Ethical Decision Making in School Administration: Leadership as Moral Architecture

Pedagogically rich, demographically inclusive, and culturally sensitive, Ethical Decision Making in School and District Administration exposes educational leaders to an interdisciplinary array of theories from the fields of education, economics, management, and moral philosophy (past and present). Authors Paul A. Wagner and Douglas J. Simpson demonstrate how understanding key concepts can dramatically improve management styles and protocols.

Key Features

• Contains numerous case studies that apply the book′s concepts to relevant ethical issues faced by school administrators
• Reveals possibilities for thinking outside the box in terms of morally informed and effective leadership strategies aimed at securing organizational commitment and shared vision
• Presents multiple theories of ethics, demonstrating how they inform decision making and culture building in school districts
• Incorporates a range of in-text learning aids, including figures that clarify and critique ideas, a complete glossary, and end-of-chapter activities and questions

Paul A. Wagner, Ph.D., is Director of the Project in Professional Ethics, University of Houston-Clear Lake and a professor in the educational leadership program. He has also taught economics for undergraduates and business management theory and organizational behavior to business graduate students at the University of Houston-Victoria. He is a former Executive Secretary of the Philosophy of Education Society, vice-president of the Association of Philosophers in Education and served on the national ethics committee of the 40,000 member Association of Public Administrators. He was a founding member of the State of Texas’ Annual Ethics workshop for senior level officials. He has served as a consultant to a number of major corporations, universities, medical schools and technical schools in the area of strategic planning. He is the author of Understanding Professional Ethics, a Phi Delta Kappan fastback and the author of over 80 articles, book chapters, essay reviews and so on. He has served as an ethics consultant to both Leadership Houston and the American Leadership Forum.

Douglas J. Simpson, Ph. D., is Professor and Helen DeVitt Jones Chair in Teacher Education, Texas Tech University.  He is the author or co-author of numerous articles, reviews, chapters and books, including John Dewey and the Art of Teaching, The Pedagodfathers: The Lords of Education, Recreating Schools: Places Where Everyone Learns and Likes It, The Teacher as Philosopher, and Educational Reform: A Deweyan Perspective. He has held tenured positions at the University of Louisville, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Tennessee State University, and Texas Christian University and taught in the fields of ethics and teaching, curriculum and instruction, school psychology, and educational theory. He spends time each week at Phyllis Wheatley Elementary School where he interacts with students about ethical, historical, and geographical interests. He is a former president of the American Educational Studies Association and the Society of Professors of Education.