Restorative Practices
NTPS is deepening its application of Restorative Practices, which is a science that studies how to build social capital and achieve discipline through participatory learning and decision-making. While Restorative Practices does not eliminate traditional or exclusionary discipline, it does flip the script on traditional behavior management by promoting the power of relationship and community building, rather than the power of sanctions as a motivator. Restorative Practices provide a framework for responding to challenging behavior through authentic dialogue, self-reflection, empathy, accountability, and limit-setting.
The fundamental hypothesis of Restorative Practices is that human beings are happier, more cooperative and productive, and more likely to make positive changes in their behavior when those in positions of authority do things with them, rather than to them or for them.
Restorative Practices have the potential to influence school climate and strengthen positive social connections between students and staff. The main goals are:
- Accountability: Restorative Practices provides opportunities for the people who have done harm to be accountable to those they have harmed and repair the harm they caused.
- Community Safety: Restorative Practices recognizes the need to keep the community safe by building relationships and encouraging the community to take responsibility for the well-being of all its members.
- Competency Development: Restorative Practices seeks to increase the cognitive, emotional and interpersonal skills of those who have harmed others, address underlying factors that lead students to engage in maladaptive behavior, and leverage the strengths of every member of the community.
Restorative Centers
Each of our high schools has a Restorative Center. It is a physical space on campus where trained Student Advocates engage with students using Restorative Practices. It is designed to be open the majority of the school day and is overseen by a trained Staff Facilitator. The Restorative Center allows for discipline that is reparative, inclusive, and balanced, that emphasizes reparation to the community while promoting accountability and personal growth. Not every discipline situation is appropriate to be handled by Student Advocates in the Restorative Center. School administrators, with input that includes the Student Advocates and the Facilitator, have discretion about how and when students are referred to the Restorative Center.