Professor: Elizabeth Murakami, Ph.D.
EDLE 6150Ethics, Social Justice and Policy
Spring 2018 01/16/2018 - 05/11/2018EDLE 6150 - 501 Ethics, Social Justice and Policy
New College at Frisco
2811 Internet Blvd., Suite 100, Frisco, Texas 75034 / Class: Mondays 5:30PM - 7:20PM, Frisco Room 128
Student Office Hours: Mondays3-5pm or by appointment
Instructor:
Elizabeth Murakami, Ph.D., Professor
Mike Moses Endowed Chair in Educational Leadership
Email:
Phone: 940-565-2832
Skype: elizabeth.murakami / University of North Texas
College of Education
Department of Teacher Education and Administration
Matthews Hall MATT 218-H
Denton, Texas 76203-5017
Core Values and Beliefs / Graduates will have the knowledge, skills, and motivation to:
Lead learning organizations
Engage ethically with the community
Advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion
Develop theory to practice solutions
Course Description
This course is designed as a doctoral seminar providing advanced experience in current research and problems of practice that involve the interdependency of ethics, social justice and policy specific to an EC–12 setting. The course provides students to develop a strong conceptual foundation in theories that enhance equity in terms of access, student outcomes, and institutional culture. Prerequisite(s): EDLE 6130.
The course delivery is blended with traditional face-to-face and asynchronous online activities. Students are required to attend every class session. In the event of an absence, please contact the instructor by email or phone prior to the class session. It is important that students arrive promptly at 5:30 p.m. This course has been developed as a seminar where students assume some responsibility for instruction and are expected to come prepared and have read all materials before each class session. Advising hours for this class will be set ½ hour increments. Please contact the instructor at to set an appointment.
Required Resources
- Shapiro, J. P., Stefkovich, J. A. (2016). Ethical leadership and decision making in education: Applying theoretical perspectives to complex dilemmas. Routledge 1317681118, 978-1-31768111-3.
- Normore, A. H., & Brooks, J. S. (2014). Educational leadership for ethics and social justice: Views from the social sciences. Charlotte, NC: IAP. 978-1-62396535-8.
- American Psychological Association. (2009). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
- Selected readings as assigned.
Suggested Resources
- Roberts, C. M. (2010). The dissertation journey (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
- Rudestam, K.E., & Newton, R.R. (2007). Surviving your dissertation: A comprehensive guide to content and process (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
- Bloomberg, L.D., & Volpe, M.F. (2012). Completing your qualitative dissertation: A roadmap from beginning to end (2nded.). Los Angeles: SAGE.
Selected Readings for this course:
- Anderson, G. (2009). Advocacy leadership: Toward a post-reform agenda in education. New York: Routledge.
- Bloomberg, L.D., & Volpe, M.F. (2012). Introduction to your study. In L.D., Bloomberg, & M. F. Volpe, Completing your qualitative dissertation: A roadmap from beginning to end (2nd ed.) (pp. 60-72). Los Angeles: SAGE.
- Bottery, M. (2004). The impact of truth and meaning. In M. Bottery, The challenges of educational leadership: Values in a globalized age (pp. 123- 142). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE.
- Bowers, A., & Murakami-Ramalho, E. (2010). The research journal club: Pedagogy of research in the preparation of students in educational leadership. Journal of Research in Leadership Education 5(10), 335-356. Gay, L. R., Mills, G. E., & Airasian, P. (2010). Educational research: Competencies for analysis and applications. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson.
- Guthrie, J. W., & Schuermann, P. J. (2010). Politics and education policy issues. In J. W. Guthrie, & P. J. Schuermann, Successful school leadership: planning, politics, performance, and power(pp. 99-161). Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson.
- Hargrave, T. J., & Van de Ven, A. H. (2017). Integrating dialectical and paradox perspectives on managing contradictions in organizations. Organization Studies, 38(3-4), 319-339. DOI: 10.1177/0170840616640843.
- Kristjansson, K. (1996) Social freedom: The responsibility view. New York: Cambridge University Press.
- Kristjansson, K. (2012). Selfhood, morality, and the Five-Factor model of personality. Theory and Psychology, 22(5), 591-606. DOI 10.1177/0959354311431193.
- Lipsky, M. (2010). Street-level bureaucracy: Dilemmas of the individual in public services New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
- Marshall, J.D. (2006). Problematization or methodology. In P. Smeyers, & M. Depaepe (Eds.), Educational research: Why "what works" doesn't work (pp. 81-125). New York: Springer.
- Murakami-Ramalho, E., Militello, M., & Piert, J. (2013). A view from within: How doctoral students in educational administration develop research knowledge and identity. Studies in Higher Education 38(2), 256-271.
- Novak, M. (2009). Social justice: Not what you think it is. Heritage lecture delivered June 10, 2009. Published by the Heritage Foundation. Retrieved from
- Pallas, A. M. (2001). Preparing education doctoral students for epistemological diversity.Educational Researcher, 30(5), 6-11.
- Quantz, R., Cambron McCabe, N., Dantley, M., & Hachem, A.H. (2017). Culture-based leadership, International Journal of Leadership in Education, 20:3, 376-392, DOI: 10.1080/13603124.2015.1099741.
- Rawls, J. (1999). A theory of justice (revised edition). Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.
- Shulman, L.S. (2005). Signature pedagogies in the professions. Daedalus, 134(3), 52-59.
- Starratt, R. J. (1991). Building an ethical school: A theory for practice in Educational Leadership. Educational Administration Quarterly, 27(2), 185-202.
Learner Outcomes
As a result of activities, course readings, and experiences, students will be invited to:
Reflect and evaluate one’s sense of motivation and locus of control with respect to ethically and socially just decision-making processes
Analyze and critique ethics theories and frameworks
Apply ethics to socially just leadership in solving problems of practice
Differentiate organizational practices and policies using frameworks of ethics, social justice and leadership
Write an Ethics dilemma paper on a problem of practice for consideration in a peer-reviewed journal
Certification Exam Alignment with Texas Superintendent Competencies
Texas Examination of Educator Standards (TExES) Superintendent (195) competencies addressed in this course include Competency 010: The superintendent knows how to apply organizational decision-making and problem-solving skills to comply with federal and state requirements and facilitate positive change in varied contexts.
Professional Standards for Educational Leadership
The Professional Standards for Educational Leadership[1] replaced the ISLLC Standards used to guide the field of Educational Leadership. A complete list of the Professional Standards is below—the standards emphasized in this class are marked with an asterisk. For the full and detailed explanation of the Professional Standards, please follow this link: Professional Standards for Educational Leadership 2015.
*Standard 1. Mission, Vision, and Core Values
Effective educational leaders develop, advocate, and enact a shared mission, vision, and core values of high-quality education and academic success and well-being of each student.
*Standard 2. Ethics and Professional Norms
Effective educational leaders act ethically and according to professional norms to promote each student’s academic success and well-being.
*Standard 3. Equity and Cultural Responsiveness
Effective educational leaders strive for equity of educational opportunity and culturally responsive practices to promote each student’s academic success and well-being.
*Standard 4. Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
Effective educational leaders develop and support intellectually rigorous and coherent systems of curriculum, instruction, and assessment to promote each student’s academic success and well-being.
*Standard 5. Community of Care and Support for Students
Effective educational leaders cultivate an inclusive, caring, and supportive school community that promotes the academic success and well-being of each student.
*Standard 6. Professional Capacity of School Personnel
Effective educational leaders develop the professional capacity and practice of school personnel to promote each student’s academic success and well-being.
*Standard 7. Professional Community for Teachers and Staff
Effective educational leaders foster a professional community of teachers and other professional staff to promote each student’s academic success and well-being.
*Standard 8. Meaningful Engagement of Families and Community
Effective educational leaders engage families and the community in meaningful, reciprocal, and mutually beneficial ways to promote each student’s academic success and well-being.
*Standard 9. Operations and Management
Effective educational leaders manage school operations and resources to promote each student’s academic success and well-being.
*Standard 10. School Improvement
Effective educational leaders act as agents of continuous improvement to promote each student’s academic success and well-being.
Student Roles and Responsibilities
Throughout the course students will be required to complete written assignments, participate in class discussions, and prepare oral presentations. Student performance will be evaluated by various data collection, written and/or oral assessments as well as class participation. Because this course is student-centered, you will be expected to participate and contribute to class discussions. Students are expected to read all assigned readings, prepare oral presentations, and complete assignments. If a class session must be missed for personal or professional reasons, the instructor must be contacted prior to the session and arrangements be made with a classmate for notes and materials to be collected. Final grades are assigned according to the A-F format. Assignments will be evaluated using the following criteria:
Written assignments should:
a.Posted on Canvas before or by the due date
b.Be completed on time
c.Be free of grammatical errors
d.Be well organized and written
e.Reflect all aspects of the assignment
f.Be typed, double-spaced, using 12 point Times New Roman fonts; unless otherwise indicated by the instructor.
g.Follow the guidelines indicated by the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th edition).
h.Include a Statement of Authorship: The following statement must be completed and submitted with each paper submitted for grading, unless otherwise indicated by the instructor. You can copy and paste the statement into your paper. This statement must be signed by the student and should appear at the bottom of the title cover page:
I certify that I am the author of this paper titled______and that any assistance I received in its preparation is fully acknowledged and disclosed in the paper. I have also cited any sources from which I used data, ideas, or words, either quoted directly or paraphrased. I also certify that this paper was prepared by me specifically for this course and has not been submitted before in any other class by me or anyone else. I understand that falsification of information will affect my status as a graduate student.______
Student’s SignatureDate
Examples of Academic Dishonesty:
a.Cheating: deception in which a student misrepresents that he/she has mastered information on an academic exercise that he/she has not mastered; giving or receiving aid unauthorized by the instructor on assignments or examinations.
b.Academic misconduct: tampering with grades, or taking part in obtaining or distributing any part of a scheduled test.
c.Fabrication: use of invented information or falsified research, postings without including response or assignment.
d.Plagiarism: unacknowledged quotation and/or paraphrase of someone else’s word, ideas, or data, as one’s own work, submitted for credit. Failure to identify information or essays from the Internet and submitting them as one’s own work also constitutes plagiarism. The American Heritage Dictionary defines plagiarism as “to steal and use (the writings of another) as one’s own.” In standard academic practice, this means if a student copies any more than three consecutive words written or spoken by another, he or she must acknowledge the source of these words by using the proper notation as indicated in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.).
Attendance, Late Assignments, and Make-Up Work:
a. This graduate level course relies heavily on student participation and contributions. Online and face-to-face participation is considered. Class attendance is expected throughout the course, and it is the student’s professional responsibility to be part of discussions. In a face-to-face class, absence from class means that the student did not participate in a given discussion in class. Each absence will result in a deduction of 10 points from the overall course grade. Two tardies (15 minutes or more), or leaving class early twice equals one absence.
b.All assignments are due at the beginning of class. Post your document online before class. Late assignments will result in an automatic 5-point grade reduction. Empty postings with no assignment or response are considered as submissions.
c.Assignments are not accepted after one week from the original date due if any previous agreement with the professor of late assignment is not made. If you are absent from a class session, it is still your responsibility to submit assignments on the dates that they are due or earlier.
Class participation should be active and relevant to the topic of discussion, which includes:
a.Attending and being prepared to class by reading the assigned chapters and completing the coursework each week
b.Asking insightful questions and being respectful to others in online and face-to-face discussions
c.Remaining focused on the topic
d.Being respectful towards other peoples’ ideas
e.Actively listening to comments and building on others’ ideas
f.Challenging ideas in a constructive and professional manner
g.Providing leadership in group work
h.Accepting responsibility for completing make-up work
i.Completing assignments and being prepared for class discussions and activities
j. Total points for class and online participation are determined by averaging ratings of your contributions made throughout the semester. Points are awarded as follows:
Excellent 11-15 points
Good contributions06-10 points
Minimal, but acceptable contributions03-05 points
No acceptable contribution00-02 points
Group presentations should:
a.Be well organized
b.Be clearly and creatively presented with evidence of shared work.
c.Reflect all aspects of the assignment
d.Reflect a compelling argument, based on both research and practice. The group should be able to engage the audience, invite for participation and be open to feedback and constructive criticism from colleagues.
Canvas Hybrid Activities
All students enrolled in this course will have access to relevant course information and materials through Canvas. Online discussions will begin following the second class to allow time for all students to successfully log in to Canvas. It is very important you participate in every online discussion. Failure to do so will impact the participation grade. Each week, students are expected to answer the initial open-ended discussion and respond to at least two of the comments/observation made by another student in the course. It should be noted that students are not limited to one response. The mandatory response is simply designed to encourage online discussion and the formation of an online community of learners.
It is the student’s responsibility to access this system periodically. It is important to consider that what is posted on Canvas or internet is public. The instructor reserves the discretion to add or delete from the content as necessary, acting within the policies and procedures of the University. Online discussions should be:
a.Relevant to the topic of discussion in class
b.Reflective of class experiences and future topics of interest
c.Uses language that is respectful of other colleagues’ opinions
d.Mindful of the academic and graduate program expectations for writing (avoiding text messaging language)
Grading Criteria
1
Professor: Elizabeth Murakami, Ph.D.
EDLE 6150Ethics, Social Justice and Policy
Assignments / Possible PointsAssignments (4 @ 5 points each)
Each student must complete a total of 4 written assignments. Assignments will focus on the development of knowledge based on readings and discussions. Due dates for assignments can be found in the tentative schedule. / 20
Online Dialogues (10 @ 3 points each)
Online dialogues include chapter review summaries and application of knowledge acquired in relation to developing knowledge as a scholar. Online dialogues also include reviewing and supporting colleagues in the development of their work in a peer-review scholarly format. / 30
Final Project:
Students will develop a final project that includes topics and readings related to Ethics, Social Justice, and Policy with implications for practice / 25
Research Presentation
Students will present their final project. This presentation will be limited to 15 minutes. Presentations will be graded on demonstrated research knowledge and application of concepts examined in this course. / 10
Participation (clause 2) and attendance (clause 4)
All students are expected to participate in online and face-to-face discussions. Information about absences and participation are available in more detail in the syllabus. / 15
TOTAL / 100
Grading Requirements:
Course Grade / Course AverageA / 90-100 plus no more than one absence
B / 80 - 89 plus no more than one absence
90-100 plus two absences
C / 75 – 89 plus no more than one absence
80 – 89 plus two absences
90-100 plus three absences
F / 74 or below; or any average with more than three absences are unacceptable in a graduate program and may incur in a failing grade
I* / Incomplete
*The grade “I” (incomplete)can beassigned to a graduate student at the end of the semester and later, will default to F unless the instructor has designated a different automatic grade. Incomplete is a non-punitive grade given only during the last one-fourth of a term/semester and only if the student is (1) passing the course; (2) has a justifiable reason (such as serious illness), for not completing the work on schedule. The student must arrange with the instructor to finish the course at a later date by completing specified requirements. These requirements must be entered on the grade roster by the instructor. More information on academics can be found in the graduate catalog
The awarding of grades is not automatic and the judgment of the instructor does determine whether each assignment is completed satisfactorily. Each assignment follows a defined rubric for content, thoroughness, and efficacy in meeting requirements for the course. All required projects must be submitted by the due date. Late assignments are ineligible for a grade of “A.”The instructor also reserves the right to modify or make changes to the syllabus as needed during the semester. Students will be notified should changes be made to the course requirements, content, assignments, due dates, or other material relevant to the completion of this course.
Tentative Course Schedule (Subject to Change)
Sessions in red areplanned as face-to-face / A Tentative Course Schedule
Is subject to change*
Shaded sessions are initially planned as online, and
Non-shaded sessions are initially planned as face-to-face / Assignments
Online dialogues are due every Thursday with two responses due by Sunday end of day.
Written assignments are due by no later than Sundaysend of day.
- January 22, 2018
- Overview of course syllabus
- Focus: Ethics, Social Justice, and Policy
- Guidelines for assignments
- January 29, 2018
- Review concepts in Shapiro & Stefkovich Chapter 1
- February 5, 2018
- MultipleParadigms concepts in Shapiro & Stefkovich Chapter 2
- Review the Ethics of the Profession as aligning with National/State Standards and Expectations
- February 12, 2018
- Review Lipsky’s concepts (bring your paper copy)
- February 19, 2018
- Review Social Justice concepts from the foreword by Anderson (2014)
- Social Justice Activity
- February 26, 2018
- Review of Sociology and Social Justice (Berends) and implications for schooling
- March 5, 2018
- Review of economics and inequality (Ilon & Lee’s)
- March 12, 2018
- No Class - Spring Break
- March 19, 2018
- Review the influence of Anthropology (Rodriguez-Kiino & Petersen) in relation to participation, agency, and equity in education
- March 26, 2018
- Review Social Justice associated to high-stakes testing (Allen, English, & Papa)
- April 2, 2018
- Review ethical dilemmas (Limperopoulos) related to students exposed to violence
- April 9, 2018
- Review public policy and social justice (Siegel-Hawley)
- April 16, 2018
- Review issues of power of influence and power in educational policy
- April 23, 2018
- April 30, 2018
Student Resources available at UNT