Conflicts and In-School Suspensions Drop Sharply at Middle School During Second Year of “Restorative Discipline” Initiative [UTexas.edu]

“In addition to the marked improvement in student school performance, in this second year we are seeing more acceptance from teachers. They are less critical of restorative discipline, and instead they are requiring more intensive interventions. They also have moved from seeing restorative discipline as a magic bullet to using it as a method to teach students pro-social behaviors, and they have also recognized the need for perseverance,” Armour said.

I selected this quote from the article to highlight. It always fascinates me that when students have not had the learning conditions they need for math, we create better conditions to learn math. When students haven't mastered language arts, we create conditions to learn language arts. When students struggle to acquire English as a 2nd language - we create conditions tolearn English. And so on. 

Why are we surprised that instruction still matters - even though the content may be self-regulation skills, goal setting, or effective interpersonal skills and communication?