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Intentionally or not, public school disciplinary systems tend to unfairly target students of color, says Yolanda Anyon, assistant professor at the ������’s��. According to civil rights data, more than half of students involved in school-related arrests are Latino and African-American.

“Once someone is suspended or expelled from school, they are at increased risk of becoming involved in the criminal justice system,” Anyon explains. “Black and Latino students are more likely to get suspended from school than white students are, even for the same behavior.”

In an effort to reverse the trend, Anyon partnered with the ������ School-Based Restorative Practices Partnership, a collaborative that works to replace punitive measures with restorative justice in ������’s public schools. Guided by����written by Anyon, the coalition of racial justice, education, labor and community groups has been working toward widespread implementation of restorative practices. The group hopes to lower suspension and expulsion rates that contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline.

“We think that this report is making a unique contribution as far as a practical set of guidelines of what is needed in order to make the widespread implementation of restorative justice successful,” Anyon says.

There are three levels when it comes to restorative justice practices. The first is dialogue; if a student has acted out, a conversation happens between that student and his or her teacher. The next step is to involve everyone in what is called a peace circle. Students and involved teachers sit in a circle and create a dialogue, allowing everyone to discuss how the behavior of the particular student affected them.