2026 Conference Archive

Format

Individual Presentation

First Presenter's Institution

The Chiles Academy

First Presenter’s Email Address

abfergus@volusia.k12.fl.us

First Presenter's Brief Biography

Abby Ferguson is the principal and executive director of The Chiles Academy, a public charter school for pregnant and parenting teens and their children. This full service community school, located in Daytona Beach, FL, is focused on helping young parents earn their high school diploma and serves as a lifeline for vulnerable families. Also serving as the child care director for the community child care center on site, Ms. Ferguson focuses on cultivating unique learning spaces for all. Prior to leading The Chiles Academy, Ms. Ferguson worked in higher education for over ten years in a variety of leadership roles focused on academic innovation, community-based learning, and increasing access to education. Ms. Ferguson received her Bachelors degree in Politics from Mount Holyoke College and her Master's degree from The New School for Social Research in New York City with a focus on political philosophy and public policy.

Submitter

I am submitting this proposal as one of the presenter(s)

Location

Verelst

Strand #1

Heart: Social & Emotional Skills

Strand #2

Home: Family & Community Engagement

Relevance

The proposed session, Building a Belief System: A Culture of Learning and Restorative Practice, directly supports the development of social and emotional skills by centering both individual growth and community well-being. Restorative practices, when integrated into daily school routines, provide children and youth with structured opportunities to practice empathy, communication, and self-regulation in a supportive environment.

School climate is strengthened as restorative approaches replace punitive responses with relational accountability, fostering respect, belonging, and trust across the community. This shift creates conditions in which children feel safe to take risks, express themselves, and learn collaboratively.

By emphasizing strengths and resilience, the framework nurtures academic resilience—encouraging students to view mistakes and conflicts as opportunities for learning rather than failure. A caring curriculum is modeled through consistent use of restorative language and routines that highlight the connection between caring relationships and motivation to succeed academically.

The approach also empowers students by providing authentic leadership roles in community circles, peer mediation, and collaborative decision-making. Such opportunities cultivate student empowerment while reinforcing shared responsibility for the learning environment.

Emotional intelligence is explicitly practiced through restorative dialogue, where students learn to name feelings, listen actively, and respond with empathy. These communication skills are further linked to decision-making and goal-setting, as restorative conferences and re-entry plans require children to reflect on their choices, consider the impact on others, and set actionable steps for repair and growth.

Finally, restorative practices are highly compatible with mindfulness, as they encourage presence, reflection, and intentional action. Together, these elements create a belief system that sustains a culture of learning where social-emotional skills and academic achievement reinforce one another.

Brief Program Description

We all know the saying by now: Culture eats strategy for breakfast. You will walk away from the session understanding why culture is so hungry and how to keep it fed so that all of your great ideas and ambitious goals can thrive! This session shows how restorative practices like community norms, conflict resolution conference, and sharing circles can transform your school into a connected community who holds itself accountable for care and safety. Walk away with practical tools to strengthen school climate, empower students, and engage families—transforming diverse learning communities into thriving spaces where everyone belongs and grows.

Summary

This session explores how building a shared belief system rooted in restorative practices and a culture of learning can transform a variety of academic environments into spaces of belonging, accountability, and growth. Many learning communities—particularly those serving diverse or high-needs populations—face challenges in establishing consistency, trust, and positive engagement among students, families, and staff. This presentation offers a practical framework for addressing these challenges through intentional culture-building strategies.

Participants will learn how restorative practices, combined with a strengths-based approach to learning, can create a cohesive set of values that guide daily interactions, discipline, and instructional choices. The session will highlight strategies for embedding restorative language, routines, and rituals into classroom practice in ways that honor the dignity of every individual and foster mutual responsibility. Practical methods such as community circles, shared agreements, and reflective dialogue will be modeled as tools that empower children, families, and educators to actively contribute to the learning environment.

Special attention will be given to how these approaches adapt to the unique contexts of different communities, including those with limited resources or historically marginalized populations. By focusing on culture rather than compliance, educators can shift from punitive responses to behaviors toward practices that build resilience, strengthen relationships, and support long-term academic and social success.

Participants will leave the session with concrete strategies and ready-to-use tools for creating their own culture of learning and restorative practices, including:

  • Steps for collaboratively developing belief systems within schools or programs.

  • Techniques for integrating restorative practices into daily routines and lessons.

  • Methods for engaging children, families, and staff in sustaining a shared culture of respect and accountability.

The presentation emphasizes practical, transferable strategies that can be implemented immediately in a variety of learning settings.

Evidence

Evidence for complementary approaches

  • Nonviolent Communication (NVC): Controlled and quasi-experimental studies indicate NVC training improves empathy, communication skills, and conflict resolution in school and adult learners (measures of subjective empathy, communication competency). These outcomes map directly onto restorative goals (relationship repair, empathy practice).

  • NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM): NARM is presented as an evidence-informed trauma-treatment approach focused on attachment/developmental trauma; while clinical rather than school-wide, its principles (relational safety, regulation, strengths focus) inform trauma-responsive restorative practices used in classrooms and staff development. Evidence is growing in clinical domains and is promising for informing school-level trauma responsiveness.

  • Brummer — Building a Trauma-Informed Restorative School: Brummer’s practitioner guide synthesizes trauma-informed and restorative strategies into concrete protocols (circle scripts, harm-repair flows, staff training modules). It is widely used as a practical field manual; empirical evidence is best interpreted as practice-based (case examples, implementation materials) rather than randomized trials.

  • IIRP (International Institute for Restorative Practices): IIRP curates program evaluations, implementation rubrics, and training resources; their synthesis materials document consistent climate and relational benefits and provide practitioner tools for fidelity and scale

Learning Objective 1

Participants will be able to return to their programs with concrete, scalable approaches to building a culture of learning and respect within their own settings.

Learning Objective 2

Participants will be able to embody approaches to restorative practices through sharing circles and active listening that will inform their understanding of implementation.

Learning Objective 3

Participants will be able to analyze their own communities through the lens of community building, cultural rapport, and social emotional connection in order to take away key areas to build.

Keyword Descriptors

Belief System; Community Norms; Restorative Practice; Human-Centered

Presentation Year

2026

Start Date

3-3-2026 1:00 PM

End Date

3-3-2026 2:15 PM

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Mar 3rd, 1:00 PM Mar 3rd, 2:15 PM

Building a Belief System: Culture of Learning and Restorative Practices in Unique Communities

Verelst

We all know the saying by now: Culture eats strategy for breakfast. You will walk away from the session understanding why culture is so hungry and how to keep it fed so that all of your great ideas and ambitious goals can thrive! This session shows how restorative practices like community norms, conflict resolution conference, and sharing circles can transform your school into a connected community who holds itself accountable for care and safety. Walk away with practical tools to strengthen school climate, empower students, and engage families—transforming diverse learning communities into thriving spaces where everyone belongs and grows.