Ethical Reasoning and the Five Roles of the Assessment Practitioner

Abstract

Responsibilities of an assessment practitioner are many and diverse (Jankowski & Slotnick, 2015). As with any profession, the responsibilities are not devoid of moral situations in which practitioners must choose between two or more possibilities (i.e., moral or ethical dilemmas). We present an ethical dilemma concerning student equity and assessment reporting and demonstrate that based upon which of the five roles a practitioner takes, s/he must take multiple perspectives and consider decision-making impacts. Assessment practitioners support various persons with differing needs and expectations; this may mean that assessment professionals encounter situations that require ethical reasoning. The Eight Key Questions (8KQ) strategy provides a framework for the practitioner in the form of questions that should be investigated. The process is designed to elicit diverse perspectives on an issue without a pre-determined answer, making sure that important ethical considerations are included in the decision-making process.