• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

SEL Center

Center to Improve Social and Emotional Learning and School Safety

  • Peer Collaboratives
    • Transforming Kindergarten
    • Data for Truth and Action
    • Comprehensive School Safety
    • Alignment, Coherence, and Strategic Communication
  • State Profiles
  • Resources
  • News
  • Events
  • About
    • Our Work
    • Our Team
    • Contact Us

Resources

The Toolkit Before the Toolkit: Centering Adaptive and Relational Elements of Restorative Practices for Implementation Success

Lauren Trout; Center to Improve Social and Emotional Learning and School Safety

  • View this resource

Accompanying Resources:

  • Brief: A Reflective Process for Working Through Complex Restorative Practice Dilemmas in Schools
  • Audiocast: Centering Adaptive and Relational Elements of Restorative Practices as Tools for Implementation Success
  • Audiocast: Restorative Practitioners Panel

Restorative practices hold significant promise for school transformation. However, because of the widespread popularity of their restorative justice component, many educators mistakenly assume that restorative practices are merely responsive, focused on repairing harm to relationships as an alternative to traditional disciplinary approaches that focus on punitive responses to rule infractions.

On the contrary, restorative practices are characterized by proactive relationships, connection, and community transformation. As such, effective implementation of restorative practices rests not merely on getting their technical aspects right, but far more on the often overlooked adaptive and relational elements that are necessary to achieve authentic, meaningful, and sustainable implementation.

By highlighting the mindsets, values, social capital, and structural supports that bind and hold together restorative practices, this guide provides educators, school leaders, and district administrators with the strategies, tools, and structural supports they need to successfully implement restorative practices and transform their schools into strong communities with meaningful relationships, a sense of authentic belonging, and equitable whole-person outcomes.

Restorative Practices Guide

Published

March 2, 2022

Topic

Alignment and Coherence Race & Equity School Safety Sustainable Implementation

Category

Professional Learning & Practice

Audience

Educators & Caregivers Local Leaders

Resource Type

Actionable Tools/Guides

Back to Resources

Footer

Center to Improve Social and Emotional Learning and School Safety
  • Peer Collaboratives
    • Transforming Kindergarten
    • Data for Truth and Action
    • Comprehensive School Safety
    • Alignment, Coherence, and Strategic Communication
  • State Profiles
  • Resources
  • News
  • Events
  • About
    • Our Work
    • Our Team
    • Contact Us

Learn about new SEL & School Safety Resources

Receive our newsletter with the latest SEL & School Safety news, opportunities, and resources

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

SEL Center is a project of WestEd. WestEd is a nonpartisan, nonprofit research, development, and service agency that partners with education and other communities to promote excellence, achieve equity, and improve learning for children and adults. Visit WestEd.org.

This website and the resources it contains are provided for the user’s convenience. The inclusion of these materials is not intended to reflect its importance, nor is it intended to endorse any views expressed, or products or services offered. These materials may contain the views and recommendations of various subject matter experts as well as hypertext links, contact addresses and websites to information created and maintained by other public and private organizations. The opinions expressed in any of these materials do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of the U.S. Department of Education. The U.S. Department of Education does not control or guarantee the accuracy, relevance, timeliness, or completeness of any outside information included in these materials.

This site and its contents copyright © 2023 WestEd. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Disclaimer