Teachers say focusing on students’ social and emotional wellbeing to address discipline has left classrooms harder to manage than ever
More than a decade ago, the nation’s schools began to turn away from punishment-based approaches to student discipline and toward restorative justice (RJ), a practice based on mending harm, taking responsibility for one’s actions, and strengthening community. While the approach aimed to build social-emotional skills and create a positive school climate, the unintended consequences of RJ are now coming into focus. A 2025 RAND Corporation survey found that teachers reported significantly higher stress and lower overall wellbeing than other working adults and cited student misbehavior as a primary reason. Many teachers said that classrooms are harder to manage than ever.
“The school system’s discipline policies don’t support the classroom teacher,” one educator commented in a survey headed by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute in 2019. “I have observed students with chronic behavior problems repeat poor behaviors with little consequences. It seems at times that administration’s hands are tied.”
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Jennifer Weber is an adjunct fellow at the Manhattan Institute.