Educators are increasingly interested in reducing reliance on exclusionary disciplinary actions such as expulsion and suspension, which studies have shown increase students’ likelihood of dropping out of school and becoming involved in the criminal justice system.

Accordingly, a number of schools are using restorative justice as an approach to address offending behavior by focusing on repairing harm and restoring relationships, rather than just punishing the offending student.

The WestEd Justice & Prevention Research Center authored a series of reports on restorative justice to examine why many schools are exploring restorative justice, what the research behind it has to say, and how exactly it is being practiced in school settings.

Read the R&D Alert article to learn about the findings from WestEd’s reports.