Law Enforcement and Restorative Circles: Impacts on Educational Achievement

Connections have been observed between police involvement in school proponents of school surveillance believe that police are necessary certain educational outcomes, including student attendance, access to included in this analysis is an exploration of the relationships between these variables and classroom restorative circles used to manage use of restorative circles at school, an alternative to traditional student analysis is used on both predictors with the School Survey on Crime and presence and suspensions. Restorative circle use in schools has a on school policy development are discussed.

6 | COLUMBIA SOCIAL WORK REVIEW, VOL. XIX al. observed 33 public California middle and high schools that increased the 33 schools were compared to 72 matched public schools within the state based on similar school characteristics, such as metropolitan status, percentage of students on free or reduced-priced lunch, and demonstrated a correlation between expanded police presence and in disciplinary action within schools that had increased police presence (Gottfredson et al., 2020). With increased policing, students were more at a younger age, increasing the risk of entering the school-to-prison pipeline. Furthermore, it is essential to acknowledge that punishments involving removal from school settings impact academic achievement (Tucker & Vance, 2016).

POLICING'S DISPROPORTIONATE IMPACT ON BLACK AND LATINE STUDENTS
While this study does not address race due to data set limitations, the implications of increased policing and school punishment cannot be ignored when it comes to young students of color, particularly Black and Latine students. Schools that primarily serve students of color are more likely to use strict surveillance measures than other schools, creating disproportionate suspension rates and arrests for students of color "Black students are suspended and expelled at a rate three times for students of color could cause a direct negative impact on their academic achievement. Tucker and Vance (2016) found that "school suspensions have been linked with academic disengagement, suspension, and could contribute to disparate impacts on Black and Latine students in U.S. public schools.
Perceptions of safety are also important to consider, especially for from 98 middle and high schools in Maryland to determine whether a correlation existed between observed security measures in school and included the addition of both internal and external surveillance cameras, Latine students felt less safe than their white counterparts in schools perception of school safety. Perceived school safety was low in schools with high numbers of low-income students of color, especially Black students (Johnson et al., 2018). Even student perception regarding police presences was disparate, as it did not always make Black and Latine students feel safer in school. Therefore, a new alternative for safety should be made that includes the safety of all students of color.

SCHOOL SAFETY AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE
environment varies from student to student, and can be dependent on students' identities. Students might feel unsafe if they consider school policies to be violating their right to privacy or perceive school surveillance as having disciplinary motives. Research has proven over the last twenty years that attendance in class and lectures correlates research, it can be presumed that suspensions often lead to lower Furthermore, Tanner-Smith and Fisher (2016) highlight the impact of visible school security measures, such as security guards, metal detectors, and cameras, on academic performance, attendance, and 8 | COLUMBIA SOCIAL WORK REVIEW, VOL. XIX postsecondary aspirations. The data for this study came from the following two extensive national surveys: the School Crime Supplement outcomes. Trends showed heavy surveillance had a moderately harmful impact on academic success in a small sample of high schools that contain a large low-income student population; however, visible security measures such as fences or cameras did not have any substantial Smith & Fisher, 2016).

RESTORATIVE PRACTICE IN SCHOOL SETTINGS: AN ALTERNATIVE
Restorative justice, an alternative to the deeply rooted colonialism and white supremacy present in carcerality, has roots in indigenous cultures around the world and encourages reparation and accountability for wrongdoing in a non-punitive way (Wachtel, 2016). Schools are which remove students from the classroom. Restorative circles provide space for students and teachers to develop relationships, build between a student who has caused harm and individuals impacted by the student's actions. Such circles are facilitated by a moderator and can include teachers, school administrators, parents, and classmates. Members of the circle take turns sharing how they felt harmed by the chance to discuss their decision-making, mitigate the harm they caused by taking accountability, and commit to changing their behavior to better meet the needs of their community. When performed in a group setting with a trained counselor, the restorative alternative enables everyone to be heard and has been used "to address truancy, bullying, disciplinary LAW ENFORCEMENT AND RESTORATIVE CIRCLES IN SCHOOLS COLUMBIA SOCIAL WORK REVIEW, VOL. XIX | 9 restorative circles on high school student and teacher experiences. This a large city in the southeastern United States. Restorative circles were study produced the following favorable themes: supporting students in taking ownership and engaging with the reconciliation process, improving relationships, engaging in meaningful dialogue, preventing social achievement, and interrupting the school-to-prison pipeline. There were two unfavorable outcomes discovered in the study, however: student frustration with the process and disappointment due to the inability for some students to be vulnerable in those spaces. The adults in this study believe comfort and trust could have been established et al., 2016). Despite this, the overall impact implies that less punitive students.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND CONTRIBUTIONS
suspension rates. This analysis also sought to determine whether suspension rates for students. Finally, this statistical study explored implications for disciplinary alternatives that could prevent students from becoming involved in the criminal legal system and increase their access to the safety net of education.

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
A regression model was used to identify and explore the relationship statistically controlling for crime at the school's location and whether the school is in a metropolitan area. Student involvement in restorative intervention training, and student SEL. Dependent variables include the average percentage of (1) daily attendance, (2) students likely to attend higher education after high school, (3) students who score below the school suspension with no continuing school services provided for the remainder of the punishment. Exploring these relationships will allow for better understanding of the connection between discipline and student performance.

HYPOTHESES
and establishing the variables being tested, two hypotheses were directly to testing scores and access to higher education, but does have relationship with attendance, access to higher education, test scores, and a decrease in suspension rates. 2017-2018 data, the following analyses have examined the relationship between school academic achievement and the programs, procedures, and policies that schools implement to prevent and reduce crime. The data was collected between February 20, 2018 and July 18, 2018.

METHOD OF ANALYSIS
grounds and another on the use of restorative justice circles as an alternative to discipline. Table 1 addresses the descriptive statistics for each dependent and independent variable, without controlling for other factors. Tables 2 and 3 display the regressions with controls to ensure a more accurate description of the correlation.

POLICE OFFICER PRESENCE
After controlling for crime rates in the school's location and the school school setting, rate of crime in the area, and population density of the positive correlation with a low level of crime in the school neighborhood (0.93) fewer students accessing higher education after controlling for crime rates in the school's location and the school setting's population 12 | COLUMBIA SOCIAL WORK REVIEW, VOL. XIX of student variance in achieving higher education. Higher education group, attending higher education was positively correlated with low and moderate crime levels in the school neighborhood, with a strong the reference group, students living in towns and rural communities were negative correlation (p<.001).
for crime rates at the school's location and the school setting's school neighborhood (p<.001) when high crime rates were the reference group. With metropolitan cities as the reference group, suburbs and After controlling for school crime rates and population density, there the variance in suspension rates. As shown in Table 2, the number of cities were the reference group, suspension rates were positively correlated with towns and rural communities, with a strong statistical

LAW ENFORCEMENT AND RESTORATIVE CIRCLES IN SCHOOLS
COLUMBIA SOCIAL WORK REVIEW, VOL. XIX | 13 involvement in discipline, school attendance, could be determined with with higher education attainment, as seen in Table 3. Teacher training education rates (p<.05).
When examining interventions of restorative justice use, teacher (p<.05).
When changing the predictor and controls to restorative justice use, negative relationship of -0.05 (0.02) with high suspension rates (p<.05).
in discipline, suspension rates increased by 0.05 (0.02). Coon & Travis, 2012). The authors are not aware of existing literature however, information on the demographics, prior disciplinary practices, and socio-economic statuses of schools most likely to incorporate law enforcement would be useful for future research.

DISCUSSION
Police presence in school is predictive of greater odds of suspension, which can push students through the school-to-prison pipeline (McKenna & White, 2017). Alternatives to traditional discipline, such as entering this pipeline. This paper's analysis demonstrates that the use of restorative justice, teacher training, and student SEL had a positive correlation with higher education attainment and attendance and decreased suspension rates. professionals through government funded grants (McKenna & Petrosino, 2022). This money could potentially have been used instead to fund schools to properly educate the growing population of students with Investing millions of dollars in law enforcement programs may contribute to increasing student chances of criminal legal system involvement restorative justice and alternative means of discipline that keep students opportunities, such as restorative circles, which were shown to decrease should enact legislation to provide students with counseling services, mental health services, and SEL programs that promote angerand strength of teaching approaches and classroom management skills safety (Nickerson et al., 2021). This paper's analysis demonstrates that suspensions decrease when schools implement crisis prevention and intervention training, restorative test scores. This reinforces themes presented in previous literature, such presence, and decreased access to higher education (Petrosino et al., 2012;Weisburst, 2019). This paper contributes to existing literature by

LIMITATIONS
Police presence and restorative circles in schools were examined to build on existing literature addressing the school-to-prison pipeline and its disproportionately negative impact on students of color. Unfortunately, student demographics were not available within the data set used, making it impossible to determine potential relationships outside of the area's crime level and population density. The dataset percentages. The dataset only provided the number of public schools tabulated into school characteristics such as neighborhood crime level, justice circles across schools that participated in the survey, potentially shift the outcome of the restorative justice circles. CONCLUSION criminal legal involvement. It is crucial to understand better ways to hold students accountable for their decisions, address school violence, and meet student needs. In order to engage students without perpetuating pathways to the juvenile legal system, schools need to provide SEL support positive behavior. This analysis has shown that restorative ability to mitigate the impacts of suspension rates. Considering the impact that the school-to-prison pipeline can have on youth, changes must be made to transition to pedagogically sound practices that are proven to improve academic outcomes.    Standard errors in parentheses *** p<0.001, ** p<0.01, * p<0.05, + p<0.10