The book, The Urban School Improvement Plan (USIP): Changing School Climate and Culture through Relationships, Resources and Restorative Justice, is written by Julius Lockett, the founder of the Urban Essentials 101organization. USIP is the second volume produced under the Urban Essentials 101 (UE101) banner. UE101 is a school-wide climate and culture stabilization process. It contains programs, practices and strategies that have been successfully implemented in numerous urban, mostly underserved, districts and schools throughout California for more than a decade. Most of the results have been astonishing. The UE101 process is based upon principles of Restorative Justice (RJ) in School Communities. As such, instead of seeking to identify and cast students in the role of perpetrator and exacting punishment for their infractions, students are viewed as valuable members of the campus and community, and their infractions as breaches in the harmonious equilibrium of the climate and culture. Accordingly, the process seeks to identify the relationship breach and restore the balance. It is this fundamental departure that uniquely positions schools using this process in making a positive transition in philosophy, practice, and above all, student progress. The success of the UE101 process is achieved by aligning and implementing core RJ principles as normalized school practice. The principles are infused into an approach centered upon insuring that a sense of balance is struck between the site’s relationships and available resources. It is this relationship and resources balancing act that fosters stabilization of the climate and culture. This pairing is then applied to three areas–the site’s people, programs and posture. When these entities are appropriately developed and nurtured, they inescapably become the catalyst for the development of a positive, normalized school environment. This book, USIP, is about improving urban underserved schools through the implementation of the Urban School Improvement Plan. The book offers interventions and strategies for a successful execution of the plan. It begins with an exploration into the origin of the plan. It then provides a brief overview of the current predicament or breach in urban education. From there, it goes on to dispel some of the debilitating myths about urban student success. The book ends by providing a clear-cut pathway to the creation of a sustainable climate of safety and culture of learning and achievement by means of Relationships, Resources and Restorative Justice.
