Giving Compass' Take:

• Schools in Aurora, CO are working with the Denver Foundation to address racial bias in discipline and implement restorative practices in order to reduce the prison-to-pipeline system currently happening in the school district. 

• How can you foster these types of spaces and philosophy of restorative practices in your home and surrounding communities? 

• Other organizations in cities across the U.S. are fighting the same issues and attempting to dismantle the prison-to-pipeline system in schools. 

Students in Aurora schools are less likely to be expelled or suspended than they were five years ago, but despite years of work to change inequities, black students are still more likely to be disciplined than their peers.

It’s not a particularly unique problem, but in the school district of Aurora, one of the most diverse cities in the state of Colorado, the impact from the disparity can be magnified and can have an effect on academic achievement, something the district is trying to improve.

Some of the district’s more in-depth work has been done with the Denver Foundation at 13 schools starting in 2013. The foundation has connected schools to nonprofits, including some that help school leaders use restorative justice.

But this year, in a new effort to curb those persistent gaps, instead of just helping schools use restorative practices, the foundation has recruited a well-known teacher training group to help teachers in one school incorporate restorative philosophy into their classrooms.

The foundation is also bringing together school leaders and other educators to have “uncomfortable” conversations about how a student’s race affects how educators perceive their behavior.

The district has also helped schools start using restorative practices, in which students are taught to examine their actions and the consequences and to commit to solutions. These practices often serve as an alternative to suspension and expulsions. There are approximately 25 Aurora schools using the model.

One of the biggest challenges identified by the foundation and by educators in Aurora has been teacher turnover. The foundation also found that schools need better communication with the district, that staff needs to feel safer discussing issues around race, and that time to have those conversations is often limited in schools.

Read more about closing racial disparities in discipline by Yesenia Robles at Chalkbeat.