Over the years, the application of justice-oriented approaches such as restorative justice has been poorly implemented. The issue revolving around the school policy work adopted by the teachers is an example of a situation whereby innovations have not been implemented in American schools. Teachers are examples of street-level bureaucrats who are better situated in adopting justice-oriented innovation to ensure equal treatment for all the students involved. However, the application of these practices in numerous schools has stalled, especially in situations involving Black American students. The students are usually subjected to harsh and unfair treatment when it comes to punishments for various minor offenses. The policies adopted in the learning institutions tend to disregard the African American culture and enhance the prevalence of anti-blackness ideologies. Therefore, adopting restorative justice innovations by the teachers as street-level bureaucrats can help promote discipline among Black American students while still ensuring that they are treated equally to the other students.
Black students tend to experience various injustice treatment in schools, such as high suspensions and other inhumane acts. According to Lustick (2017), urban school discipline policies are associated with school disaffection, brutal punishment, and criminal justice involvement of the students belonging to the black community. There exists a persistent racial discipline persistent gap between whites and blacks which considerably contributes to the disparities in achievements. Disciple practices such as surveillance and suspensions tend disproportionately employed in urban schools in situations involving students of color (Dumas, 2016). The teachers and other stakeholders involved in the policy formulation recommend applying zero-tolerance approaches, increasing the expulsions and suspensions of Black students. The study conducted by Kirwan Institute in 2015 established that Black students accounted for 35% of the total suspensions recorded in a U.S. K-12 public school despite comprising only 18% of the entire population (Lustick, 2017). Thus, the discipline policies adopted by various learning institutions unfairly target African American students.
The implementation of restorative justice practices can enable the effective adoption of social justice-oriented approaches in learning institutions. Stakeholders in the education sector are increasingly discouraging the application of zero-tolerance policies and emphasizing the use of non-punitive alternatives, such as restorative practices, which advocate for repairing harm instead of punishing misbehaviors (Lustick, 2016). The restorative approach is based on the notion that utilizing reparation techniques are likely to be more beneficial to both the individuals involved the victims, and the community at large as compared to the use of punishments. The theory combines the conservative and libertarian definitions of discipline in Western society. The conservative explains that discipline is an attempt to enact control on the individuals for the wellbeing of the community. The libertarian perspective, on the other hand, tends to insist on the application of rehabilitation and compassion to change undesirable behaviors in various individuals (Lustick, 2017). Adopting restorative practices when disciplining the students enables the teachers to exact control of the community’s wellbeing while still rehabilitating the students to ensure they become better society members in the future.
Restorative justice-oriented innovations resonate with the positive discipline approaches that are increasingly advocated for in learning institutions. Lustick (2016) explains that the application of positive school discipline practices, compared to the zero-tolerance options, such as suspension and classroom removal, can effectively reduce the racially disproportionate representation of brown and black students in the outcomes of school disciplining processes. Positive discipline tends to champion the application of the educative responses when dealing with students’ misbehaviors instead of punitive approaches (Lustick, 2016). Positive discipline theory is based on the notion that students need to learn social-emotional skills similarly to the way they learn academic skills for holistic growth and development. Restorative justice-oriented innovations, an example of positive discipline models, advocate for creating a positive school climate and enhanced relationships between the teachers and the students as a way of significantly reducing conflict, thus minimizing the need for punishment.
The study conducted in the 2014-2015 school year involving three small schools in New York City indicated that the application of restorative practices significantly reduced the use of zero-tolerance punishments such as suspensions. The research aimed at identifying how restorative practices affected the overall suspension rates and the racial discipline gap in American schools (Lustick, 2017). The findings indicated that the use of justice-oriented innovation in the school reduced the number of students who had been subjected to harsh punishments such as punishments and expulsions. However, the study also established that there were issues regarding the application of the approach, which affected its ability to deal with the racial discipline gap. The restorative practices at the end reinforced the convectional ideologies of order in the schools. The failures can be attributed to the notions that the teachers and other policymakers had on the importance of punishments through exclusion and monitoring by surveillance in promoting order and safety in learning institutions (Lustick, 2017). Educating the educators and other stakeholders on the importance of adopting the restorative practices when dealing with misbehaviors is essential in reducing the prevalence of the traditional preconceptions on the relevance of maintaining order through exclusions and surveillance.
Thus, applying the restorative justice approaches by teachers as street-level bureaucrats can ensure that the Black students are disciplined and reduce the racial discipline gap in American learning institutions. The discipline policies usually applied in the schools, such as expulsions and suspensions, tend to place African American students at a disadvantage. Restorative justice-oriented innovations advocate for the application of positive discipline practices instead of zero-tolerance options to reduce the racially disproportionate representation of brown and black students in the outcomes of the disciplining processes. The study conducted in New York City learning institutions indicates the application of these innovations significantly reduces the application of punishment and surveillance practices, especially in situations involving Black students. However, the approach is compromised since various teachers and policymakers still believe in the importance of maintaining order and the status quo.
References
Dumas, M. J. (2016). Against the Dark: Antiblackness in Education Policy and Discourse. Theory into Practice, 55(1), 11-19.
Lustick, H. (2016). Making discipline relevant: toward a theory of culturally responsive positive schoolwide discipline. Race Ethnicity and Education, 20(5), 681-695.
Lustick, H. (2017). “Restorative Justice” or Restoring Order? Restorative School Discipline Practices in Urban Public Schools. Urban Education, 56(8), 1269-1296.
write