Whole School Restorative Implementation
Assets and Needs Assessment
A whole-school, holistic restorative approach begins with developing a clear picture of where you are. We do that through an Assets and Needs Assessment (ANA) that includes interviews of school leadership, a site visit , focus groups, review of existing behavior and culture/climate data and support in interpreting and sharing the results. The resulting report outlines both assets from which to build on and opportunities for improvement and growth. (25 hrs)
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Restorative Team Formation and Support
Because restorative practices is not a program to implement but a philosophy to understand and adopt, it's crucial that the plan to make it part of your school's culture emerges from a collaborative process involving both youth and adults. Our restorative implementation utilizes a specific restorative teaming model that builds the restorative principles into every aspect of team formation and work. We model and support the changes desired in how we work with implementation teams. (3 hrs monthly for meeting and support)
Professional Learning—Whole School and Small Learning Cohorts
We've come to understand that the most effective introduction to this work includes whole school trainings followed by monthly learning cohorts where small cohorts revisit learning, share challenges and problem solve together using an improvement science model for data drive change. (Recommended initial annual time investment is three 1/2-day trainings for whole school and 1-hour monthly small learning cohorts with 2 hours of support. See "Community of Care and Accountability" for some of the professional learning that might be part of your implementation journey.)
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Here are some of the main topics to be covered during professional learning:
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Introduction to Holistic Restorative Approaches
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Universal Restorative Supports & Circling Up!
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In the Moment Response to Harm & Restorative Communication
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Planned & Targeted Response to Harm
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Re-Integrative Conferences and Supports
Youth and Adult Partnership
At the heart of restorative approaches is the theory that people are happier and more productive when we do things with them rather than to them or for them or not at all. "With" means adults and youth must work together to effectively shift towards a restorative culture. This partnership requires making time and space for those voices to be heard. (Schools should partner with youth from the beginning. )
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Consulting and Coaching Support
Effective implementation is complex and we ask all our schools to commit to several hours of consultation a month to work with leadership and the RP team to strategize, collect and interpret data, and build internal capacity. We strive to make ourselves dispensable and we need time with you to support your growth and development to achieve this!!
Resource Development
Because many schools/organizations have existing approaches, we offer the development of a resource website and staff manual development to support the work and make clear the various intersections and overlaps of approaches.
Please write to info@starlingcollaborative.org if you'd like to learn more.