Read more
NAACP hosts restorative practices workshop
The key phrase at this week’s International Institute of Restorative Practices workshop in Chattanooga was this: “We’ve got to do something different.”
Speaker Steve Korr of the Pennsylvania-based organization’s graduate school was referring to changing student behavior by developing relationships with the students in order that they don’t wind up in jail rather than going to college or getting jobs.
Of course, most students with behavior problems don’t go to jail, and most students who do go to jail have problems beyond not having relationships with their teachers.
But Korr said the theory is that instead of removing a student when he misbehaves, a teacher who forms a relationship with the student will be able to discuss with the student how his action affected other people and to, in turn, allow the student to be a part of correcting the wrong that he did.
All that’s easier said than done, especially since teachers as a rule already attempt to cultivate some kind of positive relationship with their students. And it’s a bit confusing when more and more education experts are warning that teachers should not be friends – friendly, yes, but not friends – with their students.
“We look for balance between what to cultivate and what to limit in teacher-student relations,” an opinion blog in Education Week suggests. “There are boundaries, yet we want to be inviting to students and make sure they know they are good company. For as long as the child is a minor, however, it’s not the same as friendships we enjoy with adults.”
Korr said 60 to 70 percent of schools that have implemented restorative practices saw a reduction in suspensions and improved academic scores. Even though scoring below 70 on an academic test is a failing grade, all schools can appreciate fewer suspensions and better scores.
One of the caveats, according to the workshop leader, is that the training takes four days, and acceptance of the practice may change with a change in school administration.
Such conflict resolution also has to be used classroom-wide and not be seen as one type of behavioral practice for one group of people while a different practice exists for another group. Otherwise, the stage is set for anarchy.
“We’ve got to do something different” is certainly a phrase that is applicable to student behavior, but it is a phrase that also must be applied to public education in general, to what is taught at home and to what is accepted on the streets in order to change the so-called school-to-prison pipeline.