Restorative Practices

Overview

Restorative practices are approaches to proactively build positive school culture and relationships while holding students accountable for disruptive behaviors and providing students an opportunity to repair harm and restore positive relationships. Restorative practitioners have a mindset of spending 80% of the time being proactive, using affective statements, affective questions, and small impromptu conversations with students. Twenty percent of the time is spent on responding to student's behaviors using circles and formal conferences, which take time and planning. Engaging in restorative practices results in fewer disruptive behaviors, suspensions, and expulsions which allows more time for educators and students to focus on in-school learning.

Restorative practices:

  1. Builds healthy relationships between educators and students
  2. Reduces, prevents, and improves harmful behavior
  3. Repairs harm and restores positive relationships
  4. Resolves conflict and holds individuals/groups accountable
  5. Addresses and discusses the needs of the school community

Utah State Board of Education Policy, Law and Professional Practices

Student Discipline: Prosocial Connections

When children fail to succeed, the whole community is harmed. Keeping students engaged in the classroom is fundamental to academic success. The use of punitive discipline practices that rely on suspension, expulsion, and other harsh consequences-often applied disproportionately to minority students-undermine the goal of success for all.

Positive School Discipline is a comprehensive approach that uses discipline to teach rather than punish and, as a result, helps students succeed and thrive in school. Schools that take this approach promote positive student behavior while preventing negative and risky behaviors.

Positive School Discipline is integrated into the policies, programs, and practices of a school and is applied system-wide-in the classroom, school, and community-to create a safe, supportive learning environment for all students.

Least Restrictive Behavioral Interventions (LRBI)

Least Restrictive Behavioral Interventions provides guidance and information in creating successful behavioral systems and supports for both general and special education students. The manual covers additional resources and provides specific examples or step-by-step instructions for designing and implementing particular behavioral supports across multiple levels of both school systems and students' needs. Supportive school discipline is a systemic constellation of programs and practices that promote positive behaviors while preventing negative or risky behaviors.

Training

Least Restrictive Behavioral Interventions (LRBI) Technical Assistance (TA) Manual
Utah State Board of Education Special Education Behavior

Regulation

Utah Office of Administrative Rules

R277-609: Standards for Local Education Agency (LEA) Discipline Plans and Emergency Safety Interventions

R277-613: LEA Bullying, Cyber-bullying, Hazing and Harassment Policies and Training

Utah State Legislature

Title 53E-3-S401: Powers of State Board of Education, Adoption of Rules, Enforcement, Attorney

Title 53E-3-S402: Acceptance of Gifts, Endowments, Devises, and Bequests

Title 53E-3-S509: Gang Prevention and Intervention Policies

Title 53G-8-S202: Public School Discipline Policies, Basis of the Policies, Enforcement

Title 53G-8-S702: School Resource Officer Training, Curriculum