Shifting the Paradigm: Changing School Climate with a School-wide Restorative Discipline Approach

Format

Individual Presentation

Presenters

Summer Pannell, Stephen F. Austin State UniversityFollow
Juliann McBryer, Georgia Southern UniversityFollow
Brian Uriegas, Stephen F Austin State UniversityFollow

First Presenter's Institution

Stephen F Austin State University

First Presenter’s Email Address

summer.pannell@sfasu.edu

First Presenter's Brief Biography

Dr. Summer Pannell currently serves as Associate Professor of Educational Leadership at Stephen F. Austin State University and as Director of the National Institute for Restorative Discipline. She has over two decades of experience as an educational leadership faculty member and P-12 administrator and teacher. During her tenure as principal, Dr. Pannell received a Champion of Change Award for her school closing achievement gaps and served on collaborative committees to develop statewide principal and teacher evaluation systems. Dr. Pannell holds superintendent, principal, and teacher certification in multiple states and is a certified trainer in Restorative Discipline Practices, Neuro-Linguistic Practitioner (NLP), and Behavior Threat Assessment.

Second Presenter's Institution

Georgia Southern University

Second Presenter’s Email Address

jmcbrayer@georgiasouthern.edu

Second Presenter's Brief Biography

Juliann Sergi McBrayer, Ed.D. is an Associate Professor in Educational Leadership at Georgia Southern University and Co-Director of the National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Research Center centered around scholarly practitioner and interdisciplinary research via community partnerships. She holds a Doctorate and Educational Specialist from Georgia Southern University, a Master’s degree from Ohio University, and a Bachelor's degree from SUNY College at Buffalo. She has served over 20 years as an educational leadership associate and assistant professor, educational program coordinator, instructional school leader, professional development and federal programs coordinator, classroom teacher, and teacher leader. As a scholarly practitioner, her research interests include the development, implementation, and assessment of educational leadership and teacher preparation programs with a focus on purposeful, collaborative, and sustainable professional learning and programming to ensure effectiveness and accountability while emphasizing community partnerships.

Third Presenter's Institution

Stephen F Austin State University

Third Presenter’s Email Address

uriegasb@sfasu.edu

Third Presenter's Brief Biography

Dr. Uriegas is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Services and Educational Leadership at Stephen F. Austin State University where he teaches in their M.Ed. and Ed.D. programs. Prior to his arrival at SFA, Dr. Uriegas spent 17 years as a teacher, coach, and principal in Texas public schools. Dr. Uriegas holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership from Texas A&M University-Kingsville. Brian’s research interests are centered on rural education with foci on post-secondary readiness, students of poverty, career and technical education, diversity, equity, and inclusion, school leadership and advancement for Latinx students and faculty in higher education. Dr. Uriegas recently completed his term as Chair of the SFA Faculty Senate.

Location

Session two Breakouts (Westbrook)

Strand #1

Heart: Social & Emotional Skills

Strand #2

Head: Academic Achievement & Leadership

Relevance

This session will equip administrators and school staff with the knowledge and skills to build positive relationships and build a school community. Participants will learn how to implement strategies to foster positive relationships, address harm and trauma, and improve the school climate for all stakeholder groups.

Brief Program Description

This instructional and experiential workshop presents the tools for implementing a successful restorative discipline model that places the importance of relationships at the heart of the educational experience in order to build healthy school communities, support students and teachers, and address discipline issues. Participants will learn steps to assess the readiness of their schools for this approach and the action steps they can begin to take to convey and implement Restorative Discipline concepts in ways that ensure necessary buy-in from a variety of stakeholder groups.

Summary

This session will equip administrators and school staff with the knowledge and skills to build positive relationships and build a school community. Through the exploration of effective strategies to address mindset change and implementing a schoolwide Restorative Discipline model, participants will learn how to implement strategies to foster positive relationships, address harm and trauma, and improve the school climate for all stakeholder groups.

This instructional and experiential workshop presents the tools for implementing a successful restorative discipline model that places the importance of relationships at the heart of the educational experience in order to build healthy school communities, support students and teachers, and address discipline issues. Participants will learn steps to assess the readiness of their schools for this approach and the action steps they can begin to take to convey and implement Restorative Discipline concepts in ways that ensure necessary buy-in from a variety of stakeholder groups.

Evidence

Restorative Discipline has been a statewide initiative in Texas for several years and has been linked to improvement in student behavior, reduction in discipline incidents, and improved overall school climate in many school districts since its implementation.

A schoolwide RD model is rooted in restorative practices which have been linked to school improvement initiatives in many school districts, most notably, Oakland,Unified School District.

Learning Objective 1

Getting acquainted with the Range of Restorative Practices for a Whole School Approach

Learning Objective 2

Practicing circle development for different purposes (Community Building, Problem Solving, Teaching Academics, Faculty Meetings, Peer-Led Leadership)

Learning Objective 3

Managing the Change Process and Making it Happen

Keyword Descriptors

restorative practices, restorative discipline, school climate

Presentation Year

2023

Start Date

3-6-2023 1:00 PM

End Date

3-6-2023 2:15 PM

Recommended Citation

Pannell, Summer; McBryer, Juliann; and Uriegas, Brian, "Shifting the Paradigm: Changing School Climate with a School-wide Restorative Discipline Approach" (2023). National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference. 40.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/nyar_savannah/2023/2023/40