SEHS Professional Ethics in Education 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A teacher is asked by a parent to change their child's grade after the grading period has closed without any academic justification. The teacher should:
- Change the grade to maintain a positive relationship
- Explain the grade objectively and decline to change it without valid reason (Correct answer)
- Consult other students' grades before deciding
- Report the parent to law enforcement
Correct answer: Explain the grade objectively and decline to change it without valid reason
Grades must reflect academic performance; changing them under parental pressure without justification is unethical.
Question 2: Which of the following best defines 'in loco parentis' and its ethical implication for educators?
- Teachers must always agree with parents' wishes
- Educators act in place of parents and have a duty of care for students (Correct answer)
- Schools have no responsibility for student welfare outside the classroom
- Parents must always be present during school activities
Correct answer: Educators act in place of parents and have a duty of care for students
'In loco parentis' means educators assume parental-like responsibility for student welfare while students are in their care.
Question 3: A school counselor learns from a student's file that the student was previously in foster care. Sharing this information with teachers who have no educational need to know is:
- Acceptable if done with good intentions
- A violation of student privacy rights under FERPA (Correct answer)
- Required for proper classroom management
- Encouraged to build teacher-student rapport
Correct answer: A violation of student privacy rights under FERPA
FERPA protects student education records; sharing sensitive information without legitimate educational purpose violates this law.
Question 4: A teacher allows students to grade each other's tests and then calls out individual scores aloud. This practice is ethically problematic because it:
- Reduces the teacher's workload inappropriately
- Violates student privacy by publicly disclosing grades (Correct answer)
- Encourages peer-to-peer learning too much
- Conflicts with standardized testing procedures
Correct answer: Violates student privacy by publicly disclosing grades
Publicly disclosing a student's grade without consent can violate privacy rights and cause unnecessary embarrassment.
Question 5: An educator who accepts gifts from parents in exchange for better grades is engaging in:
- Community relationship building
- Bribery, which is unethical and potentially illegal (Correct answer)
- Acceptable cultural exchange
- Supplemental income that is professionally permitted
Correct answer: Bribery, which is unethical and potentially illegal
Accepting gifts in exchange for academic favors constitutes bribery and fundamentally compromises grading integrity.
Question 6: Which of the following actions demonstrates ethical use of student performance data?
- Sharing individual test scores on a public bulletin board
- Using aggregated data to identify instructional gaps and improve teaching (Correct answer)
- Selling student data to private tutoring companies
- Discussing individual scores at a public school board meeting
Correct answer: Using aggregated data to identify instructional gaps and improve teaching
Ethical use of data involves improving instruction while protecting individual student privacy.
Question 7: A new teacher is pressured by experienced colleagues to pass all students regardless of performance to maintain the school's promotion rate. The ethical response is to:
- Comply to fit into the school culture
- Maintain honest grading standards and seek guidance from administration (Correct answer)
- Resign immediately without reporting the issue
- Grade randomly to avoid conflict
Correct answer: Maintain honest grading standards and seek guidance from administration
Professional ethics require honest assessment; yielding to pressure that misrepresents student achievement is a breach of integrity.
SEHS Professional Ethics in Education 3
A teacher is asked by a parent to change their child's grade after the grading period has closed without any academic justification.
The teacher should: