SUPERINTENDENTS' ETHICAL AND LEGAL DECISION MAKING By MARK ALLEN STANTON ...

128 Pages·2007·2.8 MB·English

SUPERINTENDENTS’ ETHICALAND LEGAL
DECISIONMAKING
By
MARKALLENSTANTON
Bachelors ofSciencein Chemistryand BiologyEducation
Missouri SouthernStateUniversity
Joplin,Missouri
1993
MasterofScienceinEducational Administration
Missouri StateUniversity
Springfield,Missouri
2000
Specialist inEducation
PittsburgStateUniversity
Pittsburg,Kansas
2002
SubmittedtotheFacultyofthe
GraduateCollegeofthe
OklahomaStateUniversity
inpartial fulfillment of
therequirements for
theDegreeof
DOCTOR OFEDUCATION
July,2007
SUPERINTENDENTS’ ETHICALAND LEGAL
DECISIONMAKING
Thesis Approved:
A,KennethStern
Thesis Adviser
PamelaFry
Edward L.Harris
JudithK.Mathers
A.GordonEmslie
Deanofthe GraduateCollege
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Iwant totakethis opportunitytothankDr.KenStern,mydissertationadvisor,at
OklahomaStateUniversityforhis encouragement, leadership, guidanceand friendship
throughout this process. Dr.Stern, youwill always berememberedas afriendas well as
acolleague. Ialsowant tothankmycommitteemembers,Drs.Pam Fry,EdHarris,
JudithMathers fortheir guidance,support and words ofwisdom duringthis process.
Iwouldliketothankmywifeof20 years,Jaye,andmytwodaughters,Ashley
andBethany,forbeingpatient andallowingmeanopportunitytocompletemydoctorate.
This journeyhas beenlong,withmanyhighs and manylows.Throughit all mywife and
childrenhavebeenthere, “Ilove youall”. Finally, Iwant tothankmyfamily,mychurch
family,andmyco-workers forall oftheprayers andwords ofencouragement duringthis
process. “WEDID IT”.
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TABLEOFCONTENTS
Chapter Page
I. INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................1
Statement ofProblem...............................................................................................2
Purpose.....................................................................................................................3
ResearchQuestions..................................................................................................3
Theoretical Perspective............................................................................................4
Limitations.............................................................................................................10
Delimitations..........................................................................................................11
DefinitionofTerms................................................................................................12
SignificanceofStudy.............................................................................................12
Summary................................................................................................................13
II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE.......................................................................................14
Introduction............................................................................................................14
Ethics......................................................................................................................14
Ethical PerformanceofSuperintendents................................................................15
Ethical Decision Making........................................................................................17
CodeofEthics........................................................................................................18
Ethics ofCare,Justice,andCritique......................................................................20
Ethical TrainingofAdministrators........................................................................23
Ethical Versus Legal DecisionMaking.................................................................23
Schools as aBureaucracy.......................................................................................27
Summary................................................................................................................28
III. METHODANDPROCEDURES...............................................................................30
Research Design.....................................................................................................30
Ethical Considerations...........................................................................................31
Sample....................................................................................................................31
Instrumentation......................................................................................................32
Pilot Study..............................................................................................................33
ValidityandReliability..........................................................................................34
DataCollection......................................................................................................34
DataAnalysis.........................................................................................................35
Summary................................................................................................................36
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Chapter Page
IV.PRESENTATIONANDANALYSIS OFDATA......................................................37
Introduction............................................................................................................37
ResponseRate........................................................................................................38
Demographic Data.................................................................................................39
Analysis ofEthical and Legal Data.......................................................................62
ResearchQuestionOne.....................................................................................62
ResearchQuestionTwo....................................................................................69
ResearchQuestionThree..................................................................................79
Summary................................................................................................................82
V.SUMMARY,CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS,RECOMMENDATIONS,
ANDFINALTHOUGHTS...........................................................................................83
Summary................................................................................................................83
ProfileSummary....................................................................................................92
Conclusions............................................................................................................93
Implications RelativetoTheoretical Framework..................................................94
Recommendations..................................................................................................97
Research...........................................................................................................97
Practice.............................................................................................................98
Final Thoughts......................................................................................................98
REFERENCES.............................................................................................................. 100
APPENDIXES.................................................................................................................106
APPENDIXA-QUESTIONNAIRE...................................................................107
APPENDIXB-CORRESPONDENCE………………………………………...115
APPENDIXC- IRBAPPROVALFORM...........................................................117
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TABLES
Table Page
1. ResponseRatebyState...............................................................................................38
2. Respondents’Gender..................................................................................................40
3. Enrollment SizebyState.............................................................................................41
4. Respondents’Degree byState....................................................................................43
5. Superintendents’ExperiencebyState........................................................................46
6. TenureinDistrict as Superintendent byState.............................................................46
7. Superintendent Contract LengthbyState...................................................................48
8. Superintendent TurnoverbyState..............................................................................50
9. Superintendent CompensationbyState......................................................................51
10.Ethics PreparationbyState........................................................................................53
11.Ethics PreparationbyDegree.....................................................................................53
12.Superintendents’Compensation+Enrollment Size..................................................55
13.Superintendents’Compensation+Gender+ Degree................................................57
14.Superintendents’Compensation+Gender+ Contract Length..................................58
15.Superintendents’Compensation+Gender+ Superintendent Experience.................59
16.Superintendents’Compensation+Gender+ TenureinDistrict................................61
17.Ethics Question1.......................................................................................................63
18.Ethics Question2.......................................................................................................64
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Table Page
19.Ethics Question3.......................................................................................................65
20. Legal Question1........................................................................................................66
21. Legal Question2........................................................................................................67
22. Legal Question3........................................................................................................68
23.PairedSamples T-Test forEthical vs Legal Decisions..............................................69
24.DilemmaQuestion1..................................................................................................70
25.DilemmaQuestion2..................................................................................................71
26.DilemmaQuestion3..................................................................................................72
27.DilemmaQuestion4..................................................................................................73
28.DilemmaQuestion5..................................................................................................74
29.DilemmaQuestion6..................................................................................................75
30.DilemmaQuestion7..................................................................................................76
31.DilemmaQuestion8..................................................................................................77
32.DilemmaQuestion9..................................................................................................78
33.DecisionPatternResponseMeans.............................................................................79
34.PairedSamples T-Test forEthical vs Legal DecisionPatterns.................................80
35.PairedSamples T-Test forEthical vs OtherDecisionPatterns.................................81
36.PairedSamples T-Test for Legal vs OtherDecisionPatterns....................................81
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Superintendents arehired toprovideeducational leadershipandtomanagethe
day-to-dayoperations of school districts. This expectationhas becomemoredifficult and
challengingas oursocietyandschools continueto growincomplexity. For
superintendents tomeet theseexpectations,manyskills andcompetences arerequired.
Themost important oftheseskills andcompetencies is theabilitytomakequality
decisions (Langolis,2004).
Thedecisionmakingabilityofasuperintendent is crucial forthesuccess of that
organizationas well as foremployment stability. Decisions madeaffect all ofthe
organization’s stakeholders includingschool boardmembers,staff,students,and
members ofthecommunity.Superintendents’decisionmakingcandeterminewhether
theywill havetheircontracts extendedorterminatedbytheirschool boards.Many
superintendents havestatedthat,“Thereis nosuch thingas jobsecurityfor a
superintendent; youareonlyas good as yourlast decision”(Fitzpatrick,2000,p.50).
Thedecisionmakingprocess ofasuperintendent is complex and canbe
influencedbymanyissues.Theseissues canincluderules,regulations and laws ofthe
organization,as well as thevalues or ethics ofthe individual ororganization(Millerborg,
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1990). Theseissues can createconflicts ordilemmas forsuperintendents,as they
seekout appropriateresponses tosituations orproblems.
School districts todayare imbeddedwithdilemmas,as superintendents tryto
strikeabalanceintheirdecisionmakingbetweenthedutyofthejoband theirpersonal
andprofessional values (Millerborg,1990).Federal legislationsuch as No ChildLeft
Behind(NCLB) andthe FamilyEducational Rights andPrivacyAct (FERPA)have
increasedtheamount oflegal pressureonall administrators inpublicschools (Pardini,
2004).Consequently,system leaders facedilemmas duringthedecisionmakingprocess
as theytrytocomplywiththelawandstill protect theprivacyand rights of thestudents
(Millerborg, 1990).
Most oftheresearchonthedilemmas createdfor superintendents has focusedon
theethical decision makingofthesuperintendency(Dexheimer,1969; Fenstermaker,
1996).Thefoundationforthesestudies is theCodeofEthics oftheAmerican
AssociationofSchool Administrators.Researchers inthesestudies foundthat
superintendents made ethical decisions onthejobless than50%ofthetime. Theonly
researchconductedonthedilemmas createdwhen ethics andlawconflict was completed
over16 years ago.This researchindicatedthat superintendents make ethical choices 60%
ofthetimewhenethics andlawconflict (Millerborg,1990).
Statement ofProblem
Decisionmakingforasuperintendent is acomplex process.Conflicts ordilemmas
mayoccurwhensuperintendents makedecisions onsensitiveissues suchas separationof
churchandstate,special education,sexual orientationofstudents,racial andethnic
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diversity,school safety,appropriatefundingforschools,andfreedom ofspeech(Pardini,
2004).Superintendents maychoosetomakedecisions ontheseissues basedupontheir
personal values andtheir personal orprofessional codeofethics,ortheymaybemade
usinglocal policies or regulations andstate andfederal laws.Thepresence oftheseissues
creates conflicts ordilemmas forsuperintendents as theysearchfor anappropriate
responsetoasituation.
Purpose
Superintendents are confronteddailywithimportant decisions that require both
ethical andlegal considerations.As thesefactors areconsidered,conflicts canemerge
that makethedecisionmakingprocess forthesuperintendent verydifficult.Thepurpose
ofthis studywas toidentifyand examinethedecisionpatterns that emerged whenethical
andlegal dimensions wereinconflict.
Research Questions
Thefollowingresearchquestions were answeredinthis study:
1.What differences exist betweenthe ethical decisionmakingandlegal decision
makingofsuperintendents?
2. What patterns emerge whenconflict exists betweenethics andlawindecision
makingofsuperintendents?
3. What differences exist betweenidentifieddecisionmakingpatterns of
superintendents when ethics andlawareinconflict?
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