Principal's Purpose, The

A Practical Guide to Moral and Ethical School Leadership

Leanna Isaacson

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781317930198
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Filled with "Survival Tips" to help school leaders triumph over ethical and moral dilemmas. Each chapter is organized in a practical way: When Do I Begin? What Should I Do? How Should I Do It?

1

The Moral, Ethical, and Purposeful School Leader

Know who we are, first; then we will better understand others.

In the new millennium, the bar is raised for a school leader. As a result we are pulled in more directions than ever imagined. High-stakes testing with a carrot-and-stick approach often overshadows the need to serve the individual needs of students and teachers. Satisfying difficult parents often contradicts our understanding of the individual child’s best opportunities to learn. Federal, state, and local mandates often require an autocratic approach to leadership, yet we know the best learning environment for teachers and students occurs in a democratic school culture.

As the school leader, three critical administrative and very personal themes require continuous introspection: our moral, ethical, and purposeful leadership beliefs. Understanding these provide us with an internal guidance system needed to lead in this century.

It does not matter how long we served as a school leader; 1 year or 40, when we consistently step back and regroup, rethink, and reevaluate the core of our beliefs—we reinforce the heart of our being. Our own personal belief system and leadership capabilities provide the strong sense of direction we want for ourselves and ultimately the school.

Who Are We as School Leaders?

As purposeful leaders we understand our reason for choosing the path to assist others. We recognize that by accepting a position as educational admin istrators we have an important role to fulfill. Teachers, students, and parents need someone who will guide them—serve them; as we prepare students for the next phase of their lives when they leave our schools; when we support and serve teachers in their quest to hone their craft.

In spite of the craziness that can surround our job, we realize the importance of our place in the world of school. We stay the course because we see value in providing leadership. Our purpose: Serve the teachers, students, and parents by modeling moral, ethical, and purposeful values.

When Do I Begin?

Daily

We need to take a few minutes every day for a mini-“think time.” Also plan major “think time” to pause and reflect if and when it becomes possible. Sometime during each day we need to take a few deep breaths, have a Zen moment and think about our purpose. This can happen driving back and forth to work, while in the shower, whenever. During those few minutes it is important to continually ask, “Who am I? Am I remaining true to my moral and educational ethical beliefs? What is my purpose?” Continue to analyze and define our inner self in order to better understand others.

Administrators talk to themselves (Isaacson, 2005). Parker Palmer (1998), said it best, “People who learn to talk to themselves may soon delight in the discovery that the teacher within is the sanest conversation partner they have ever had” (p. 32).

What Should I Do and How Should I Do It?

Before we check our management “to do” list, as we begin thinking about our day, first think about ourselves. Examine concepts that differentiate how and why we do what we do when leading. Reflect on our job purpose and place it at the top of our list. Do not assume that “it just happens.”

As a purposeful leader, separate the defining issues about how I am acting, and decisions I am making as the moral, ethical, and purposeful leader. Then we will discover the commonalities and examine the interrelationship among these as the chapters unfold. This requires continuous reflection.

The Moral Leader

Moral leaders demonstrate their relationship to those they lead with terms such as: fairness, honesty, truth telling, justice, and promise keeping. A moral leader is concerned with whether the decision-making process and the impact on the school community reflects concepts of justice and equality (Ciulla, 2005). School leaders must continually make difficult decisions. Understanding our moral and ethical position on educational issues provides us with the necessary tools to make hard choices.

A moral leader demonstrates key qualities that affect decision making. After answering each question below, ask, “how do I know?”

♦ Do I create a democratic environment for the school personnel?

♦ Within the democratic model, do teachers follow my lead so they, too, create a democratic environment for their students?

♦ Do I lead by doing what I know is right? Do I feel it in my heart?

♦ Do I act to create the best possible learning environments for students and teachers?

♦ Do I respond proactively to school issues?

♦ Do I make moral decisions that ensure I “do no harm” (Starratt, 2004)?

♦ Do I lead from two perspectives: not only what is “right” but what is “effective?” (Sergiovanni, 1992).

♦ Do I make decisions based on the needs of students and teachers first, before my personal needs?

♦ Do I show equal respect and provide equal treatment to all members of the school community?

♦ Do I make every effort to create positive relationships with the school community?

♦ Am I a truthful person?

♦ Am I sincere?

♦ At the end of the day can I say, “I did my best to serve well?”

As a moral leader there is the need to examine the real issues placed before us, examine the data, and face the reality of the situation (Nair, 1997). For example, a frequent concern among assistants and principals occurs when the results of standardized test scores arrive.

A moral leader will:

♦ Analyze and report the results from multiple perspectives.

♦ Present information truthfully to those affected by the data.

♦ Report sections of the data only when we decide if this decision would not cause “harm” to any one or any group (Starratt, 2004).

♦ Engage the stakeholders in productive discussions.

♦ Differentiate among the possible solutions as the group brainstorms options.

♦ Make decisions primarily “through reason and judgment” (Beckner, 2004).

As a school leader our moral values may be tested as we examine key concerns that are imposed from the outside. How would we explain the moral issues in the following True Story?

True Story

High-stakes testing placed enormous pressure on our school. Our scores were not improving at the rate expected. We had a lot of low-performing students who were not as successful as they were supposed to be according to the district projections. I was told that I had the responsibility to “get those scores up.” So, I didn’t know what to do. I knew it wasn’t what I thought was the best thing to do, but it might help get the scores raised. I eliminated science and social studies from the elementary curriculum so we could concentrate on math and reading.

—Elementary school principal

♦ Is it morally right to deny students a broad-based education?

♦ Is it morally right to make decisions that impact an entire student body without supporting evidence that it is the best thing to do?

♦ Is it morally right to solve a problem with a “quick-fix” solution and ignore long term ramifications?

True Story

When I received the test scores I realized that something didn’t make sense. I withheld the scores until I could figured out what to do with the information. I couldn’t figure out why the students as a group within the entire grade level did not do as well as in previous years. Nothing had changed regarding the demographics or curriculum.

I decided to tell the staff that the scores were inconsistent with what I knew was happening with instruction. I believed teachers were doing a good job and this was just a little set-back.

—Middle school principal

The Ethical Leader

In his book Ethical Leadership, Robert Starratt (2004) defines the difference between ethics and morals. “Ethics is the study of what constitutes a moral life” and “the underlying beliefs, assumption, principles, and values that support a moral way of life” (p. 5).

Ethics is also described with concepts such as integrity, loyalty, kindness, courage, generosity, and compassion. Ethical behavior occurs in relationships with others. Most often one thinks of acting ethically as common “horse sense.” After all, doesn’t everyone know the difference between right and wrong? In order to determine how this affects us, as school administrators, it is necessary to further examine ethical issues that surround purposeful educational leadership.

Different stories are used that illustrate decision making based on moral and ethical issues. How would we handle the situations? Were there ethical issues involved in the stories? What were they? How are they different?

Flagrant examples of immoral or unethical decisions usually make the headlines. As a leader in the education world, we are held to a higher standard of personal moral conduct. We can recall the headlines that blare, “School Assistant Principal Found Guilty of As school leaders, we are expected to meet those higher standards both in and out of the school. We have heard over and over the importance of setting an example by modeling the behavior we expect of our staff.

True Story

I received a phone call on Sunday morning from the assistant principal saying, “Last night I was arrested and charged with soliciting a pro...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• About the Authors
• Preface
• 1 The Moral, Ethical, and Purposeful School Leader
• 2 The Moral, Ethical, and Purposeful Administrative Support Team
• 3 Training a Purposeful Faculty Problem-Solving Team
• 4 Schoolwide Purposeful Mission, Vision, and Goals: Beyond the Template
• 5 Purposeful Individual Goal Setting: Finding the Needs
• 6 Differentiated Staff Development
• Final Thoughts
• Appendix
• References and Other Source Material