Ethics in Sight

A. The professional educator respects the rights and dignity of students by:

1. Respecting students by taking into account their age, gender, culture, setting and socioeconomic context;

2. Interacting with students with transparency and in appropriate settings;

3. Communicating with students in a clear, respectful, and culturally sensitive manner;

4. Taking into account how appearance and dress can affect one’s interactions and relationships with students;

5. Considering the implication of accepting gifts from or giving gifts to students;

6. Engaging in physical contact with students only when there is a clearly defined purpose that benefits the student and continually keeps the safety and well-being of the student in mind;

7. Avoiding multiple relationship with students which might impair objectivity and increase the risk of harm to student learning or well-being or decrease educator effectiveness;

8. Acknowledging that there are no circumstances that allow for educators to engage in romantic or sexual relationships with students; and

9. Considering the ramifications of entering into an adult relationship of any kind with a former student, including but not limited to, any potential harm to the former student, public perception, and the possible impact on the educator’s career. The professional educator ensures that the adult relationship was not started while the former student was in school.

B. The professional educator demonstrates an ethic of care through:

1. Seeking to understand students’ educational, academic, personal and social needs as well as students’ values, beliefs, and cultural background;

2. Respecting the dignity, worth, and uniqueness of each individual student including, but not limited to, actual and perceived gender, gender expression, gender identity, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, religion, age, disability, race, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and culture; and

3. Establishing and maintaining an environment that promotes the emotional, intellectual, physical, and sexual safety of all students. 

C.  The professional educator maintains student trust and confidentiality when interacting with students in a developmentally appropriate manner and within appropriate limits by:

1. Respecting the privacy of students and the need to hold in confidence certain forms of student communication, documents, or information obtained in the course of professional practice;

2. Upholding parents’/guardians’ legal rights, as well as any legal requirements to reveal information related to legitimate concerns for the well-being of a student; and

3. Protecting the confidentiality of student records and releasing personal data in accordance with prescribed state and federal laws and local policies.

Professional Competencies - Teaching competencies include proficiency in planning, teaching, and assessing, but there are other duties and responsibilities that transcend a learning segment. Professional competencies include self-presentation, self-representation, professional collegiality and demeanor, and also taking responsibility for those tasks entrusted to you.

Professional Attitudes- Toward Teaching Methods - Content and assessment change alongside changes in the broader society and a teacher must understand and address those changes through effective planning, instruction, and assessment. Lesson plans and methods should not be understood as guidelines written in stone but a reflection on possibilities that can be adapted to new and diverse situations.

Professional Attitudes - Toward Students- Diversity exists across students and teachers and within students and teachers. Effective teaching values diversity and includes it in all areas of planning, instruction, and assessment.

Professional Attitudes - Toward Schools - While a teacher may be isolated to a single classroom, no classroom exists divorced from other classrooms or from its social context. A teacher must value the input and experience of others in the development of effective planning, instruction, and assessment.

Professional Dispositions - Open-mindedness Dispositions - The classroom is the first time many students are placed in close proximity to those from other backgrounds and cultures. In this space, a teacher must provide safety and challenge to all students, which requires a stance of open-mindedness to the ways and knowledges of diverse people.

Professional Dispositions - Self-Reflection Dispositions - The most important posture in a teacher’s tool kit is self-reflection that drives changes and development in knowledge and action. Teaching is an art and a teacher must determine what a classroom needs, year after year, class after class. A teacher must use self-reflection as the foundation for effective planning, instruction, and assessment for all students.

Professional Dispositions - Curiosity Dispositions - a good teacher is a lifelong learner. To this end, we look for a disposition toward curiosity, both toward understanding how things work but also toward imagining how things might be made better.

Professional Dispositions - Educational Equity Dispositions - It is difficult to imagine that one teacher can change the world, but we look for teachers who are willing to try. While much can be accomplished within a single classroom, a strong educational equity and advocacy disposition also means forming alliances across classrooms and communities.

Learner Development

1(a) The teacher regularly assesses individual and group performance in order to design and modify instruction to meet learners’ needs in each area of development (cognitive, linguistic, social, emotional, and physical) and scaffolds the next level of development.

1(b) The teacher creates developmentally appropriate instruction that takes into account individual learners’ strengths, interests, and needs and that enables each learner to advance and accelerate his/ her learning.

1(g) The teacher understands the role of language and culture in learning and knows how to modify instruction to make language comprehensible and instruction relevant, accessible, and challenging.

1(h)  The teacher respects each learner’s differing strengths and needs and is committed to using this information to further each learner’s development.

1(i) The teacher is committed to using learners’ strengths as a basis for growth, and their misconceptions as opportunities for learning.

Learning Differences

2(a) The teacher designs, adapts, and delivers instruction to address each student’s diverse learning strengths and needs and creates opportunities for each student to demonstrate their learning in different ways.

2(b) The teacher makes appropriate and timely provisions (e.g., pacing for individual rates of growth, task demands, communication, assessment, and response modes) for individual students with particular learning differences or needs.

2(c) The teacher designs instruction to build on learners’ prior knowledge and experiences, allowing learners to accelerate as they demonstrate their understandings.

2(d) The teacher brings multiple perspectives to the discussion of content, including attention to learners’ personal, family, and community experiences and cultural norms.

2(e) The teacher incorporates tools of language development into planning and instruction, including strategies for making content accessible to English language learners and for evaluating and supporting their development of English proficiency.

2(f) The teacher accesses resources, supports, and specialized assistance and services to meet particular learning differences or needs.

2(g) The teacher understands and identifies differences in approaches to learning and performance and knows how to design instruction that uses each learner’s strengths to promote growth.

2(h) The teacher understands students with exceptional needs, including those associated with disabilities and giftedness, and knows how to use strategies and resources to address these needs.

2(i) The teacher knows about second language acquisition processes and knows how to incorporate instructional strategies and resources to support language acquisition.

2(j) The teacher understands that learners bring assets for learning based on their individual experiences, abilities, talents, prior learning, and peer and social group interactions, as well as language, culture, family, and community values.

2(k) The teacher knows how to access information about the values of diverse cultures and communities and how to incorporate learners’ experiences, cultures, and community resources into instruction.

2(l) The teacher believes that all learners can achieve at high levels and persists in helping learners reach their full potential.

2(m) The teacher respects learners as individuals with differing personal and family backgrounds and various skills, abilities, perspectives, talents, and interests.

2(n) The teacher makes learners feel valued and helps them learn to value each other.

2(o) The teacher values diverse languages and dialects and seeks to integrate them into his/her instructional practice to engage students in learning.

Learning Environments

3(a) The teacher collaborates with learners, families, and colleagues to build a safe, positive learning climate of openness, mutual respect, support, and inquiry.

3(b) The teacher develops learning experiences that engage learners in collaborative and self-directed learning and that extend learner interaction with ideas and people locally and globally.

3(c) The teacher collaborates with learners and colleagues to develop shared values and expectations for respectful interactions, rigorous academic discussions, and individual and group responsibility for quality work.

3(d) The teacher manages the learning environment to actively and equitably engage learners by organizing, allocating, and coordinating the resources of time, space, and learners’ attention.

3(f) The teacher communicates verbally and nonverbally in ways that demonstrate respect for and responsiveness to the cultural backgrounds and differing perspectives learners bring to the learning environment.

3(h) The teacher intentionally builds learner capacity to collaborate in face-to-face and virtual environments through applying effective interpersonal communication skills.

3(l) The teacher understands how learner diversity can affect communication and knows how to communicate effectively in differing environments.

3(n) The teacher is committed to working with learners, colleagues, families, and communities to establish positive and supportive learning environments.

3(o) The teacher values the role of learners in promoting each other’s learning and recognizes the importance of peer relationships in establishing a climate of learning.

3(p) The teacher is committed to supporting learners as they participate in decision-making, engage in exploration and invention, work collaboratively and independently, and engage in purposeful learning.

3(q) The teacher seeks to foster respectful communication among all members of the learning community.

3(r) The teacher is a thoughtful and responsive listener and observer.

Content Knowledge

4(m) The teacher knows how to integrate culturally relevant content to build on learners’ background knowledge.

Application of Content

5(s) The teacher values flexible learning environments that encourage learner exploration, discovery, and expression across content areas.

Assessment

6(c) The teacher works independently and collaboratively to examine test and other performance data to understand each learner’s progress and to guide planning.

6(g) The teacher effectively uses multiple and appropriate types of assessment data to identify each student’s learning needs and to develop differentiated learning experiences.

6(n) The teacher understands the positive impact of effective descriptive feedback for learners and knows a variety of strategies for communicating this feedback.

6(o) The teacher knows when and how to evaluate and report learner progress against standards.

6(p) The teacher understands how to prepare learners for assessments and how to make accommodations in assessments and testing conditions, especially for learners with disabilities and language learning needs.

6(q) The teacher is committed to engaging learners actively in assessment processes and to developing each learner’s capacity to review and communicate about their own progress and learning.

6(t) The teacher is committed to using multiple types of assessment processes to support, verify, and document learning.

6(v) The teacher is committed to the ethical use of various assessments and assessment data to identify learner strengths and needs to promote learner growth.

Planning for Instruction

7(b) The teacher plans how to achieve each student’s learning goals, choosing appropriate strategies and accommodations, resources, and materials to differentiate instruction for individuals and groups of learners.

7(d) The teacher plans for instruction based on formative and summative assessment data, prior learner knowledge, and learner interest.

7(f) The teacher evaluates plans in relation to short- and long-range goals and systematically adjusts plans to meet each student’s learning needs and enhance learning.

7(j) The teacher understands the strengths and needs of individual learners and how to plan instruction that is responsive to these strengths and needs.

7(n) The teacher respects learners’ diverse strengths and needs and is committed to using this information to plan effective instruction.

Instructional Strategies

8(p) The teacher is committed to deepening awareness and understanding the strengths and needs of diverse learners when planning and adjusting instruction

8(q) The teacher values the variety of ways people communicate and encourages learners to develop and use multiple forms of communication.

Leadership and Collaboration

10(d) The teacher works collaboratively with learners and their families to establish mutual expectations and ongoing communication to support learner development and achievement.

10(j) The teacher advocates to meet the needs of learners, to strengthen the learning environment, and to enact system change.

10(m) The teacher understands that alignment of family, school, and community spheres of influence enhances student learning and that discontinuity in these spheres of influence interferes with learning.

10(q) The teacher respects families’ beliefs, norms, and expectations and seeks to work collaboratively with learners and families in setting and meeting challenging goals.

49-5-1003. Educator's obligations to students.

49-5-1003-b-7 Make reasonable effort to protect the student from conditions harmful to learning or to health and safety;

49-5-1003-b-8 Make reasonable effort to protect the emotional well-being of the student;

49-5-1003-b-9 Not intentionally expose the student to embarrassment or disparagement;

49-5-1003-b-10 Not on the basis of race; color; creed; disability; sex; national origin; marital status; political or religious beliefs; family, social, or cultural background; or sexual orientation, unfairly:

     49-5-1003-b-10-A Exclude the student from participation in any program;

     49-5-1003-b-10-B Deny benefits to the student; or

     49-5-1003-b-10-C Grant any advantage to the student;

49-5-1003-b-11 Not use the educator's professional relationship with the student for private advantage;

49-5-1003-b-12 Not disclose information about the student obtained in the course of the educator's professional service, unless disclosure of the information is permitted, serves a compelling professional purpose, or is required by law;

49-5-1003-b-14 Ensure interactions with the student take place in transparent and appropriate settings;

49-5-1003-b-15 Not engage in any sexually related behavior with the student, whether verbal, written, physical, or electronic, with or without the student's consent. Sexually related behavior includes, but is not limited to, behaviors such as making sexual jokes or sexual remarks; engaging in sexual kidding, sexual teasing, or sexual innuendo; pressuring the student for dates or sexual favors; engaging in inappropriate physical touching, groping, or grabbing; kissing; rape; threatening physical harm; and committing sexual assault;

49-5-1003-b-16 Not furnish alcohol or illegal or unauthorized drugs to the student;

49-5-1003-b-17 Strive to prevent the use of alcohol or illegal or unauthorized drugs by the student when the student is under the educator's supervision on school or LEA premises, during school activities, or in any private setting;

49-5-1003-b-19 Maintain a professional approach with the student at all times.