Date of Award

Spring 2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Committee Chair

Bruce Boyles

Abstract

This study examined the use of restorative practices in one school district. As examined in this study, restorative practices are defined as processes that precede wrongdoing in an attempt to prevent discipline offenses from occurring and processes used to respond once an offense has occurred. The purpose of the study was to examine teacher perceptions of restorative practice implementation and to examine the impacts of the implementation of restorative practices in a small, rural district. Gaining insight into successful implementation practices will assist districts that intend to implement restorative practices as an alternative to suspension. Further, knowledge gained from this study equipped the district of focus with needed information to move forward with additional restorative practice initiatives. Study results provided data allowing the district to examine the impact of restorative practice implementation. Teacher perceptions of the implementation of restorative practices revealed strong district implementation with high teacher confidence levels, high levels of leadership support, and positive perceptions of the impact on student behavior and the culture/climate of district schools. In addition, district data were examined, including attendance and discipline data. Data revealed multiple positive impacts of restorative practice implementation including a statistically significant change in overall attendance rate, a decrease in the number of days of instruction lost due to suspension, decreased numbers of out-of-school suspensions, and a decrease in the number of repeat offenders. The study revealed strong district implementation of restorative practices with multiple positive results.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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