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Why are some school-based restorative conferences not implemented?
Anne Gregory1, Francis L Huang2, Chad M Tieger1
1Department of School Psychology, Rutgers University.
School Psychology (Washington, D.C.)
|July 27, 2026
Summary
Many restorative conferences for school discipline are not completed. Refusals and appropriateness concerns prevent participation, especially for serious incidents, impacting equitable access to restorative justice practices.
Area of Science:
- Education
- Psychology
- Sociology
Background:
- Restorative conferences are used in schools to address discipline issues.
- Implementation processes and reasons for non-completion are not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the implementation of restorative conferences.
- To identify reasons why referred students do not participate.
- To investigate the association between incident severity and sociodemographic factors with conference completion.
Main Methods:
- A multimethod study analyzed 1,217 restorative conference referrals over two school years.
- Data included reasons for noncompletion and student sociodemographic characteristics.
Main Results:
- Only 60% of referrals resulted in completed restorative conferences; 40% were not completed.
- Common reasons for noncompletion included participant refusal and facilitator decisions on appropriateness.
- More serious incidents (threats, assaults) were less likely to be completed than minor incidents.
- Sociodemographic variables showed a weaker association with noncompletion compared to incident-level factors.
Conclusions:
- Significant challenges exist in the pathway from referral to completed restorative conferences.
- Addressing noncompletion is crucial for ensuring equitable access to restorative justice in schools.
- Further research should focus on improving conference implementation and completion rates.
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