RCT of the Restorative Practices Intervention

Summary

The Restorative Practices Intervention (RPI), is a whole school environment intervention which is integrated into existing school practice (rather than 'added on') so does not compete with academic priorities; and it has some evidence supporting its effectiveness at improving school environment and promoting positive peer relationships. The specific aims of this investigator initiated study are to:

1. Assess the mechanisms of how RPI implementation influences the school environment;
2. Assess the effects of RPI on school staff perceptions of school climate and adolescents' reports of school connectedness, peer relationships, developmental outcomes (academic achievement and social competency) and problem behaviors (alcohol use, bullying, disciplinary referrals);
3. Assess the extent to which the positive effects of RPI on adolescents persist over time during the transition between middle and high school.

For the first time utilizing rigorous scientific methods, this study has the potential to document whether a whole-school intervention like RPI, that can be integrated into existing school practice, can affect both developmental outcomes and problem behaviors and whether the effects persist during the transition from middle to high school.

Conditions

• Intervention Schools (Schools Receiving RPI)
• Control Schools (Schools Not Receiving RPI)

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Restorative Practices Intervention

RPI has the 3 core components of an optimal comprehensive positive youth development intervention: (1) sustained relationships with adults-RPI creates positive and sustained adult-youth relationships through teacher-student dialogue that occurs in "circles"; (2) skills building-RPI uses teachers and other school staff to coach students on 7 of the 11 essential practices; and (3) application of skills building-As students develop proficiency in the 7 essential practices they are coached to perform, school staff transfer responsibility for running the circles over to students. Restorative conferences for serious and or chronic behavior problems are the only circles that teachers continue to facilitate. Quasi-experimental studies have shown that schools implementing RPI have reductions in disciplinary referrals and school suspension.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

  collaborator NIH

• RAND

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Joie Acosta, Ph.D. · RAND

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age

12 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2014-08-31

Primary Completion

2019-01-12

Completion

2019-01-12

Countries

• United States

Study Locations