ALT Professional Roles and Ethics 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A student confides in their alternative learning teacher that they are being abused at home. What is the teacher's primary legal obligation?
- Keep the confidence to maintain trust with the student
- Report the suspected abuse to the appropriate child protective services (Correct answer)
- Consult with the school counselor before taking any action
- Notify the student's other teachers before making a report
Correct answer: Report the suspected abuse to the appropriate child protective services
Teachers are mandated reporters and must report suspected child abuse to authorities regardless of other considerations.
Question 2: Which ethical principle is violated when a teacher shares a student's academic struggles with community members without parental consent?
- Beneficence
- Autonomy
- Confidentiality (Correct answer)
- Justice
Correct answer: Confidentiality
Sharing a student's private academic information without consent violates the ethical principle of confidentiality.
Question 3: An alternative learning teacher notices a colleague regularly uses demeaning language with struggling students. The most appropriate first response is to:
- Ignore it since classroom management styles differ
- Immediately report the colleague to the principal
- Privately address the concern with the colleague directly (Correct answer)
- Discuss the behavior openly in a staff meeting
Correct answer: Privately address the concern with the colleague directly
Addressing concerns directly with the colleague first is the professional approach before escalating to administration.
Question 4: A teacher in an alternative learning program is offered gifts by a parent in exchange for higher grades. The ethically correct response is to:
- Accept the gift but grade objectively anyway
- Politely decline and explain the school's conflict-of-interest policy (Correct answer)
- Accept the gift and report it to the principal later
- Decline only if the gift exceeds a certain dollar value
Correct answer: Politely decline and explain the school's conflict-of-interest policy
Accepting gifts tied to academic outcomes creates a conflict of interest and violates professional ethics.
Question 5: Which document most directly governs student privacy rights in educational settings in the United States?
- IDEA
- FERPA (Correct answer)
- HIPAA
- ADA
Correct answer: FERPA
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is the primary federal law protecting student educational records.
Question 6: An alternative learning teacher disagrees with a school policy they believe harms students. The most ethical course of action is to:
- Publicly defy the policy to advocate for students
- Work within proper channels to advocate for policy change (Correct answer)
- Ignore the policy and handle situations as they see fit
- Resign immediately in protest
Correct answer: Work within proper channels to advocate for policy change
Professional ethics require working through proper institutional channels to advocate for change rather than unilateral rule-breaking.
Question 7: A student in an alternative learning environment asks a teacher to be friends on social media. The teacher should:
- Accept to show support and build rapport
- Accept only on professional educator platforms
- Decline and explain professional boundary policies (Correct answer)
- Ignore the request without explanation
Correct answer: Decline and explain professional boundary policies
Maintaining professional boundaries on social media protects both the student and the teacher from inappropriate relationship dynamics.
ALT Professional Roles and Ethics 2
A student confides in their alternative learning teacher that they are being abused at home.
What is the teacher's primary legal obligation?