0.6 Young, k., larsen, d., & Mixon, j. (october 2011). the relationship

Ncpea education leadership review, volume 12, number 2 (october 2011)

NCPEA Education Leadership Review is a nationally refereed journal published two times a year, in Winter (April), and Fall (October) by the National Council of Professors ofEducational Administration. Editor: Kenneth Lane, Southeastern Louisiana University; Assistant Editor: Gerard Babo, Seton Hall University; Founding Editor: Theodore Creighton, Virginia Tech.

Introduction

With disturbing frequency the news media inform us of the latest transgression by a member of the education profession, be that person a teacher or principal. In 1997, Mary Kay Lettourneau, an elementary school teacher in a school district near Seattle, WA, was convicted of statutory rape of a former male student, Vili Fualaau, who was 13 when his former mentor, then 35, became pregnant. School law provides other examples of ethical lapses by teachers and administrators (see, for example, Franklin v. Gwinnett County Public Schools, 1992; Toney v. Fairbanks North Star Borough School District, 1994; and Trautvetter v. Quick, 1990).

In 2005, the Houston Independent School District launched an investigation of undue help from teachers tasked with supervising student testing based on suspicious results reflected in statewide tests administered in 2004 (Axtman, 2005). Other parts of the country are not immune. “From Boston to Florida to California, school districts have been investigating claims that educators are providing students with answers, changing answers after the test is over, and giving students extra time” (Axtman, 2005, ¶ 4). Other examples of teachers and principals cheating to boost student test results were reported in Indiana, Mississippi, and Arizona (Axtman, 2005).

The principal preparation program that leads to licensure may or may not include a course specifically dedicated to “ethics.” Despite this apparent inconsistency, questions of ethical behavior and morally-purposed leadership are threaded thickly through coursework whose focus embraces the traits that effective leaders should have—or at least aspire to. Whether rooted in an educational setting (e.g. Evans, 2007; Fullan, 2001; Sergiovanni, 2007; Shapiro and Stefkovich, 2005; Starratt, 1994; Strike, Haller,&Soltice, 1998; Tschannen-Moran, 2007; Willower&Licata, 1997) or in the world of business (e.g. Collins, 2001; Kidder, 1995; Lencione, 2002), consideration of how leadership should be judged against an ethical standard goes hand-in-hand with establishing and bringing to reality the vision for an organization.

It might appear that any effort to require a moral compass in educators, including school leaders, is doomed at the outset. However, in a multi-cultural social setting that seems fraught with ethical ambiguity, the role of ethics in school administration could not be more important in 2010. As Kidder (1995) noted in his seminal study of integrity in the workplace, ethics is not a luxury; it is central to our survival.