Friday, October 24, 2014
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Pittsburgh in groundbreaking project to make schools safer
Posted by Joshua Wachtel on Oct 15, 2014 in Schools
Superintendent of Pittsburgh Public Schools, Dr. Linda S. Lane, welcomes families back to school.
One in five students was suspended from Pittsburgh Public Schools last year. One school suspended 79 percent of its students. What’s more, many students say they feel they have to fight to defend themselves in school.
To make their schools safer, the leadership of Pittsburgh Public Schools, like those in several other school districts across the country, is embarking on a watershed project to implement restorative practices — a proven alternative to ineffective and harmful zero tolerance policies.
The most extensive restorative practices school implementation project to date, “Pursuing Equitable Restorative Communities” will implement the practices in half of Pittsburgh’s 50 public schools, with approximately 10,000 students.
A $3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice Comprehensive School Safety Initiative is supporting the initiative, with professional development provided by the International Institute for Restorative Practices (IIRP) Graduate School.
The district will implement the IIRP’s SaferSanerSchools™ Whole-School Change program in 25 schools during the 2015-16 and 2016-17 school years. The approach includes “informal and formal processes to address misconduct, not as a reactive response to crime and other wrongdoing but as a proactive process of building relationships and a sense of community.”
“We are extremely excited to enter into a partnership with the IIRP through a grant from the Department of Justice,” said Pittsburgh Public Schools Director Of Operations, Student Support Services, Eddie Wilson. “We hope to build positive culture and community in all our buildings. A positive teaching and learning environment is the foundation upon which all academic success it built.”
The RAND Corporation will evaluate the impact of restorative practices on school safety and climate in the 25 “treatment” schools and compare these findings with a control group of 25 schools that are not implementing the practices. This research has the potential to impact school districts nationwide.
Students walk to class at Pittsburgh Carmalt PreK-8, via Gates Foundation, Flickr Creative Commons
More school districts are implementing restorative practices to create safe, positive learning communities, including San Francisco, New York City, Detroit, Baltimore and Philadelphia. Current research projects include a RAND study in 16 Maine schools, funded by the National Institutes of Health, on the effectiveness of restorative practices in influencing school environments and decreasing problem behaviors; and a Johns Hopkins/Diplomas Now study in 15 schools nationwide, funded by Atlantic Philanthropies, on the impact of restorative practices on reducing disparities in discipline and rates of suspensions, arrests and expulsions in high poverty-area middle and high schools with significant proportions of students of color.
The International Institute for Restorative Practices, an accredited graduate school based in Bethlehem, PA, works with schools and other organizations to implement restorative practices and offers a Master of Science, a Graduate Certificate and professional development, as well as books, videos and free online educational resources. With affiliate organizations in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Latin America, Singapore and Australia and licensees worldwide, the IIRP is part of a large worldwide movement of practitioners, policy-makers and scholars advancing the field of restorative practices.
Friday, October 3, 2014
Oct.: National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month: NC Center for Safer Schools
Go to the NC Center for Safer Schools’ website. www.centerforsaferschools.org and our Twitter account: @NCSaferSchools: feature several items for Bullying Prevention month, including a link to Bullying Prevention Awareness packet, a brochure, the Governor’s Proclamation.
Please comment on NCCSS' Twitter page: one of those messages is shared each day.
Bullying Prevention Materials/Resources 2014
Please comment on NCCSS' Twitter page: one of those messages is shared each day.
Bullying Prevention Materials/Resources 2014
- Bullying Awareness: Helping to Achieve a Bully-Free NC - The N.C. Center for Safer School's Guide to
Recognizing and Preventing Bullying (printable brochures) English Spanish - Understanding Bullying in Schools: A Compendium of Resources to Better Understand Bullying Behaviors
- Bullying and Hazing
- Bullying Prevention and Awareness Month 2014 - Week-by-Week Materials (for teachers, parents)
Restorative Justice
Have you or someone you know ever been a victim of a violent action?
Could we have a process that encourages participants to “repair the harm”?
Our current system is oriented toward punishment, which is REACTIVE JUSTICE. Punishment does not teach the responsible person nor heal the affected person.
PROACTIVE Restorative Justice teaches students that their needs and voices are valued, teaches students to address and “repair the harm” at a beginning stage to avoid escalation to violence, and assists parents, faculty, and staff to better interpret signals from our children.
Restorative Justice Mediation uses the terms “responsible person” and “affected person”, not offender and victim, and focuses on: Who has been hurt? What are their needs? Who has the obligation to address the needs, to put right the harms, to restore relationships? (Howard Zehr)
Restorative Justice Mediation interrupts the school to court/jail/prison pipeline.
Following questions developed by International
Institute for RESTORATIVE PRACTICES iirp.edu
Restorative
Questions I: of responsible person: To
respond to challenging behavior
What happened?
What were you thinking of at the time?
What have you thought about since?
Who has been affected by what you have done? In what way?
What do you think you need to do to make things right?
Restorative
Questions II: of affected person: To help those harmed by other’s actions
What did you think when you realized what had happened?
What impact has this incident had on you and others?
What has been the hardest thing for you?
What do you think needs to happen to make things right? Restorative
Works.net
Children Full of Life - Important Documentary.. Very ...► 40:03► 40:03 4th grade class in a primary school in Kanazawa, Japan
9:03 min. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HatSl1lu_PM
Enhancing Respectfulness Through Restorative Practices | CPI
Enhancing Respectfulness Through Restorative Practices | CPI
Restorative Welcome and Reentry Circle - YouTube ► 14:00► 14:00
RJ in school settings: UK site: http://www.transformingconflict.org/
Video Clip: Michigan High School Restorative Justice Process
Restorative Justice - Fairfax County Public Schools
Restorative Justice Program for Youth Expands Scope ...
Fairfax County Public Schools: Intervention and Prevention ...
Fairfax, Virginia, developing restorative practices in schools ...
San Diego Restorative Justice Mediation Program - YouTube
VOMA Restorative Justice Video List
School Mediation Center. Making Things Right: Restorative ...
Town of Estes Park Colorado - Restorative Justice
Restorative Justice Online: Center for Justice & Reconciliation
www.restorativejustice.org
"Restorative Justice emphasizes repairing the harm caused by crime. When victims, offenders, and community members meet to decide how to do that, the results can be transformational. This is very different from retribution, and is grounded in cultures around the world." p313
Piper Kerman's Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison
Also: Peruse left p 5 of this Safer Schools blog: Restorative Justice
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
October: Bullying Prevention & Awareness
Go to the NC Center for Safer Schools’ website. www.centerforsaferschools.org
and our Twitter account: @NCSaferSchools: feature several items for
Bullying Prevention month, including a link to Bullying Prevention
Awareness packet, a brochure, the Governor’s Proclamation.
Please comment on NCCSS' Twitter page: one of those messages is shared each day.
Bullying Prevention Materials/Resources 2014
Please comment on NCCSS' Twitter page: one of those messages is shared each day.
Bullying Prevention Materials/Resources 2014
- Bullying Awareness: Helping to Achieve a Bully-Free NC - The N.C. Center for Safer School's Guide to
Recognizing and Preventing Bullying (printable brochures) English Spanish - Understanding Bullying in Schools: A Compendium of Resources to Better Understand Bullying Behaviors
- Bullying and Hazing
- Bullying Prevention and Awareness Month 2014 - Week-by-Week Materials (for teachers, parents)
Oct.: National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month: NC Center for Safer Schools
Go to the NC Center for Safer Schools’ website. www.centerforsaferschools.org and our Twitter account: @NCSaferSchools: feature several items for Bullying Prevention month, including a link to Bullying Prevention Awareness packet, a brochure, the Governor’s Proclamation.
Please comment on NCCSS' Twitter page: one of those messages is shared each day.
Bullying Prevention Materials/Resources 2014
Please comment on NCCSS' Twitter page: one of those messages is shared each day.
Bullying Prevention Materials/Resources 2014
- Bullying Awareness: Helping to Achieve a Bully-Free NC - The N.C. Center for Safer School's Guide to
Recognizing and Preventing Bullying (printable brochures) English Spanish - Understanding Bullying in Schools: A Compendium of Resources to Better Understand Bullying Behaviors
- Bullying and Hazing
- Bullying Prevention and Awareness Month 2014 - Week-by-Week Materials (for teachers, parents)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)