Exploring the Move Away from ‘Zero -Tolerance’ Policies: Evidence from Restorative Justice Practices in Texas and Michigan Schools

This study examines the impact of statewide Restorative Justice (RJ) policy reforms in Michigan and Texas on student disciplinary outcomes and behavior, in light of increasing concerns over the negative effects of zero-tolerance policies. As schools move away from exclusionary discipline practices, this research focuses on three primary questions: (1) Are these policies effectively implemented statewide? (2) Do they contribute to a reduction in problematic behaviors, such as bullying? (3) Does the distinction in policy implementation—Michigan’s prescriptive approach versus Texas’s permissive framework—affect outcomes? Utilizing school district-level data and a penalized synthetic control estimator for multiple treated districts, the analysis reveals that Texas has an overall reduction in out-of-school suspensions and bullying incidents, while Michigan shows an increase. However, taking these as a main takeaway would be misleading, as at a fine-grained level, more than half of the Michigan school districts show a reduction in bullying incidents. The results are further discussed, revealing patterns of racial composition in the districts with respect to their success in implementation of reforms. The findings highlight the critical role of implementation fidelity and the importance of local context in assessing the success of RJ initiatives while also filling a critical gap in understanding the multifaceted consequences of RJ practices.