Marian Wright Edelman

Academic difficultiesTruancyActing outMental Health ConsequencesDropping OutPushed OutPrison

Teachers,

Reduce disparities in school

discipline NOW!

Student engagement: Decrease discipline programs

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Implement Restorative Practices

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Student engagement: Decrease discipline programs

The race and social background of the doer was

more important than the incident

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Student engagement: Decrease discipline programs

“Restorative Practices:Fostering Healthy Relationships & Promoting Positive Discipline

in SchoolsA Guide for Educators”

National Opportunity to Learn Campaign

Advancement ProjectAFTNEA

NEA / AFT PractitionersResearchers

Defines restorative practiceWhy it fosters healthy school relationshipsHow it can be a usefulModels, steps for school-wide implementationSelf-reflection for practitioners

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Student engagement: Decrease discipline programs

San Francisco Unified School District:

Relationships are central to building communityEnsure everyone is valued, everyone is heardEmphasizing doing things “with,” not “to” or “for”

Focus on the harm done rather than only rule-breakingEngage in collaborative problem solvingEnhance responsibility and empower change and growth

Least formal tool Affective Statements

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Student engagement: Decrease discipline programs

Douglas County School District, Castle Rock, CO:

"Affective" teacher communicates how the student's behavior makes them feel.

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Student engagement: Decrease discipline programs

For example:

“I feel frustrated when people are talking when I am trying to teach. I get distracted and lose my train of thought. It makes me feel like the time I spent preparing was wasted and is not appreciated.”

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Student engagement: Decrease discipline programs

Not intended to shame, vent personal stressors, but to develop empathy, establish boundaries and provide authentic observation.”

Journey Within

Use affective questions

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Student engagement: Decrease discipline programs

For the person causing the incident:

1. What happened?

2. What were you thinking of at the time?

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Student engagement: Decrease discipline programs

3. What have you thought about since?

4. Who has been affected by what you have done? In what way?

5. What do you need to do to make things right?

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Student engagement: Decrease discipline programs

For the person affected by the incident:

1. What did you think when you realized what had happened?

2. What impact has the incident had on you and others?

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Student engagement: Decrease discipline programs

3. What has been the hardest thing for you?

4. What do you think needs to happen to make things right?

5 minute ACTIVITY

Brainstorm then decide on a fictitious incident/ scenario where you would use Restorative Questions

Improve education organizations

School to Prison PipelineImprove education organizations

NEA AdvocacyExecutive and Legislative Branches

NEA partners with…

AFT Council of State GovernmentsAdvancement Project National Opportunity to Learn Campaign

NEA 2013

New Business Item 22

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Improve education organizations

“NEA shall disseminate to state and local affiliates best practices and school discipline policy recommendations to eradicate what is metaphorically called the “school-to-prison-pipeline”…

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Improve education organizations

“…whereby school districts issue out-of-school suspensions for non-violent and non-dangerous conduct, not solely to, but in particularly higher numbers to, male students of color.”

-Georgene Fountain (MD) author-Julius Thomas (CA) seconded

NEA 2014

Discipline policy change

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Improve education organizations

Resolutions Statement on discipline: b-71

“The association believes that policies promoting educational processes which emphasize prevention, effective interventions, and rehabilitation…”

“…will decrease the use of out-of-school suspensions, expulsions, in-school arrests, and the practice that is commonly called the “school-to-prison pipeline” that can lead to future incarcerations.”

5 minute ACTIVITY

What you can do to increase awarenesswithin your organizations?

Every male of color will be in prison, on parole or on probation at some point in their life if mass incarceration does not stop.-Sentencing Project

“Are ya’ through?!”

Thank You!Working for a better world