Can restorative justice bring peace to the schoolyard?

When students return to school after receiving treatment for drug or alcohol addictions, they often face new pressures and are convinced to again use substances. At Heartland High in Columbus, Ohio, a small class size, peer support, and access to a recovery coach help students stay sober.

In the last decade, collaborations between non-profit student-support organizations and public schools have fostered a model called "Last-Chance Schools" with remarkable success. The program targets root causes for dropping out, including economic disadvantages, mental health challenges, violence, and unstable home lives. As several Boston charter schools demonstrate, use of social-emotional learning, conflict mediation instead of zero-tolerance discipline, and flexible curricula has helped boost graduation and college acceptance rates while lowering suspensions.

A program in Baltimore bring youths together with volunteer second “families” to help guide them through turbulent times.

In response to growing political polarization and controversial policies on local NYC school councils, grassroots community groups such as "the Aunties" have mobilized parent engagement through organized protests, canvassing and digital activism. Their efforts have notably raised community awareness, significantly increased parent participation at public council meetings, and compelled influential groups to reconsider key candidate endorsements.

Chicago public schools are changing how they approach discipline to prevent over-policing and the school-to-prison pipeline. Instead of automatic suspensions and out-of-school punishment, they’re focusing on restorative practices.

Theodore Roosevelt Highschool in Des Moines, Iowa, transitioned from employing armed school resource officers to a restorative practices team to prevent and mediate violence with proactive support instead of immediate punishment.

In an effort to eliminate suspensions that disproportionately affect Black and brown students, Dallas Independent School District created on-campus reset centers where staff mediate conflicts between students and help them reflect on their behavior. Disciplinary action has declined since the centers were implemented, and the percentage of students being repeatedly disciplined fell from 28 percent to 13 percent.

Restorative discipline in classrooms is allowing students to focus on building relationships and repairing harm instead of suffering punishments. The practice prioritizes communication in an effort to emphasize community as well as reduce suspensions. The technique has had proven success in other schools, resulting in dramatic decreases in safety offenses.

Amy Edelstein thought that if high school students knew how to meditate they could learn how to focus, stay on track, and regulate negative self-talk. They could become better. So, in 2014 she started the Inner Strength Foundation to provide public schools with research-backed mindfulness curriculum. The curriculum has become a 12-week program, with instructors visiting classrooms in 19 schools across the city once a week.

A nonprofit in Seattle is identifying youth between the ages of 16 to 24 who are out of school and work and reconnecting them with the public education system. Two-thirds of students enrolled in the program have gone on to pursue college.