Ethics and Data in School Leadership Decision-Making

Introduction

Data-driven decision-making has been identified as one of the essential values in school leadership. Since the 1960s, prevalent decision-making techniques in educational leadership literature have been data-driven decision-making, moral decision-making, and contingency decision-making (Strike & Soltis, 2005). Making decisions through a data-driven approach refers to the use of data in goal setting, identification of problem statements, identification of options and evaluation, and finally, choosing a course of action. On the other hand, moral decision-making deals with what is fair, right, virtuous, and morally upright.

These two approaches can conflict when school leaders operate in a context where leaders, students, and facilitators have competing interests. This paper explores how both concepts can be employed harmoniously to facilitate better decision-making by school leaders.

Ethics in School Administration

Ethics refers to moral philosophy. It can also be defined as a code of morals practiced by a person or group of people. It defends the concepts of right and wrong and, on a general level, seeks to resolve questions of human morality through the definition of ideas such as right and wrong, good and evil, and so forth (Wagner & Simpson, 2008).

Ethics in school administration concerns educational actions that occur within a school setting. The success of a school and the extent to which it achieves its goals depend on school leadership and effective governance. Ethical issues are part of everyday life in schools (Wang, 2019). While doing the right thing may seem straightforward, ethically difficult situations require one to examine their ethics in practice. The key question becomes: can one stand by the right choices even when faced with tough situations that may demand compromise?

A school leader who consistently behaves morally demonstrates a commitment to social justice. By contrast, a leader who is inconsistent and behaves arbitrarily loses the trust of other staff members, which creates controversy (Wagner & Simpson, 2008). Decision-making within a school setting is a crucial process, and an ethical or unethical decision directly influences the school climate. The following table illustrates some ethical violations and the corresponding penalties.

District Code of Ethics Analysis Chart

Ethics Violation | Example of Violation | Penalty for Violation

Disruptive behavior — The 2018–2019 SESIR Data showed 60 incidents of disruptive behavior. Penalty: disciplinary referrals.

Staff absence — 2019–2020 results showed only 5% of staff with zero absences. Penalty: disciplinary action.

Substance abuse — According to the 2018–2019 School Climate Survey, 20% of respondents agreed that a substance abuse problem exists, a figure that remained unchanged in the 2019–2020 survey. Penalty: disciplinary action against those found to have engaged in substance abuse.

The Four Domains of Ethical Responsibility

The following four domains of ethical responsibility can be used to view the daily and often routine decision-making processes involved in navigating the multiple roles and social relationships within a school environment.

In this domain, leaders tend to act out of an ethic of care. It is generally concerned with acting with respect and compassion to preserve the dignity of oneself and others within the same working environment (Wagner & Simpson, 2008). It also relates to trust and loyalty, which are paramount as one enacts the responsibility to be an ethical human being. It is important to be honest, understanding, compassionate, and to do the right thing even under pressure — that is, acting for the good of others.

School leaders are responsible for attaining the common good as they uphold civic rights within the school setting as part of the larger society (Mandinach, Honey & Light, 2006). They also organize the school based on the principles of democratic discourse and engage the community as part of the democratic process.

School leaders have a role in ensuring that facilitators understand the curriculum content and can communicate it using various approaches, and that they know their students well enough to offer authentic learning experiences that relate to students' lives and interests (Strike, Haller & Soltis, 2005). School leaders must also create opportunities for teacher empowerment as facilitators of the curriculum and protect the ethic of learning as they engage with the community, both as professionals and as learners themselves.

The leader ensures there are equitable structures and practices in place to enhance student learning. All decisions made within a school setting should be oriented toward the well-being of the students.

Conclusion

School leaders make countless decisions every single day, and those decisions are manifested in their behavior. Without high-quality data, school leaders are, in effect, flying blind. School leaders must frequently make decisions based on incomplete data, ambiguity, conflicting perspectives from stakeholders, and time pressure. Many decisions involve degrees of ambiguity that data-driven decision-making alone cannot handle.

Therefore, when it comes to decision-making, data alone is rarely sufficient. Moral decision-making steps in to ensure harmony during the decision-making process and to guard against the unethical behaviors that can arise when leaders rely solely on quantitative inputs (Wang, 2019). Data alone does not necessarily produce wise decision-making. Leaders should work in alternation between data-driven decisions and moral decisions, drawing on both frameworks to navigate the full complexity of school leadership.

References

Greenfield, W. D. (2004). Moral leadership in schools. Journal of Educational Administration.

Mandinach, E. B., Honey, M., & Light, D. (2006, April). A theoretical framework for data-driven decision-making. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Francisco, CA.

Strike, K. A., Haller, E. J., & Soltis, J. F. (2005). The ethics of school administration. Teachers College Press.

Wagner, P. A., & Simpson, D. J. (2008). Ethical decision making in school administration: Leadership as moral architecture. Sage Publications.

Wang, Y. (2019). Is data-driven decision making at odds with moral decision making? A critical review of school leaders' decision making in the era of school accountability. Values and Ethics in Educational Administration, 14(2).