Ariana Gervasio

July 20th, 2020

EAD-505

Professor Arneson

Topic 3: College of Education Ethics Quiz

Multiple Choice

1. Ethics can be defined as

a. Someone’s opinion of another person’s behavior
b. Laws and policies that govern behavior
c. Moral principles that govern a person’s behavior
d. Guidelines to ensure successful behavior

When I googled the definition of ethics, I found a definition that corresponds to the choice I have
selected. It states that as “[m]oral principles that govern a person’s behavior or the conducting of
an activity” (Oxford, 2020). Based on this definition and my knowledge, I concluded that c
would be the best answer.

2. Which of the following is not a principle of ethical leadership?

a. Personal courage
b. Self-interest
c. Sensitivity and understanding
d. Inclusiveness

Throughout looking in the Model Code of Ethics for Educators, MCEE, I could recognize the
patterns and ethical responsibilities that anyone in education must-have. This involves being
professional, having professional competence, the value of students, the value of the school
community, and the ethical use of technology. None of these incorporate having courage. Should
you be courageous in a leadership role? Yes, but one does not need to have the courage to hold
guidelines and policies already set out for them.

3. Who should be the priority in decision-making for a school leader?

a. Parents
b. Staff
c. Superintendent
d. Students

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Parents, staff, superintendent, and students should be part of the decision-making process.
However, the priority of the decision will always be in favor of what is best for the students.

4. To whom must a school administrator report information related to possible

unprofessional conduct involving a student?
a. District Office
b. State Board of Education
c. Local police
d. All of the above
e. None of the above

To get more information in this manner, I looked into my school district’s policy manual. When
looking at this question it is important to note that the report is “possible”, so an investigation
would have to take place to determine the credibility. Every report will have documentation and
communicated to the Superintendent. The Superintendent would be responsible to report local
law enforcement. If held guilty of charges, they immediately dismiss the person from
employment. The school district would then bring this to the State Board of Education for further
repercussions (Cave Creek Unified School District, 2001).

5. What is a possible consequence for failing to investigate a report of unprofessional

conduct by a school employee?
a. Warning by the human resources department
b. No consequences
c. Loss of administrative credential
d. An angry parent

Being in an education role, you are a mandatory reporter. Lack of doing so is a lack of you doing
your job. The greatest penalty for this would be a loss of administrative credentials. That does
not mean you will not encounter angry parents or some reprimand from human resources.

6. What state-level entity receives reports of unprofessional conduct and conducts an

investigation?
a. Attorney General
b. Governor’s office
c. State Board of Education
d. Department of Education

“Reports of unprofessional conduct should initially be directed toward the Arizona Department
of Education’s Investigative Unit” (Arizona Department of Education, 2020). After being
directed there, the department would pass it to its Investigation Unit.

7. Who is required to follow the mandatory reporting rules related to unprofessional

conduct?
a. Teachers

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 b. Administrators
c. Parents
d. All certificated school employees
e. All school employees

Any staff member who knows of any unprofessional conduct must report it. This can ultimately
affect the well-being of a student, staff member, or community. Therefore, it is vital to report
based on safety regulations alone.

8. Which of the following is the most serious ethical violation for an educator?
a. Sharing test preparation materials you created
b. Dating a fellow teacher
c. Taking a sick day when you are not ill
d. Letting your opinion of a student affect their grades

These items are not the best practice for any teacher. However, the most serious I would say is
letting your opinion of a student affect their grade. This is because you are now not focusing on
what the student knows, but grading them based upon how you feel about them. That does not
give a fair estimation of their progress whether the opinion is positive or negative.

9. Students are impacted by ethics in which of the following ways:

a. Grading practices
b. Student council elections
c. Student discipline practices
d. All of the above
e. None of the above

These options impact students, although student discipline practices would show the impact of
ethics. For instance, is it ethical to give a student who has no track record Saturday school for
chewing gum versus a student who has had three reprimands for chewing gum and has put gum
on school property?

10. How are school policies related to ethics?

a. Policies dictate all ethical decisions
b. Policies describe ethics
c. Policies provide guidance for some ethical decisions
d. There is no relationship between policies and ethics

School policies provide a layout of guidance on what to do when given a situation. Although this
is more of a guide, it is impossible to account for any situation that would occur on school
grounds.

Short Answer: In 50 – 100 words, respond to the following statements. Be sure to use
appropriate sentence mechanics.

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 1. Describe one way a school administrator could take preventive action to avoid a staff
member committing unprofessional conduct.

There are several ways a school administrator could take preventative action to avoid a staff
member committing unprofessional conduct. One way is having clear expectations with non-
negotiables. These expectations would show the black and white expectations that staff must
hold to maintain professionalism. This would go hand in hand with rewarding favorable conduct.
When rewarding others want the same recognition, so colleagues would hold their best behavior
for acknowledgment.

2. Describe the relationship between integrity and ethics.

Ethics are the moral principles that influence a person’s behavior, while integrity is the quality of
being honest by holding those moral principles. Therefore, these two hold a relationship for the
basis is having moral principles and acting upon the facts and not the opinion that could show
bias. Integrity goes hand in hand with honesty, where ethics shows the morality of a situation
both hold validity and help come to a fair conclusion.

3. How would you briefly outline your definition of professionalism to your faculty?
Provide at least three examples to illustrate your definition.

How I would go about briefly outlining my definition of professionalism to my faculty is by first

asking them what they think professionalism is. I would have my staff in groups and brainstorm,
then have one person from each group share. Once everyone has shared, I would provide my
definition, which is the expectation of skills and drive that make you suitable and excel at your
job. I would ask if anyone opposes this definition or would like to add to it. Another way to
illustrate this definition is to provide feedback to my colleagues. For instance, in a staff meeting
giving some praise to come colleagues. One could say thank you, John for being flexible when
the air conditioning went out in your classroom. I would provide this forum for other colleagues
to give thanks and complement one another. Further, I can illustrate professionalism by being
professional myself. I must hold the same values for myself as I am for my teachers. This could
include going to professional developments, communicating curriculum information, etc.

4. Describe how a teacher might violate professional ethics in facilitating state-mandated

testing. What happens to a teacher who would be caught violating testing procedures?

A teacher may violate professional ethics in facilitating state-mandated testing by helping a

student with a question. This would violate two aspects, one being you cannot help a student on a
state assessment, and two it does not permit you to read the questions given to students. If a
teacher gets caught doing so a student’s test would go through the invalidation process. The
administrator would have to contact the Superintendent and discuss steps to take for this teacher.

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These steps could include a reprimand from human resources, loss of a job, a report to the
Arizona Department of Education for unprofessionalism, and/or loss of one’s teaching license.

5. Which of the following areas of ethics might be the most complex for an educational
leader: staff relationships, procurement, student achievement, or community relations.
Explain your answer.

I think student achievement may be the most complex for an educational leader when thinking of
ethics. This is because they typically base student achievement upon the test score they receive
on a state-mandated test. As educators, we know that this is not the best way to represent what a
student is capable of. Student achievement is something that looks different every day.
Achievement can regard their academics, but also their social-emotional growth. Within the
ethics of student achievement comes the responsibility of holding accommodations in IEPs,
504s, and identifying the needs of students. A leader always has to know of recent structures,
curricula, and strategies to implement student success. I would say student achievement is an
ever-changing aspect that a leader needs to know and implement what their community needs.

Scenarios

Respond to each of the following scenarios in a well-crafted paragraph of 100-150 words using
appropriate sentence mechanics.

Scenario 1:
A parent reports that his daughter, a student at your school, has exchanged more than a dozen
personal emails over the last two months with her social studies teacher who is using his school-
issued computer. The latest email included an invitation for the student to have lunch with the
teacher on a Saturday. The parent is very concerned that an inappropriate relationship between
his daughter and the teacher is forming or has formed. What actions will you take based on this
report?

Based on this report, my first action would be to contact my Superintendent. I would inform the
parent that I will immediately take action and keep them updated. My Superintendent will help to
set up an investigation. I would also like to talk to the district’s attorney regarding what our
procedures are and their recommendations for my course of action. It is important to note that
they used a district device in this encounter and how this could affect the district. The
Superintendent would contact local law enforcement after given the information. If the report is
unprofessional, we would contact the Arizona Department of Education to report
unprofessionalism, which could lead to a loss in licensure. The teacher would also lose their job
within the district for the rest of the school year and would not be eligible for future hires.

Scenario 2:

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A salesperson from the company that provides your school’s copy paper invites you to join a
group that is going to spend Spring Break in Mexico, all expenses paid. You have vacation time
and are not required to report to work during Spring Break. Will you go on this trip? Why or why
not?

I would not go on this vacation because it could be a conflict of interest. I would not want to
jeopardize the relationship with the company or demerit my position in the school district. It is
important to hold professional relationships with businesses that benefit my school. Going on a
trip like this would send the wrong message to my business associate of what this relationship is.
This trip also occurs during the school year when I would have to ask for time off. It does not
show good merit if pictures on Facebook show I am in Mexico on vacation, rather than in school.
Therefore, I would politely decline their offer and thank them for thinking of me.

Scenario 3:
A parent who frequently volunteers at your high school is asking you to give her sophomore
student a parking pass, even though sophomores are prohibited by school policy from receiving a
parking pass. What will you tell the parent and what will you do next?

I would tell the parent that I could not provide a parking pass to their student. As much as I
appreciate the volunteer hours this parent has put in, it would not affect my decision. These are
school policies we hold for all students, so we should treat all students the same. If I do it for one
student, it would not be fair for the other sophomores who cannot. I would further ask if there is
an issue of how the student is coming or going to school. This way, if there are circumstances
behind this, we can solve those to make coming to and leaving school a smoother transition. As
an administrator, it is important to see the need for the deed.  

Scenario 4:
You are addressing the group of first year teachers at your school on their first day of
employment. Some of these teachers graduated from a traditional teacher preparation program,
while others did not. What would you tell them about ethics, as it applies to their job as a teacher,
so that all levels of experience and professional backgrounds are considered?

I would like to have my teachers put in strategic groups and have them discuss what they think
ethics are. I would have them discuss how ethics correlate with their job. Then, I would have
someone from each group share what they discussed. This would bring me into my discussion of
ethics. We would discuss the MCEE, I would assign each group a principle that they will present
to everyone in the room. Afterward, I would discuss how these ethics are non-negotiable and
what I expect within their professional duties as an educator. I would make sure if there are
questions or anything that anyone would like to add to our conversation.

Scenario 5:
You have been asked by a parent to review the final semester grade of a student in Algebra 1.
Dad believes that his son should have gotten an A, even though he was three points from the

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minimum number of points needed for an A. You know the student and believes that he works
hard in his classes. What should you consider in reviewing the grade? What would you decide?

I would first be transparent with the student’s teacher about the situation. I would ask if we could
glance over the grade to make sure grades are in correctly. If everything is correct, I would ask if
there is anything the student could do to get those three points to move up to an A. Further, I
would support the decision of the teacher and report back to the parent. I would let the parent
know if there was a clerical error where the student deserved an A. Also if the grade had no
error, but change could occur with additional student work. Or, if the grade may not change
based on teacher discretion.

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 References

Arizona Department of Education. (2020). Investigative Unit & Complaints. Retrieved from

https://www.azed.gov/adeinfo/investigative-unit-complaints/

Cave Creek Unified School District. (2001). Policy Manual and Administrative Regulations.

Arizona School Board Association. Retrieved from

https://policy.azsba.org/asba/PrintViewer.jsp?printCollection=0

Oxford. (2020). Ethics: Definition of Ethics. Retrieved from

https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/ethics

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