Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for

Children and Youth

ISSN: 1045-988X (Print) 1940-4387 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vpsf20

Proactive Circles: A practical guide to the

implementation of a restorative practice

Lauren L. Evanovich, Stephanie Martinez, Laura Kern & Rocky D. Haynes Jr.

To cite this article: Lauren L. Evanovich, Stephanie Martinez, Laura Kern & Rocky D.
Haynes Jr. (2019): Proactive Circles: A practical guide to the implementation of a restorative
practice, Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth, DOI:
10.1080/1045988X.2019.1639128

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PREVENTING SCHOOL FAILURE: ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH
https://doi.org/10.1080/1045988X.2019.1639128

Proactive Circles: A practical guide to the implementation of a

restorative practice
Lauren L. Evanovich, Stephanie Martinez, Laura Kern, and Rocky D. Haynes, Jr.
University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

ABSTRACT KEYWORDS
Schools are seeking additional ways to cultivate positive school climate and culture, address prob- Classroom Circles; PBIS;
lematic behavior, and increase the social-emotional behavior competencies of students. prevention; restorative
Restorative Practices (RP) is a whole-school practice that emphasizes prevention and positive practices; social skills
responses to challenging behavior that can be used across all settings and with all stakeholders.
This article describes the foundation of RP and its implementation in schools, specifically focusing
on an overview of Proactive Circles and its integration into Positive Behavior Intervention and
Supports (PBIS). Examples will be provided of how schools have implemented Circles for building
classroom communities, teaching social skills, and problem solving and monitored for fidelity. Last,
there will be a discussion regarding planning for implementing Circles as it fits within a
PBIS framework.

Schools have been charged with finding practices that
address problematic behavior. In the past, schools have
turned to zero tolerance approaches that result in automatic
disciplinary action that does not often account for context
(Gonzalez, 2012). Recent findings have suggested that these
punitive approaches have led to increases in disciplinary
actions, such as suspension, and have promulgated the
“school to prison pipeline” while exacerbating racial dispar-
ities in the delivery of punishing consequences (Mallett,
2016). An alternative proactive approach to addressing such
behaviors while simultaneously improving interpersonal
relationships and social-emotional behavior competencies is
Restorative Practices (RP). RP provides a whole-school
framework that promotes the building of a positive commu-
nity, responds to challenging behaviors, and repairs relation-
ships that have been harmed (IIRP, 2016). Overall, RP
improves school culture and climate by fostering positive
relationships between students and staff (Schiff, 2013) and
offers a preventive replacement for zero tolerance punitive
measures (Mallett, 2016).
RP
RP addresses the core values and needs of the school com-
munity; builds positive healthy relationships; prevents,
reduces, and improves the occurrences of inappropriate or
harmful behaviors; resolves conflict while holding individu-
als or groups responsible; and repairs hurt and restores posi-
tive staff and student relationships (Schott, 2014). Tied to
Native American and community-based Mennonite practices
(High, 2017; Payne & Welch, 2018), the precursor to RP,
restorative justice has been used in the criminal justice sys-
tem to resolve legal differences through conflict resolution
strategies that repair the harm done, reduce the risk for the
community, and empower the community by actively
involving members in the process (Pavelka, 2013; Varnham,
2005). At its core, restorative justice requires that a person
must see that they need to do something to regain commu-
nity acceptance (Rigby & Slee, 2008). When the model of
restorative justice was adapted to school-based implementa-
tion, the practices included five guiding principles: (1) rela-
tionships, (2) respect, (3) responsibility, (4) restoration, and
(5) reintegration (Eber & Swain-Bradway, 2015: Gonsoluin,
Schiff, & Hatheway, 2013; IIRP, 2012).
RP has been used in schools since its first adaptation in
the 1990s in Australia (Payne & Welch, 2018). In school set-
tings, RP can be used as a whole-school practice that
emphasizes prevention and positive practices of building
community and positive relationships and provides positive
based reactive responses to challenging behavior (Gonzalez,
2012; Morrison & Vaandering, 2012). RP includes students
addressing their behavior and responding to rule and
expectation violations by focusing on repairing any damage
that might have occurred because of the wrongdoing
(Mallett, 2016). RP has been used to improve school climate
and culture, foster healthy student-to-staff relationships,
engage families, and promote accountability and communi-
cation, ultimately resulting in decreased discipline, increased
engagement, increased academic performance, and higher
graduation rates (McMorris, Beckman, Shea, & Rachel,
2013). Schools who have adopted RP in Denver, Colorado,
have seen statistically significant reductions in office

CONTACT Lauren L. Evanovich evanovich@usf.edu 13301 Bruce B. Downs Blvd, MHC 2128, Tampa, Florida 33612, USA.
ß 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
2 L. L. EVANOVICH ET AL.
discipline referrals and suspensions the following semester
(Anyon et al., 2016) and, after controlling for the reasons
for being referred, students who have engaged in RP showed
lower odds of receiving out-of-school suspensions (Anyon
et al., 2014). Gregory, Clawson, Davis, and Gerewitz (2016)
found that teachers who were implementing RP more regu-
larly developed more positive relationships with students
who viewed them as respectful compared to teachers who
were low implementers.
RP has also been used to address challenging behaviors
between peers by promoting positive relationships through
strategies including community conferencing, community
service, peer juries, circle process, preventative and post-
conflict resolution programs, peer mediation, informal
restorative practices, and social-emotional learning (IIRP,
2016; Schott, 2014). In addition, RP has often used a whole-
school approach (Morrison & Vaandering, 2012), relying on
a tiered continuum of interventions, such as universal, tar-
geted, and intensive (Mansfield, Fower, & Rainbolt, 2018).
RP is an emerging practice with positive outcomes, but
the research is lacking randomized controlled trials (suggest-
ing RP as a promising practice; Mallett, 2016). Much of the
research on RP has not always been done in school settings
(e.g., juvenile justice focused; Wong, Bouchard, Gravel,
Bouchard, & Morselli, 2016) or in the United States
(Kaveney & Drewery, 2011; Wong, Cheng, Ngan, & Ma,
2011). For instance, in her review of interventions, Gonzalez
(2012) described several RP-based initiatives in schools
across 12 states relying on secondary sources without peer
review. In one case, she reported on a 3-year pilot study in
California within a middle school resulting in a decrease in
suspension rates from 50 per 100 students to 6 per 100 stu-
dents. In another pilot within the Baltimore Curriculum
Project, there was an 88% reduction in suspension rates after
1 year of implementation. Multiple other pilot studies, a
total of 12, have resulted in similar reductions of problem
behavior as well as increases in academic performance (e.g.,
attendance, assignment completion). When describing the
results of her pilot study of RP in Denver schools, Gonzalez
(2012) reported in a case study format the reduction of
behavioral outcomes after 1 year of implementation (85%
reduction in expulsions; 70% reduction in referrals to law
enforcement) but did not conduct statistical analyses
(Gonzalez, 2012). In a separate pre/post analysis, Vincent,
Inglish, Girvan, Sprague, and McCabe (2016), reported out-
come data from a pilot study within a high school after
implementation of RP. The authors reported a decrease in
office discipline referrals and reduction of disproportionality
across minority groups. Although the literature is lacking in
randomized controlled trials to evaluate the efficacy of RP,
there are numerous case studies and pre/post analyses docu-
menting the positive outcomes from RP implementation.
Several studies have described the success of RP in schools
by focusing on the process of implementation during case
studies (Darling & Monk, 2018; High, 2017; Mansfield,
Fowler, & Rainbolt, 2018). One of the ways to address the
lack of research is to link the practices suggested by RP to
those that are known to work in improving student behavior
and embed the practices into an evidence-based preventative
and proactive multitiered system of support such as the
Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports
(PBIS) framework.
PBIS
PBIS is a systematic multitiered framework of teaching and
managing behaviors (Bradshaw, Koth, Bevans, Ialongo, &
Leaf, 2008; Sugai et al., 2000). Regardless of the tier of sup-
ports students receive, the target of PBIS is to identify those
students who have not been successful with proactive and
preventative interventions by adding increasingly more
intensive supports to promote maximum success across all
students (Evanovich & Scott, 2016). Research has high-
lighted the successful implementation of PBIS with positive
results, including reductions in office discipline referrals,
reductions in in- and out-of-school suspensions, and
improved academic outcomes (see Illinois PBIS Network,
2006; Illinois PBIS Network, 2007; FLPBIS, 2008; CADRE,
2010). PBIS has been found to be successful as a systematic
framework; however, there are additional interventions, pro-
grams, models, and frameworks that can complement sup-
ports provided within PBIS for the success of all students
across all tiers; RP is one such intervention framework.
Similar to PBIS, RP provides a set of strategies that can
be used for building community and responding to chal-
lenging behavior. Both approaches rely on whole-school
models that emphasize prevention and positive responses to
challenging behavior. When RP strategies are integrated into
existing PBIS frameworks, the support for teacher imple-
mentation of proactive practices (e.g., RP and PBIS) is
increased, and strategies to support student behavior change
are explicit and increased.
Social skills instruction
One of the core practices of PBIS that can intersect with RP
is the teaching of social skills. As a part of Tier 1 (e.g., uni-
versal) PBIS, school teams develop 3 to 5 positively stated
schoolwide expectations (e.g., Be Safe, Be Respectful, Be
Kind). A schoolwide matrix is then created that lists out set-
tings in the specific educational environment (e.g., hallways,
bathrooms, cafeteria, office) and provides examples of what
the schoolwide expectations look like in each of those set-
tings. The expected behaviors (i.e., schoolwide expectations)
for each setting are then explicitly taught to students
through social skills instruction and lessons. In general,
social skills instruction for students has been found to be
effective in reducing inappropriate or challenging student
behavior, such as bullying behavior (Fox & Boulton, 2003).
Social skills instruction is also used to teach behaviors that
students need to be successful academically, such as follow-
ing directions, taking turns, and working with peers. Rather
than a prescribed way to teach social skills, lessons focus on
the specific needs of the students or group of students and
often seeks to improve social competence and teach a behav-
ioral skill (Maag, 2006). For example, social skills have been
 PREVENTING SCHOOL FAILURE: ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH
used to enhance interpersonal relationships (Spence, 2003)
and to teach specific behaviors such as initiating conversa-
tions (Gresham, Sugai, & Horner, 2001). Furthermore,
researchers suggest that social skills instruction needs to
consider socially valid behavior (e.g., behavior to be dis-
played by the student), which are deemed socially significant
behaviors (e.g., important to peer group or context) or have
socially important outcomes (e.g., important to greater soci-
ety; Gresham et al., 2001; Maag, 2006).
Social skills instruction that builds social competence
often contains multicomponents and are multimodal in
nature (Gresham et al., 2001). For example, instruction
might include behavioral social skills training (e.g., instruc-
tion, discussion, modeling, role-playing/behavior rehearsal,
feedback, and reinforcement), social perception skills train-
ing (e.g., the use of videos to help identify emotions of
others), interpersonal problem solving (e.g., thinking of
alternative solutions), self-instructional/self-regulation tech-
niques (e.g., using self-talk), and the reduction of competing
responses (e.g., other behaviors; Spence, 2003).
Social skills instruction that seeks to address behaviors
often include explicit lessons that focus on the level of
instruction needed for the student, consisting of (a) acquisi-
tion (e.g., learning for the first time); (b) fluency (e.g., per-
forming the behavior more quickly); (c) maintenance (e.g.,
consistently repeating the behavior over time); (d) general-
ization (e.g., displaying the behavior across multiple settings;
Gresham et al., 2001). For example, basic skills can be
taught in the acquisition stage, while students can practice
behaviors they already know to increase fluency. Social skills
focusing on learning key behaviors also often include prac-
tice, role-play, and feedback (Gresham et al., 2001).
Throughout the implementation of PBIS, one of the crit-
ical elements is teaching the social-emotional behavioral
skills we would like to see in students (i.e., Benchmarks of
Quality, Cohen, Kincaid, & Childs, 2007; Tiered Fidelity
Inventory, Algozzine et al., 2014). Regardless of the tier of
intervention the student is receiving, there needs to be
instruction that includes practice of the skills students
should demonstrate. There are options for how this teaching
should occur; it could be teacher-developed lessons or pur-
chased curriculums. If the school is using a purchased cur-
riculum, it should meet the standards of being evidence-
based as identified through What Works Clearing House or
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
(SAMHSA)’s National Registry of Evidence-based Programs
and Practices (NREPP) (https://www.nrepp.samhsa.gov/
AdvancedSearch.aspx).SAMHSA’s NREPP has identified that
the curriculum Second Step from the Committee of
Children has promising practices. The goal of Second Step is
to teach children skills around social-emotional competence
and self-regulation including empathy and problem solving.
RP and social skills instruction
Social skills instruction is an important part of teaching the
Tier 1 PBIS expectations and we submit that RP can provide
a structure in which to provide such lessons. One such RP
3
strategy is Proactive Circles. Circles have been used in RP to
develop connections between peers through the sharing of
experiences and concerns (High, 2017) and as a proactive
manner to explicitly teach behavioral skills and to develop
social competence. Gray and Drewery (2011) suggest that
Circles can help students learn important social competence
skills, such as (a) relating to others, (b) contributing and
participating, and (c) sharing ideas. Circles have also been
used to teach students respect and responsibility (Pranis,
2005). In that vein, Circles provide an alternative structure
to provide social skills instruction of teaching the PBIS
schoolwide expectations and specific setting rules to students
in an engaging way. Circles can also provide the opportunity
for practice of new skills with staff and peer feedback.
Circles can include interactions between various groupings
of staff to students, students to students, or staff to staff and
can be used in many settings (e.g., within a classroom, for a
whole-school gathering, to conduct a lesson, in a staff meet-
ing). The Circle process allows teachers to teach social com-
petence (e.g., through social skills instruction) and
encourage healthy relationship building while allowing staff
to teach (model) and students’ to practice (role-play) key
behaviors that can reflect the level of skill needed for the
students in a meaningful and structured way. The Second
Step curriculum (Beland, Anderson, & Seattle Institute for
Child Advocacy, 1997; Committee for Children, 2019) is one
where the lesson could be taught in a circles format. See
Table 2 for an applied example of Second Step using Circles.
Circles: the four-step process
To implement the structured Circle process reference above,
there needs to be an understanding of both how to set up a
Circle and the steps of a Circle (i.e., the format). No matter
the purpose of the Circle processes used (e.g., social skills
instruction, academic instruction, community building),
there are some common topographies that should be
included in every Circle. First, as indicated by the title,
everyone should be sitting in the Circle, including the facili-
tator. Everyone in the Circle has equal status, no matter
whether the participants include all staff, all students, or a
mix thereof, which means, for example, that if the students
are sitting crisscross applesauce on the floor, so are all of
the adults in the room. Every Circle has a designated facili-
tator who leads the Circle; the facilitator actively participates
but does not dominate the Circle. The facilitator can be the
adult or leader of the Circle, but can also be a student or an
alternative member of the Circle. The main role of the facili-
tator is to do just that: facilitate. At the start of the Circle,
the facilitator should identify the expectations for the Circle
(e.g., use the PBIS School-Wide Expectations: Be Honest, Be
Respectful, etc.), identify the talking piece that will be used,
and preteach any steps of the Circle as necessary.
Throughout the Circle, the facilitator passes around the talk-
ing piece, identifies the movement of the talking piece (e.g.,
round robin to the right, popcorn), and reminds participants
that participation is encouraged but not mandatory.
Circles can be conducted in more than one format; how-
ever, the one presented here consists of four steps for
4 L. L. EVANOVICH ET AL.

Date: __________________ Time: __________

Fidelity Check Completed By: (circle one) Student Staff Member

Description of Circle (be specific-i.e. teaching 1st period 6th grade math class the rules in the
cafeteria; morning circle in Kindergarten to review emotions and talk about different strategies for
expressing anger; 4th period graphic design class to discuss increase of number of tardy students
to class following lunch)
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

Directions: For each of the components place a X in the box if the component was observed as “In
Place” or “Not in Place”. Not required but there is a box if you want to make a note about the
content used or to provide feedback.
Component Status Comments/Notes
In Place Not In Place
Greeting/Focusing
Moment

Connections/Feelings
Check-In

Activity

Closing

Figure 1. Fidelity check: Classroom Circles.

implementation. The four-step Circle process is advocated as
it provides a structure that can be easily implemented and
replicated and has accompanying fidelity checklists (Figure
1). This four-step Circle process can be used for a variety of
purposes (i.e., community building, teaching, and problem
solving) and with any group of participants (e.g., students
and teachers, teachers and administration, community mem-
bers). Each one of the four steps has critical features that
support the use of implementation. The four steps are (1)
greeting/focusing moment, (2) feelings check-in, (3) activity,
and (4) closing (IIRP, 2016).
Step 1: Greeting/Focusing Moment. The greeting/focusing
moment sets the positive tone of the Circle. This portion of
the Circle is very short and should only last a few minutes.
If using a greeting, everyone in the Circle participates and
should hear their name stated. An example of a greeting
would be having the first person say their name and then
everyone in the Circle would choral respond the person’s
name back. This is an example of modeling and role-play-
ing. This process would be repeated until everyone’s name
was said. If the intention of the Circle is to develop relation-
ships, then the greeting may include something fun and per-
sonal to get to know the person introducing himself or
herself. To build onto the example provided, each person
could say their favorite color, type of movie they prefer (i.e.,
comedy, drama, action, documentary, etc.), sweet or salty
snack, or if they could travel anywhere where would they
choose to visit.
If using a focusing moment, everyone in the Circle
may participate at more of an individual level. For
example, a focusing moment would be having everyone in
the Circle close their eyes and start by taking a deep
breath counting from one to five. Next, ask everyone to
take another deep breath and count backward from five to
one. In this focusing moment, the cycles of counting to
five and backward from five can be repeated, as needed,
to get everyone in the Circle to focus. This is often used
when transitioning into the classroom from another envir-
onment or activity, such as an assembly, physical educa-
tion, or recess.
Step 2: Feelings Check-In. After students have greeted one
another or had a moment to focus, the feelings check-in
allows the facilitator to get an emotional status check of
where all the participants are at the start of a Circle. This
brief check-in provides the facilitator an idea of what par-
ticipation may look like for each individual, allows the facili-
tator to know whether there are some participants who need
to be checked in with after the Circle, and allows the facili-
tator to identify whether the activity of the Circle needs to
be modified or terminated. The feelings check-in is another
way to help build relationships between the participants and
teach empathy for one another’s feelings.
 PREVENTING SCHOOL FAILURE: ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH
One example of how you might conduct a feelings check-
in might include asking each participant to identify if they
are a rose (i.e., feeling great) or a thorn (i.e., not having a
good day). Each participant would use a thumbs up to signal
they are a rose and a thumbs down to signal they are a
thorn. This exercise should be completed quickly without
specific feedback provided to participants. The facilitator can
then use the information from the activity to gage the level
of support participants may need during the remaining
Circle or whether the Circle should be postponed.
Step 3: Activity. The activity portion of the Circle is the
main part of the Circle and will comprise the greatest pro-
portion of time. When deciding to hold a Circle there
should be a purpose behind using the Circle, which directly
impacts the activity for the Circle. Some common purposes
for doing a Circle are problem solving an issue; teaching
behavior and/or academics; building community/relation-
ships; or for social skills instruction. The desired outcome of
the Circle will then guide the facilitator in selecting the
activity to use in the Circle. For example, if the purpose of
the Circle is to discuss a classroom issue, the teacher/facilita-
tor may identify that there has been an increase in the rates
of students who are not coming to class on time. The
teacher/facilitator may present the issue to the students and
ask the students to brainstorm why there has been an
increase in tardiness, brainstorm some solutions to address
the tardiness, and conclude with identifying a few solutions
to implement. Once the solutions are selected, the group
will identify who is responsible, when the solutions will be
implemented, and a date for follow-up to see how the action
steps are working to solve tardiness.
Similarly, another purpose for a Circle can be teaching
behaviors, such as schoolwide behavioral expectations, or
classroom routines. This may include having students role-
play what it looks like to follow the rules on the school bus in
preparation for an upcoming field trip. Circle can also be used
to address academic content such as using a Circle to review
for an upcoming history test. During the activity portion, each
student is given a note card; half of the note cards have dates
of historical events and the other half of the note cards have
the corresponding historical events. The students have to
match up the events to the dates and then discuss the import-
ance of the historical event. Once students are all paired, each
group shares back to the larger group what was reviewed.
Last, Circles can have the purpose of building groups, class,
or school community. One community-building activity could be
having participants find an unknown or less familiar partner in
the Circle and find something in common (e.g., they both like
NCAA basketball, they have siblings, they are new to the school).
Once they have something in common, then they have to find
another pair, and the four of them have to find something in
common between all participants. Groups continue to pair up
and find a commonality until everyone in the Circle is one large
group again and they have found something in common.
Step 4: Closing. The closing is the last step of the Circle
and just like the greeting and feelings check-in, the closing
should be quick. The closing allows for the facilitator to let
the participants know that the Circle is ending. A facilitator
5
may use the closing to allow for a reflection about the Circle
(i.e., what went well, what they learned, what do they need to
do as a result of the activity) or be a quick action or activity
to close (e.g., a song, chant, call and response, two-word
check out). The facilitator may also choose to do the same
activity that was used for the feelings check-in to assess any
changes in participant’s feelings as a result of the Circle (e.g.,
are you a thorn or a rose now?). The important part of the
closing is that there is a distinctive close to the Circle and
directions for the next activity or transition are provided.
All four steps of the Circle process outlined above can be
assessed for fidelity using the simple fidelity check provided
in Figure 1. As part of the fidelity checklist for Circles, there
is the opportunity for the individual completing the check-
list to identify the greeting/focusing moment, the feelings
check-in, the activity, and the closing with a simple “in
place” or “not in place,” and a comment section to track
what was done, what went well, or suggestions for future
uses. Because the activity portion is the main component of
a Circle and has a set purpose, activities have been grouped
into three different categories: (1) community building, (2)
teaching, and (3) problem solving. To highlight possible
activities to be used in Circles, Table 1 provides activities
previously observed by category of use.
Planning for implementation within PBIS
In order to successfully implement any school-based initia-
tive, there needs to be an action plan for training, dissemin-
ation, and a schedule of implementation. In that vein, we
suggest the use of integration of RP into a school’s preexist-
ing PBIS framework.
The integration and action planning needed will differ
depending on whether an individual teacher is planning on
implementing proactive Circles practice within his or her
classroom or whether the entire school is adopting the
implementation of classroom Circles within their PBIS
framework as described above. Potential steps for implemen-
tation for both scenarios are provided below.
Individual
If a teacher is adopting Circles in his or her classroom, the
action and implementation planning will be individualized.
Each classroom teacher interested in implementing Circles
will need to identify where within the school day it would
be appropriate to use a Circle and select the type of Circle
that would be suitable to use for their current need: building
community, teaching, and problem solving. Prior to starting
each Circle, the teacher should identify the purpose of the
Circle and ensure the greeting/focusing moment, feelings
check-in, activity, and closing are aligned with the purpose.
The teacher should ensure that his or her students know
each of the four components of a Circle, by planning for
teaching a Circle format and structure to their class as part
of the implementation process. It would be helpful once the
students are fluent in the Circles process for students to
serve as the facilitators and as an observer of fidelity around
6 L. L. EVANOVICH ET AL.

Table 1. Circle activities.

Teaching
Expectations and rules (e.g., cafeteria, classroom)
SEL Lesson and Tier 2 supports
Address a classwide behavior issue (e.g.,
disruption, name calling)
Discuss ways students can learn to be
good listeners
How to express emotions
Discussion about kindness and strategies to teach
one another with kindness
Role-play a scenario where a friend says they do
not want to play; how could you
respectfully respond?
Read a poem about sharing and then students
get in pairs, read poem to each other and
explain what is means to share
Good choices/poor choices. Cards were handed
out to students and they had to identify good/
poor choices. Reminded that choices are made
everywhere, not just in classrooms
Prepping students for writing activity by
brainstorming ideas of what responsibility
means and posting stick notes with
information
Reviewing behavior expectations for when
substitute is in a classroom
Discuss the importance of listening attentively
Discuss the importance or providing emotional
support to others
Discuss and practice calm down strategies
Discuss importance of emotions and how to
identify other people’s emotions
Discuss how our emotions affect others and
ourselves during the school day
Discuss how to accept differences in others
How to control the “volume” part of
your behavior.
Discuss friendship skills
Building Community Problem-Solving
Discuss future goals and possibilities after Real-world problem and possible solutions
high school.
Establish circle norms and agreements, practice Talk about problems in the classroom and
listening with two round circles, and model strategies to solve the problems
what it looks/sounds like.
Kick off faculty meetings with a restorative circle Disagreements between staff on behavioral
(e.g., ask to reflect on the school year, things expectations
they are happy about).
How are you feeling today? What is your goal? Discuss tools to use for good listening
Who can you ask in our class for help? What
book would you like to live in?
Use stand up or hand up for positive/negative. Discussion about importance of grades and reflect
on feelings about report cards
Discuss and practice telling someone how they Teaching responsibility: The teacher can use an
feel and why it is important. example of not being responsible and students
problem-solved how to fix these scenarios
Practice stating and sharing feelings. Students are asked to think like the dean and
solve the problem of chronic disruptors
Write down one way you have been resilient in Students are asked to develop solutions to
your life-share . address teasing vs. bullying
Write about a time when you lost something Discuss time management and develop solutions
important or felt like you failed. Share what
you wrote and how you got through it.
Students share something positive about a peer Identify ways to use the arts to express feelings
and about something positive that happened
during the week.
Talk about a time about how you felt when Identify ways to respond to people who make
someone else was angry with you. you angry
Each student shares something about Problem-solve healthy activities for the weekend
their weekend.
Share biggest concern/challenge facing students. Problem-solve when individuals might use
calming strategies
Ask students to share their hurricane experience Problem solve ways to stay safe during
and how they are feeling. natural disasters
Have students identify who is their biggest Problem solve how to identify healthy boundaries
support person, who is the biggest support in in relationships
their life.
Have students participate in peer interviewing
and share the answers with the entire group.
Identify what are the most important
characteristics of a learner in the classroom.
Have students identify what you need to do to
work with people who are different than you.
Share something positive about the morning.
Share something positive about school.

the four steps of the Circle as feedback for the facilitator.
The next step in classroom implementation planning is to
ensure that all the logistics, materials, and preparations are
ready prior to the implementation of a Circle. These include
identifying the talking piece, expressing and teaching the
Circle expectations, and using a space suitable to hold a
Circle. Last, teachers may also want to plan a couple times a
year for collecting feedback from students about their par-
ticipation in Circles—for example, their enjoyment and sug-
gested activities for Circles—and use the evaluation
information from such informal feedback and fidelity checks
to inform the continued use of Circles in the classroom.
Whole school
If a school is adopting the practice of Circles, the first step
in implementation planning is to identify which staff mem-
bers will volunteer or be asked to implement the practice
and then to provide training around the process of using
Circles. It will be important that some of members of the
PBIS team are included in training, allowing the PBIS team
to align the use of Circles within the PBIS framework at the
school as well as provide ongoing supports for the imple-
mentation of Circles schoolwide.
As Circles may be used staff to staff, it may be beneficial
to start with having different staff facilitate Circles with
other staff for practice and feedback using the fidelity check-
list. For example, an action planning item for implementa-
tion may be to have staff use a Circle to reflect on what is
going well during the school year for community-building
practice or practice with a problem-solving Circle to identify
the biggest challenge at the school and then develop some
strategies to address the challenge. Once staff have received
training and practice, the next implementation planning step
for the school is to identify where within the school day it
would be appropriate to use Circles and whether there is a
 PREVENTING SCHOOL FAILURE: ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH 7

Table 2. Second Step lesson using circles.

Social Skills: Teaching the six steps to having a conversation with a friend
Greeting Feelings Check-In Activity Closing
Identify a time recently you started a How well do you think you can start Model and practice via role playing Have students raise a finger to
conversation with a friend. a conversation with a friend? the six steps for having a identify how comfortable they feel
conversation with a friend. implementing the six steps
presented today.
Greeting. For teaching this lesson on “Friendship Making” ask the students to think about a time recently they had to start a conversation with a new friend/
peer. Ask them to identify one thing that they talked about to their friend (i.e., TV show, video game, pets, etc.). The students will be given some wait time and
the opportunity to make a note of what they would like to share. After the students have 2 minutes to think about the question posed. The students are asked
to go around the circle and they will share to the group what the topic was that they talked about with their friend. After each student shares their topic, the
rest of the group with say, “Thank you with the student’s name.” For example, Emilio says “I talked to my friend Gavin about WWE” and the rest of the group
will say back “Thank you Emilio” and then the next student will share.
Feelings Check-In. After all students have had a chance to share their idea or pass if they choose, the teacher will do a feelings check-in. The teacher will ask
students to think about how easy it is to start a conversation with a “new friend.” The teacher will ask students to give a thumbs up if they think it is easy and
a thumbs down if they find it difficult. Then, the teacher will count to three and each student has a chance to give a thumbs up or thumbs down; this allows
the teacher to get a sense of the comfort level for each student.
Activity. The teacher will introduce the topic of starting conversation for making friends. The teacher will read the six steps for the students in the group and
model each step while reading the steps. The teacher will then ask a student to practice and role-play the six steps for having a conversation for the group. The
teacher will then pair up the students in the circle and each pair will practice the six steps for having a conversation. After the students have had a chance to
practice with their partner, then they will do their role-play for the entire group. This will allow for each group to practice and get feedback about how well
they practiced the six steps. All pairs will be given the opportunity to practice in front of their peers.
Closing. After all student pairs have had a chance to practice the six steps for having a conversation, the teacher will thank the students for practicing the six
steps for having a conversation and let them know that they will move onto the closing. The teacher will ask students on the count of three to raise their
fingers to show how they are feeling now about starting a conversation with a new friend. If they are feeling like, “yes, I can do this” then they should hold up
one finger; if the students are “feeling nervous but I think I can do it” then they should hold up two fingers. If the student is “still not sure and wants more
practice” then they should hold up three fingers. Then, on the count of three the teacher askes the students to hold up their fingers. The teacher then closes
with a transition to the next class activity.

minimum expectation for number of Circles to take place a
week or a month across the school. After the plan for who,
when, and where is in place, a final piece of implementation
planning that should occur is evaluation. The school team
should identify a plan for checking for fidelity of implemen-
tation of the Circle process and to provide feedback for
those implementing. The school team should also identify
how they will know whether the Circles are having an
impact on the school—for example, will the team look at
school climate data, reductions in referrals to the office, or
some other data sources—and have continuous planning
around the further use of Circles dependent upon the imple-
mentation purpose and the data from evaluation.
Community integration
RP focuses on building a community, responding to challeng-
ing behaviors, and repairing relationships that have been
harmed. Within the RP literature, there are a variety of inter-
ventions school teams might select from (e.g., restorative just-
ice, restorative discipline, reparations, and reintegration);
however, this article specifically focuses on the use of Circles
within RP because this specific intervention is intended to be
preventative in nature and links with social skills interventions.
By using a preventative integrated RP approach, school teams
can build healthy relationships within the community allowing
for fewer resources being used for reactive strategies. In add-
ition, when reactive strategies are used, there is a foundation
for the relationship to allow for long-term positive outcomes.
Conclusion
Circles are just one the RP that a school may adopt for
implementation within their PBIS framework. Circles can be
used to build relationships, teach empathy, teach academic
content, or be used for problem solving an issue. Circles
should not only be used with students but also used with
staff and other stakeholders on a school campus. The key
for implementation is for staff to see this alignment and
understand the four steps of Circle implementation and for
an integration plan to be developed for the best use of
Circles for the needs of the school community.
Regardless of whether a single teacher elects to imple-
ment Circles or the entire school intends to implement the
strategy, there are steps that must be completed: greeting/
focusing moment, feelings check-in, activity, and closing. In
preparing for and long-term sustainability of implementing
Circles, action planning is key. The teacher or school team
should identify the best fit of Circle integration and then
develop a schedule that fits those needs. Materials and activ-
ities should be prepared to allow for ease of implementation
ahead of time, and the teacher and school team should col-
lect data to monitor the effectiveness of the intervention to
continuously adjust implementation based on data out-
comes. The practice of Proactive Circles can provide add-
itional support to students across all tiers in building
relationships, learning empathy, reinforcing academic con-
tent and practicing problem solving in a structured and
predicable manner.
Funding
This research was supported by the University of South
Florida College of Behavioral & Community Sciences
Internal Grant Program.
8 L. L. EVANOVICH ET AL.
Notes on contributors
Lauren L. Evanovich is an assistant research professor at the
University of South Florida. Her research interests include Multi-
Tiered Systems of Support, with focus on Tier 2 and Tier 3 academic
and behavioral interventions; academic interventions for students with
learning disabilities; and schoolwide and juvenile justice facility–wide
PBIS implementation.
Stephanie Martinez is an Associate in Technical Assistance with
Florida’s Positive Behavior Supports (PBS) Project at the University of
South Florida. Her research interests include implementation of school-
wide PBS in urban schools and schools that are having difficulty meet-
ing state and national standards.
Laura Kern is a postdoctoral research scholar at the University of
South Florida. Her research interests include the intersection of policy
with educational practice, the reduction of aggressive behaviors in
schools, and the implementation of multitiered systems of support.
Rocky D. Haynes Jr. is an instructor and coordinator of the under-
graduate minor in Applied Behavior Analysis at the University of
South Florida. His research interests include multitiered support sys-
tems/positive behavioral interventions and supports within education
and residential settings; prevention of child abuse and neglect through
ecobehavioral parent education and training; and capacity building for
systems to support staff training and behavioral coaching.
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