Education: “No More Detention: Restorative Justice as a Path to Educational Equity”
By Michelle Amponsah
CAMBRIDGE, M.A. — I attended one of the largest public school districts in New York State. With over 2200 high school students, administrators were concerned with controlling behavior. In November of 2021, my school introduced an extension to the number of days a student could be subjected to OSS (out of school suspension), tripling the limit from 10 days to 30 days for severe violations.
Since then I have seen firsthand the adverse effects of this policy on high school students. I worked with a boy who was not allowed to come back to school or work towards his diploma after a physical altercation.
But this is just a single story: so many students fall victim to the same punitive measures my high school implemented. “Zero tolerance” policies and prolonged suspensions bar students from participating in their school community. Instead of striving towards educational equity, schools choose to isolate “bad apples” from school altogether.
According to a 2016 brief by the Center for Public Education, “discipline policies that make heavy use of out-of- school suspensions can place students at risk of academic failure students with multiple suspensions have a higher likelihood of dropping out, and can even lead to worse outcomes — substance abuse and delinquency in the community (Losen et al., 2015).” In the wake of COVID-19 and the massive disconnect students feel from their school community, student delinquency is at an all time high, and punitive measures only exacerbate the issue.
Research has also indicated another trend: the prisonization of schools and criminalization of students. Take the requirement of student identification badges to “facilitate immediate recognition and classification of rule-breakers” and and to “deter defiance and delinquency” (Beger, 2002; Brooks, Schiraldi, and Ziedenberg, 1999), the implementation of uniforms, and the fact that “surveillance and security programs are found in at least 55 percent of schools and in nearly all urban schools” (Beger, 2002; Devoe et al., 2005). In addition, security resource officers (SROs) continue to be the “fastest growing segment of law enforcement officers” (Beger, 2002).
Schools are mirroring the carceral system, and as a result, the ills of the carceral system–violence, unrest, and apathy–are infecting our schools.
So what is restorative justice, and what does it look like? While most educators can understand the benefit of restorative justice in building community in schools, there is no consensus on the proper implementation of restorative justice techniques. Anne Gregory of Rutgers University and Katherine Evans of Eastern Mennonite University write that “Responsive Restorative Justice in Education (RJE) practices build accountability, promote social-emotional growth, and support positive behaviors in schools.”
Restorative justice implementation in schools requires “ongoing professional development, including coaching, peer mentoring, and professional learning communities” so that teachers feel adequately equipped in the transition from simply punitive measures. Gregory and Evans caution against “train and hope” models of implementation, “in which staff members are provided with one or two days of training with virtually no follow-up, coaching, or demonstration.” This one-and-done approach to restorative justice training makes teachers feel like they are floundering; they lack the tools needed to respond when a situation presents itself.
Restorative justice implementation also fails when schools use it to improve their discipline data, rather than actually serving their stakeholders. They may stop suspending students, but fail to deal with the root causes of behavior issues, or stop reporting suspension data altogether.
Shane Safir outlines four steps for implementing restorative justice with “fidelity” in Education Week, which includes sharing language for students, parents, and teachers to understand what is expected of all members of the school community, making participating in the community a requirement, explicitly teaching the values of the community, and promoting accountability.
That isn’t to say that those who intentionally harm their peers should go unpunished. Restorative justice is ultimately not an alternative to punishment, but an opportunity for students to reflect on how their actions affect others in their community. The goal is to keep students in school, not out of it. The goal is reflection. Together, we must work towards “a more inclusive and constructive learning environment.”
This Op-Ed was written by Michelle Amponsah, Harvard’26, for Policy for the People Journal on Harvard’s Global Day of Service: August 29, 2022.
