Ethics and Integrity
What this domain tests
Ethics questions test whether you act with integrity, protect confidentiality, avoid conflicts of interest, model expected behavior, and put student welfare and law above convenience or loyalty. Expect scenarios involving student records, staff misconduct, gifts from vendors, social media, and pressure from supervisors or community members.
Concepts to know
- Confidentiality of student records under FERPA and district policy.
- Conflict-of-interest rules, gift acceptance limits, and vendor relationships.
- Mandated reporting and reporting of employee misconduct.
- Equity and advocacy for underserved students.
- Ethical decision-making: identify the issue, check law and policy, consult, consider stakeholders, act, and document.
- Modeling professionalism in public and online spaces.
Traps
Watch for answers that prioritize loyalty to a supervisor over law or policy, share student information casually, accept vendor favors, or use position for personal benefit. Also beware of public shaming of staff or students, and of “everyone does it” reasoning. Confidentiality does not mean hiding wrongdoing.
Worked example
A teacher discusses a student’s IEP in the staff room. A strong response is to intervene privately, remind the teacher of confidentiality obligations, document as required, and arrange retraining-not to ignore it or humiliate the teacher publicly. Rule of thumb: when convenience and law or policy conflict, follow law and policy, consult before acting, and document.