A Quantitative Analysis of National Educator Misconduct Data

• In Event: Law and Education SIG Roundtable Session

Abstract

In the United States, modern educators are held to a higher moral and ethical standard by society than the rest of the population (Knoll, 2010). When educators fail to uphold this higher standard, news media documents the educator’s misconduct and reports these failings to the public. Policymakers’ efforts to attenuate the number of incidents of educator misconduct cases have limited success (Preston, 2011). The purpose of this inquiry was to explore, describe, examine, and analyze the extent of reported educator misconduct cases using Google Alerts of news media reports in the United States over a three-year period (2017-2019). This research seeks to provide a descriptive analysis of all reported educator adjudications from 2017-2019 in the United States.

Authors

• Brandon M Tate, The University of Texas - San Antonio

• Elisabeth M. Krimbill, Texas A&M University - San Antonio

• David P. Thompson, The University of Texas - San Antonio