Michael Kennedy

EDAD 520
20 July 2014
Statement of Ethics
Being a decision maker is an everyday reality of an education
administrator. Being an ethical decision maker is an everyday choice of an
administrator. Ethics and decision making cannot be divorced from each
other, as administrators rely on ethics to make decisions. Without ethics and
ethical beliefs, there is no basis from which a person can decide what is right
and what is wrong. The reason we have ethics is because we have free will,
and so long as we must make choices that affect our lives and the lives of
others, ethics must be a part of the decision making process. If ethics were
not part of the choices we make, we would choose to serve no greater
interests than those of our selfish selves. I believe that relationships and
communication are vital to the success of any individual. Without ethics,
neither of these are truly possible.
Ethics and ethical decision making in can be seen in many contexts
within the realm of educational administration. For example, as discussed in
Emily Richmonds article, When Educators Cheat, educators are faced with
major ethical dilemmas when dealing with high-stakes tests. The article
discussed a variety of different cases where school officials made poor
judgments in how they worked with standardized tests. Since the creation of
No Child Left Behind legislation, and now with the federal governments new
program Race to the Top, standardized test have become high-stakes tests.
Not only is the success of schools and districts directly tied to test scores,

teacher evaluations are also being tied to student scores as well. Because of
the expectations that have been set by the federal government, many
educators have resorted to cheating.
In many cases, educators are not cheating in ways that someone
could easily point out to be cheating. Many of the standardized testing rule
infractions that have occurred are either seemingly minor, such as giving
students too much or too little time on an exam. Other infractions seem
legitimate but are certainly not allowed, such as reading tests to ELL
students. Although these are only two examples for the large variety of
possible cheating actions that could occur, they help to raise the point that
there is a grey area to ethics in high-stakes testing. What may seem to be
acceptable practice is actually not. For reasons such as this, educators need
to have a strong understanding of their personal ethical foundations. Without
a strong ethical code to base practices off, any educator can drift astray from
ethical practices, creating a host of different possible pitfalls.
The AASA has created a statement of ethics that school administrators
should base their practices off. Within this statement of ethics is ten guiding
standards for administrators. In many ways, this ten-point list describes
obvious practices that every administrator should adhere to. However, it
does a nice job a laying a foundation of beliefs for administrators to work by.
Both Richmonds article and the AASA statement of ethics are great initial
reference points to create a personal statement of ethics from.

Educational administrators must prescribe to certain beliefs in their

practice to help them discern the difference between good choices and poor
choices. On this topic, Ive created my own personal statement of ethics to
guide my own decision making.

Statement of Ethics
I will:

Make decisions that are in the best interests of the students

Develop and lead staff to act in the best interest of the students

Follow all federal, state, and local laws, both applicable to the school
setting as well as privately

Respect and honor the basic rights of all people

Be truthfully honest, embody integrity, and work to garner trust and

respect from everyone I work with

My actions as an administrator must follow the criteria in my statement of

ethics. I believe it is impossible to be a successful administrator without
following ethical boundaries that I have outlined in my statement of ethics.
There are a number of ways I will set out to ensure my actions match my
beliefs. First of all, I will be sure to always be familiar with educational law,
and all laws pertaining to schools. After all, I have to know what the laws are
if I am going to follow them. Secondly, I think that communication with those

I work with is key to acting in an ethical manner. I believe that

communication and building relationships leads to understanding between
people, which drives ethical decision making. Finally, I need to be a selfreflective individual. So often we make decisions without truly reflecting on
the outcomes. Nobody can be perfect in the decisions they make, but selfreflection helps to make better decisions in the future, as well as keep our
personal statement of ethics in mind.
The driving force behind my statement of ethics is my belief that life is
meant to be lived serving others. I believe there is no greater attribution a
person can leave on this Earth than to serve the needs of others. This is why
I believe so strongly in the power of relationships and communication. My
statement of ethics reflects my strong ties to service to others,
communication, and building relationships. To me, this is what ethical
thinking and decision-making is at its core. If I follow the five tenets of my
statement of ethics, I believe I can effectively serve others, communicate,
and build relationships.