PTC Professional Development & Ethical Practice 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A teacher discovers that a colleague is falsifying student assessment records to meet school performance targets. What is the most appropriate first step?
- Ignore it to avoid conflict
- Report it directly to the school board bypassing administration
- Address it privately with the colleague first, then escalate to administration if unresolved (Correct answer)
- Post about the issue on social media to raise awareness
Correct answer: Address it privately with the colleague first, then escalate to administration if unresolved
Ethical practice requires addressing misconduct directly and then escalating through proper channels if the issue is not resolved.
Question 2: Which of the following best describes the purpose of a Professional Learning Community (PLC)?
- To evaluate teacher performance for contract renewal
- To collaboratively analyze student data and improve instructional practices (Correct answer)
- To provide teachers with additional administrative duties
- To replace traditional parent-teacher conferences
Correct answer: To collaboratively analyze student data and improve instructional practices
PLCs are collaborative teams of educators who use student data to continuously improve teaching and learning outcomes.
Question 3: A student confides in their teacher about being bullied online but asks the teacher to keep it secret. How should the teacher respond?
- Honor the student's request and keep the information confidential
- Tell the student you must report it and explain the reporting process (Correct answer)
- Contact the bully's parents directly without involving administration
- Share the information with other students to get peer support
Correct answer: Tell the student you must report it and explain the reporting process
Teachers have a duty to report bullying regardless of confidentiality requests, and must be transparent with students about this obligation.
Question 4: Which reflective practice model involves cycling through planning, acting, observing, and reflecting?
- Bloom's Taxonomy
- Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle
- Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
- Action Research Cycle (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Action Research Cycle
The Action Research Cycle is a systematic reflective process teachers use to improve practice by planning, acting, observing, and reflecting.
Question 5: A teacher receives a gift from a student's parent valued at $150 during the holiday season. According to most professional ethics codes, the teacher should:
- Accept it graciously as a sign of appreciation
- Accept it but report it to the principal
- Decline it or return it to avoid the appearance of impropriety (Correct answer)
- Accept only if the student is not currently in their class
Correct answer: Decline it or return it to avoid the appearance of impropriety
Most ethics codes prohibit accepting gifts above a nominal value to avoid conflicts of interest or the appearance of favoritism.
Question 6: When developing a personal professional growth plan, a teacher should prioritize goals that are:
- Set entirely by the school administration without teacher input
- Broad and unmeasurable to allow flexibility
- Aligned with student learning needs and tied to measurable outcomes (Correct answer)
- Focused only on content knowledge rather than pedagogy
Correct answer: Aligned with student learning needs and tied to measurable outcomes
Effective professional growth plans connect teacher development directly to student learning and include specific, measurable goals.
Question 7: A teacher learns a student has been diagnosed with a learning disability. Under IDEA and FERPA, the teacher may share this information with:
- Any staff member who requests it out of curiosity
- Only those with a legitimate educational interest in the student (Correct answer)
- Parents of other students in the class for transparency
- The general public if it serves educational awareness
Correct answer: Only those with a legitimate educational interest in the student
FERPA restricts disclosure of student educational records to school officials with a legitimate educational interest in the information.
PTC Professional Development & Ethical Practice 2
A teacher discovers that a colleague is falsifying student assessment records to meet school performance targets.
What is the most appropriate first step?