From zero-tolerance to restorative practices: a narrative inquiry of the transition in policy and practice

Abstract

This dissertation explores an educational leader’s unique journey to establish a new culture for school discipline in a Midwest urban middle school. This study chronicles three years of the implementation of restorative practices. School administrators are commissioned to, above all else, consider the safety and physical well-being of the child. This mindset might compel a leader to adopt a zero-tolerance stance with students who engage in activities that threaten (or potentially threaten) this fundamental ideal. Removing such students from the school community has become common practice for many administrators. Although eliminating these students from the school environment may be a popular choice for keeping schools safe, this work explores how current policies are interrupting the moral formation of students, and thus actually making our schools less safe. The impact that exclusionary discipline can have on the community might warrant a significant reform of pupil-personnel policy and related administrative practice. A restorative orientation and related activity may give an ethical alternative to exclusionary discipline. While schools may present sound reason for using restorative practices, it has been well-documented that the implementation of these practices may be suspect (Wearmouth, Mckinney , & Glynn, 2007; Sartain, Allensworth, Porter, Mader, & Steinberg, 2015; Muschert, 2014). This narrative inquiry study will explore the three years of implementation and address issues of restorative mindset, organizational improvement science, and the lived experience of the author and other staff that experienced the transition from zero-tolerance to a restorative justice approach.