Academic integrity is honesty and responsible scholarship as a student. Teachers academic assignments are created and given to help students master new concepts and skills; grades represent how fully the learning goal and target is attained. Our students are expected to submit original work and give credit to other peoples’ ideas.
“Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines plagiarism as committing “literary theft.” Plagiarism is presenting another person’s ideas, information, expressions, or entire work as one’s own. It is thus a kind of fraud: deceiving others to gain something of value. While plagiarism only sometimes has legal repercussions (e.g., when it involves copyright infringement—violating an author’s exclusive legal right to publication), it is always a serious moral and ethical offense” (MLA Handbook Eighth Edition, 2016).
FCBOE Levels of Academic Dishonesty
Level 1: Plagiarism or cheating on classroom assignments or projects
Level 2: Plagiarism or cheating on major exams, assessments, projects, or documented essays, including required research paper or research project.
Level 3: Stealing/distributing a test
Consequences
Penalty may range from in-school suspension to short-term suspension. Students may receive a zero in the academic assignment and possible loss of course credit (FCBOE Student Code of Conduct: Secondary, 2018-2019, pg. 7).