From Punishment to Policy Change: Belonging through Restorative and Transformative Justice

Black and Brown students in New York City public schools are disproportionately pushed out of traditional school settings and often re-enrolled in transfer schools before being pushed into the streets. These students frequently experience disrupted relationships, racialized discipline, and exclusion from school communities, leading to a diminished sense of belonging—a factor strongly tied to academic success, mental health, and retention. In response, many schools have implemented restorative and transformative justice (RJP/TJ) practices that emphasize relationship-building, accountability, and community healing as alternatives to punitive discipline. Yet, limited research has explored how these practices operate differently in transfer versus traditional schools, or how the presence of Black students may influence their effectiveness. This study investigates three key questions: (1) How does school type (transfer vs. traditional) relate to students’ sense of belonging? (2) What is the relationship between Tier 1 (community-building) and Tier 2 (justice and peacebuilding) RJ/TJ practices and student belonging? (3) To what extent does Black student representation moderate these relationships? By centering belonging as a critical indicator of educational equity, this study advances the case for policy reforms that foreground healing-centered and racially responsive school environments.

The NYCDOE student survey data was used to examine the relationship between RJP and SOB. The survey captured student self-reports on sense of belonging, frequency and quality of RJ/TJ practices experienced (grouped into Tier 1 and Tier 2), and basic demographics. School-level data were used to calculate the percentage of Black student enrollment. Independent t-tests and chi-square analyses examined school-type differences. Multiple linear regression models assessed the influence of RJ/TJ practices and Black student representation on belonging, including interaction terms to test moderation by school type.

Findings showed that students in transfer schools reported significantly higher levels of belonging than those in traditional schools (p < .01), despite reporting fewer Tier 1 practices. Tier 1 practices such as community-building activities, shared decision-making, and relationship circles were significantly associated with stronger belonging across both school types. Tier 2 practices—like peer mediation, restorative responses to harm, and accountability processes—showed stronger effects in schools with higher percentages of Black students. Several significant interaction effects revealed that the relationship between RJ/TJ practices and belonging was shaped by both school type and racial demographics. For example, in transfer schools with a high percentage of Black students, RJ/TJ practices were more strongly predictive of a sense of belonging.

These findings demonstrate that RJ/TJ practices can foster student belonging when implemented thoughtfully and in alignment with the racial and structural realities of the school community. However, the presence of these practices alone is not sufficient—context matters. Transfer schools, often designed as sites of reentry, appear more conducive to belonging when Black student representation and justice practices are meaningfully integrated. This study calls for educational policy change that moves beyond compliance models and invests in transformative, racially just school cultures that affirm students’ humanity and right to belong.