America’s largest teachers’ union acknowledges a school violence crisis but refuses to try to improve it.
America’s largest teachers’ union acknowledges a school violence crisis but refuses to try to improve it.
V iolence in schools — including verbal threats and physical aggression — is on the rise. At the same time, a nationwide teacher shortage has persisted for years, something even the National Education Association (NEA) has acknowledged.
A common denominator for these two problems? Restorative justice practices, which are often sold as compassionate alternatives to traditional discipline but do not deliver what they promise. The idea behind “restorative justice” is that instead of punishing bad behavior, schools “repair harm” by bringing together the student who caused it and those affected, including teachers and classmates, to talk through what happened and, ideally, rebuild relationships.
In theory, it sounds good. In practice, it often functions as a replacement for consequences rather than a complement to them, leaving educators to manage repeated disruption while serious misconduct gets reframed as a “learning moment.”
This past November, the NEA, along with the American Psychological Association (APA), put out a joint issue brief detailing policy guidance for schools and teachers, framing the violence as widespread, worsening, and tied to teacher burnout and turnover. Unfortunately, it completely misses the mark. According to the NEA, members and their school administrators can promote a safe culture by advocating for organizing and bargaining efforts that “support racial and social justice, diversity, and cultural representation training and resources.”
That framing isn’t incidental. It’s the same equity logic that underpins restorative justice, which aims to reduce racial disparities in discipline under the assumption that exclusionary discipline can worsen student outcomes. But as is the case with many “equitable” solutions that the education system cooks up, disadvantaged and marginalized students are hurt most by restorative justice practices.
The NEA report synthesizes findings from two national surveys by the APA Task Force on Violence Against Educators and School Personnel, conducted in collaboration with the American Federation of Teachers, the National Association of School Psychologists, the National Association of Social Workers, and the School Social Work Association of America. It pairs those findings with joint recommendations and practical resources to address violence. Its solution? Forge ahead with restorative justice. The brief steers administrators toward a whole-school “climate” approach, including training-heavy prevention, “positive behavior supports” like equity and social-emotional learning (SEL), trauma-informed practices, and restorative discipline.
The NEA claims that 43 percent of teachers reported intentions to quit the profession based on experiences with violence and school-climate concerns. (Elevated stress, anxiety, and burnout were also factors.) Most teachers reported experiencing at least one incident of verbal or threatening violence from students in the 2021–22 school year, and more than half reported at least one incident of physical violence during the same period, according to NEA-cited survey data.
Even while documenting high rates of violence targeted at educators and serious teacher attrition, the NEA doubles down on restorative justice and urges schools to limit or even eliminate “zero-tolerance” discipline, replacing clear, consistent, deterrence-focused and pre-determined consequences with an approach that downplays enforcement, removal, and strong consequences.
The brief also argues that “incident-focused strategies,” or dealing with a specific misconduct after it happens, won’t “move the needle” and points educators toward restorative discipline and cultural interventions like conflict resolution, mediation, and trauma-informed approaches.
But if misconduct has no consequences, it has no deterrent. Thus, a recurring cycle of bad behavior is allowed. Talking through feelings in a school setting may have its place, but it often shifts responsibility to circumstances rather than choice. The result is a classroom that is less safe and less orderly, making it harder for teachers to do their jobs and for students to learn.
At one point in this past fall’s report, the NEA cites a 2024 survey indicating that 56 percent of educators surveyed were concerned about the lack of respect they receive from parents and/or the public. In response, they propose educators, students, and families co-develop policies “to establish shared understanding and commitment to addressing responses to violence in developmentally and culturally appropriate ways.”
The NEA’s conglomeration of progressive buzzwords is a symptom of ideological capture in education. But make no mistake: Restorative justice enables repeated classroom disruption, fosters an unsafe environment, and undermines learning. When accountability becomes optional and consequences are erased, the result is anything but equitable.