MYP Academic Honesty Policy

                                                                                              MYP Academic Honesty Policy

Standard B1.5d:
● The school has developed and implements an academic honesty policy that is consistent with IB
expectations.
Our school defines academic honesty as a set of values and skills that promote personal integrity in teaching, learning and assessment. We believe that in order to achieve this, it is important that we focus on educating our students to be principled, to recognize and celebrate authentic student work, and to take pride in promoting student learning through inquiry that includes responsible use of information and communication of original work.
Definition
The Academic Honesty Policy is designed to define and clarify the expectations associated with the submission of authentic work. It will provide staff, students, parents, counselors, and administrators with a common understanding of malpractice, define the responsibilities of all parties in preventing malpractice, and encourage principled behavior in the learning environment of our school.
Academic honesty is acknowledging responsibility for the production of students’ own work, recognition of the work of others, and maintaining honor and trust in the learning environments of our schools. In order to understand appropriate academic honesty practice, it is important to clarify behavior that can lead to an unfair advantage in academic work, hereby referred to as malpractice.
Plagiarism
An act or instance of using or closely imitating the language and thoughts of another author without authorization and/or the representation of that author’s work as one’s own, by not crediting the original author. Plagiarism equally applies to work other than text (i.e. art, music, etc.). It is important that students understand how to appropriately use another author’s work in their assignments to avoid both intentional and unintentional instances of plagiarism.
Examples:
● Any representation of others’ work as your own
● Nonoriginal work that is not cited and appropriately referenced in submissions.
● Copying information from a book or a website.
● Misuse of quotation marks, paraphrasing, and in-text citations makes authorship unclear.
● Failure to identify source of elements of nonverbal work (i.e. painting, photo, proof, musical composition, etc.) that you’ve derived your work from.
● Using online language translators unless explicitly allowed.
Collusion
Supporting malpractice by another student, including allowing one’s work to be accessed or copied
or submitted for assessment by another student.
Examples:
● Helping someone else cheat both deliberately and through support.
● Allowing your work to be copied and/or submitted by another student.
● Divide and conquer approach where you are not the author of the entire assignment given by the
instructor (if not part of assignment).
● Representing significantly unequal work as an equal collaboration.
● Writing a paper or doing homework for another student, both at the time as well as sharing
completed work with students who take a course in the future.
● Sharing information about assessment content and questions with other students.
Collusion is to be contrasted with collaboration, which we define as multiple students actively engaged during the course as well as in the creation of a product per the assignment guidelines. It is important to note that teachers must be clear with assignment guidelines to specify what is collaboration versus collusion on any given task.
Duplication of Work
Submission of the same work, for different assessment components or curriculum components. All assignments should be created newly for the course or assessment unless discussed with the instructor in advance.
Unfair Practice
This is defined as any action that gains a student an unfair academic advantage.
Examples:
● Falsifying records
● Falsifying data
● Sharing passwords, using unauthorized material
● Disclosing information about assessments
● Altering grades
● Phony citation
● Impersonating person
● Misconduct during testing times
It is the understanding of all school personnel that when a student puts his or her name on any assignment, they are submitting it as their own and acknowledging original ownership.
Roles and Responsibility in Supporting Academic Honesty
Faculty: (including teachers, counselors, media specialist, support and paraprofessionals)
● Communicate appropriate collaboration versus collusion with each assignment.
● Teach a recognized citation convention for written and nonwritten works.
● Demonstrate and model academic honesty in presentations, etc.
● Report and record academic dishonesty through a referral.
● Assure students in your class understand that when they submit a task as their own, they are representing that they have not received nor given aid on assignments or assessments. Teachers can opt to ask students to use their signature to explicitly assure this point if needed.
● Minimize temptation for malpractice in assignments/assessment situations.
● Communicate with students, parents, counselors, administrators, with concerns and malpractice
offenses.
● Teachers, administrators, and counselors involve students in reflection/discussion in the instance of malpractice.
Students:
● Confirm understanding of academic honesty with signature on Code of Conduct form each year.
● Report malpractice violations to a trusted school employee.
● Work to produce authentic work
● Understand that putting name on assignment certifies it as your own work, cited appropriately.
● Minimize malpractice temptation by balancing time appropriately.
● If an incident of malpractice occurs, either intentional or unintentional, complete the reflection process with your instructor.
● Understand proper citation expectations for assignments (MLA or APA where appropriate)
● Ask for guidance when you are unsure.
Administration:
● Support academic honesty policy and investigate all counselor/teacher reports of malpractice.
● Ensure that all staff, students, and parents understand definitions, responsibilities, and
repercussions.
● Ensure the academic honesty policy is applied consistently throughout the school.
● Provide staff development and guidance on academic writing and referencing systems that are
available.
● Maintain an account with plagiarism detection service (only high school).
● Provide teachers with material to guide students in maintaining academic honesty.
● Investigation of malpractice.
● Make parent and student contact to reflect on malpractice incidents.
Parents, guardians, and/or outside support:
● Read/sign Code of Conduct form.
● Encourage your child to practice academic honesty.
● Encourage your child to cultivate a culture of academic honesty in school.
● Address concerns of academic misconduct/malpractice with your student and school personnel if necessary.
● Monitor hired tutors to assure authentic student work.
Repercussions
Malpractice incidents will be discussed with the student and then reported to parents, counselors, and administration. Age appropriate consequences will be administered within school’s discipline protocol, based on frequency and recurrence of the violation.
Communication Plan
This academic honesty policy will be published on the school website, discussed in September for each grade level, and published in student planners where appropriate.
Review of the Academic Honesty Policy:
This will be reviewed and updated annually by King Abdulaziz School. If you still have questions after reading this handbook, please contact the IB Middle Years Programme Coordinator, at [email protected]
Resources:
– International Baccalaureate Organization, MYP: From principles into practice. United Kingdom, 2014
– www.Managebac.com