Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Academic Integrity and Plagiarism

Academic integrity and right ethical conduct are expectations of all students.  Cheating and plagiarism are violations of academic integrity and right ethical conduct.  Cheating is defined as using unauthorized resources of any type on any exam, quiz, paper, major project, or class assignment.  Plagiarism is copying exact words or paraphrasing ideas without crediting original sources. Providing access to another student to such resources is also considered a violation of academic integrity as is allowing another student to copy from one’s own exam, quiz, paper, major project, or class assignment.  


In keeping with our model of restorative justice, the school treats first violations of academic integrity as a learning event.  In these situations, the student will receive an “I” for the assignment or activity in question. The student then has a conversation with the teacher who debriefs what occurred, next steps to rectify the action, and the teacher coaches the student on how to tell their parents.  Owning up to the action is an important step in understanding the severity of the violation of academic integrity.


The student is then responsible for telling their parents about the incident and to let them know that a face-to-face conference or phone conversation with the teacher will be forthcoming—this gives the students an opportunity to be at the center of the conversation.  


The teacher then has a face-to-face conference or phone conversation with the family and the student.  From there, a letter is sent home that recaps the meeting, and it serves as a record of the entire incident. In this letter, it states that all future offenses will result in more serious consequences. The student writes a letter of reflection which answers the following questions: 


“How have your actions impacted your relationship with others, including your classmates and teacher?  Looking back on this past incident, what would you have done differently? How has your understanding of integrity changed since this incident?” 

This reflection is then sent to the parents, the mentor, and the teacher.  Copies of the teacher’s letter and the student’s reflection are included in the student’s file.  The student is responsible for re-doing the same assignment or an alternative as assigned by the teacher which addresses the same Cognitive Skills or Content Knowledge assessed in the original assignment.  Please, note that any additional violations of academic integrity may include expulsion from the school.  

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