For over a decade, educators, researchers, and advocates have been sounding the alarm about the harmful effects of exclusionary school discipline practices, such as classroom removals, office discipline referrals, suspensions, and expulsions. 

The statistics are staggering: in the 2017–18 school year alone, U.S. students lost over 11.2 million days of instruction due to out-of-school suspensions. 

Beyond the immediate loss of learning, a growing body of research links these punitive measures to long-term consequences, including reduced academic achievement and an increased risk of dropping out. 

In response, schools have implemented restorative practices. 

What are Restorative Practices?

Restorative practices are a relational approach to preventing discipline incidents, building community, and addressing conflict. They encompass a wide array of strategies that are designed to repair harm when conflict occurs and improve relationships. 

The goal of this work is to foster strong connections, open communication, and mutual respect so that misbehavior is less common. 

Restorative practices are not a one-size-fits-all “program” with a defined curriculum and set of activities. Instead, it is better described as a philosophy and approach to building positive relationships and addressing conflict. 

In this post, we’ll explore how restorative practices are helping school communities shift away from exclusionary discipline so they can instead foster environments where all students can thrive.

Restorative Practice Strategies

Restorative practices include both proactive strategies and responsive strategies:

• Proactive strategies can strengthen bonds and cultivate conflict-resolution skills through activities like community-building circles. 
• Responsive strategies focus on repairing relationships and fostering accountability with activities like problem-solving circles.

Both the proactive and responsive practices aim to build safe, inclusive school communities that prioritize well-being, trust, and shared responsibility.

This flexible framework allows schools to adapt strategies to their unique needs, values, and community context. While school districts may share overarching principles of restorative practices, the strategies and practices they implement can vary significantly across districts, and even across the different schools within the same district.

Why Restorative Practices?

Restorative practices focus on dialogue, accountability, and empathy. They empower students, educators, and families to collaboratively address the root causes of misbehavior and create a supportive environment where everyone feels heard, valued, and connected. 

Restorative practices provide valuable opportunities for students to practice and reinforce essential communication, social, and behavior skills, which supports relationship and community-building across schools and districts.

One of the most impactful ways restorative practices achieve this is by elevating student voice through structured spaces where students can express their perspectives, share their experiences, and actively contribute to their school community. While restorative practices encompass a variety of strategies, circles have been identified as one of the most effective and widely used.

Restorative Practice Circles

In the context of restorative practices, a circle serves as a safe, confidential space, free from judgment or aggression, where participants can openly share their feelings, thoughts, and stories while connecting with others. 

Circles are highly versatile—they can be used to set classroom norms, resolve conflicts, foster community, or provide space for reflection and healing. 

Whether held in classrooms, advisory periods, or out-of-school activities, circles create an inclusive environment where every voice is valued and every participant is allowed to speak and be heard.

We’ll explore two key types of circles here: community-building circles and responsive circles. 

Through these examples, we’ll explain how student voice can be amplified and identify the social skills that enable students to fully engage in these transformative spaces.

Community-Building Circles

The goal of proactive, community-building circles is to foster relationships, strengthen trust, and create a sense of belonging. These circles are often facilitated during advisory periods, weekly check-ins, or in small group settings. 

Each session is guided by a circle facilitator, often a specialist or teacher, who introduces a meaningful and relevant prompt designed to spark authentic conversation and sharing.

In these spaces, every participant has an equal chance to speak, which fosters a culture of mutual respect and active listening. As students respond to prompts and share their thoughts, they build essential skills such as empathy, perspective-taking, and self-awareness. 

Over time, this intentional and recurring practice nurtures meaningful relationships, enhances emotional intelligence, and establishes a foundation of trust within the school community.

Responsive Circles

In contrast to the proactive nature of community-building circles, responsive circles are used as an intervention to address conflict, wrongdoing, or harm. Their primary goal is to restore relationships, repair trust, and rebuild a sense of community after harm has occurred.

Responsive circles disrupt traditional school hierarchies by ensuring that all participants – whether students or staff – have an equal opportunity to share their perspectives and experiences. 

These circles guide participants through a process of:

• Identifying those affected by the harm.
• Exploring the root causes of the conflict.
• Collaboratively developing solutions to repair the harm.

By providing a structured, equitable space for open dialogue, responsive circles encourage students to take responsibility for their actions, reflect on their behavior, and develop solutions collaboratively. 

This approach empowers both those who caused harm and those affected to find resolution together, while emphasizing accountability and healing.

Tips for Effective Circles in Restorative Practices

Both community-building and responsive circles elevate student voice and promote authentic engagement. These practices remove hierarchical barriers, ensuring that every participant—regardless of their role in the school—can share their stories, express their needs, and feel heard and valued.

To maximize the effectiveness of circles, adults in the school community must intentionally create a safe and inclusive culture where students feel comfortable engaging fully. This means modeling empathy, active listening, and accountability, while also fostering a space where students’ contributions are respected and acted upon.

When students develop and strengthen their social skills—such as managing emotions, showing empathy, and recognizing others’ perspectives—they gain the confidence and willingness to engage fully in restorative practices. 

This, in turn, increases the likelihood of positive outcomes, deeper connections, and a more supportive school culture for all.

Everyday Speech, Social Skills, and Restorative Practices

To fully engage in restorative practices, students need intentional opportunities to build skills in problem-solving, accountability, and empathy. These competencies empower students to participate in their school’s approach to restorative practices and to take ownership and leadership in creating safe, inclusive school communities.

The Everyday Speech Curriculum uses evidence-based video modeling to equip students with key social communication, emotional, and social skills essential for restorative practices, including:

• Empathy
• Recognizing emotions
• Regulating emotions
• Reflecting on your own actions
• Taking responsibility
• Active listening
• Perspective taking
• Bias awareness
• Problem-solving
• Creating collaborative solutions

These skills form the foundation for a supportive, respectful, and thriving school culture. With these skills, students can help prevent conflicts, approach challenges with emotional intelligence, and build positive relationships through effective communication and collaborative problem-solving.

The design of the Everyday Speech curriculum supports relational approaches to discipline like restorative practices with is strong focus on relationship-building, fostering trust, respecting others, and open communication. 

Its developmentally appropriate scope and sequence spans Pre-K to 12th grade, making it easy for educators to align it seamlessly with RP’s flexible framework. 

While Restorative practices provide the structure for preventing and addressing conflict, Everyday Speech strengthens the competencies and skills that students need to amplify their voices and lead change effectively.

Curious to learn more about how Everyday Speech can support your restorative practices in your district? You can request a demo of our curriculum here.