Academic Honesty Policy

“It is now recognized that academic integrity is
not just about students. Assessment validity,
pedagogical practices, institutional processes,
campus norms, and faculty and administrative
staff conduct all contribute to the climate of
integrity on a given campus.”
Teddi Fishman, The Handbook of Academic Integrity.

1. Philosophy

Academic integrity is scholarship conducted with values and principles consistent with ethical teaching and learning. Intellect cannot be developed devoid of character; the learning process is as important as the product. Wisdom and honor are universal moral qualities central to education. An Escola Eleva education seeks to engage students in authentic and meaningful learning experiences, and to foster individuals who will conduct their learning experience in a principled and responsible way, acting with integrity and honesty, and taking responsibility for their actions and their consequences. We recognize the competitive context that school and society can be and wish instead to intentionally cultivate the attributes of the International Baccalaureate Learner Profile.

2. Purpose

The Academic Honesty Policy is designed to define and clarify the expectations associated with the submission of authentic work. Academic honesty must be seen as a set of values and skills that promote personal integrity and good practice in teaching, learning, and assessment. At Escola Eleva, students strive to develop integrity and honesty, with strong respect for the dignity and rights of people everywhere.

All constituents are to take responsibility for their own actions and the resulting consequences.

Eleva’s focus is to provide an environment in which acting in a principled manner is the norm, and faculty are dedicated to helping students develop skills that will allow them to avoid academic misconduct, whether it be intentional or inadvertent. IBDP students, especially, must be aware of the severe repercussions of academic misconduct according to the International Baccalaureate Programme.

This document defines roles and responsibilities, as well as examples of misconduct (collusion, duplication, and plagiarism).

3. Roles and Responsibilities

Students must:

○ Ensure that all work submitted for an assessment or moderation is authentic work.

○ Confirm understanding of the academic honesty policy with signature on the Code of Conduct from each year.

○ Understand that putting one’s name on an assignment certifies it as your own work. It should be cited appropriately.

○ Understand proper citation expectations for assignments (ABNT, MLA or APA where appropriate).

○ Ask for guidance when you are unsure.

Faculty must:

○ Demonstrate and model academic honesty in presentations, tests, etc.

○ Explicitly teach a recognized citation convention for written and non-written works.

○ Ensure that students in your class understand that when they submit a task as their own, they are confirming that they have neither received nor given aid on assignments or assessments.

○ Minimize temptation for malpractice in assignments/assessment situations.

○ Communicate concerns and malpractice offenses with students, parents, counselors, and administrators.

○ Involve students in reflection/discussion in the instance of malpractice.

4. Capability Building

In order to sustain a culture of Academic Honesty, Escola Eleva believes in educating its teaching body, students and families as well as providing guidance on how to avoid academic misconduct.

○ Family Handbook: code of conduct section describing behavior expectations ○ Academic Honesty Policy: the present document setting school guidelines. ○ Study skills class: 10th grade 1st semester class that includes focus on research methodology and proper quoting.

○ Academic Honesty PD: two sessions per year for Upper School teachers focusing on conceptual understanding and practical examples.

○ Tech tools: Turnitin to identify plagiarism and internal system for registration and monitoring of misconducts.

○ Middle School Classes: every semester focused on research and academic honesty.

5. Academic Misconduct

Academic misconduct is a behaviour that results in, or may result in, the student or any other student gaining or providing an unfair advantage in one or more assessment components. Misconduct includes:

- Cheating, or conduct conducive to cheating: Any action used to gain or provide an unfair advantage without explicit authorization by the instructor (e.g., taking pictures of exams for any given reason; consulting personal written notes; making use of cell phones or any other electronic devices; attempting to look at another student’s exam).

- Collusion: To intentionally support another student in gaining an unfair advantage without explicit authorization to do so (e.g., passing notes, allowing one’s work to be copied or submitted for assessment by another).

- Plagiarism: The representation, intentionally or unwittingly, of ideas, words, or work of another person without proper, clear and explicit acknowledgment (e.g., turning in another's work as your own; failing to label a quotation as such, including changing words but copying sentence structure of a source).

- Duplication of work: The presentation of the same work for different assignments/requirements.

- Fabrication of data: To manufacture or falsify data to fulfill an assignment requirement;

- Falsifying records or documents: Any form of tampering with records or documents (e.g., writing and signing of notes and papers by any person not authorized to do so).

Whenever a suspicion of academic misconduct arises with insufficient conclusive evidence, a special Committee composed by the Head of School, Division Coordinator, T&L Department representative will analyze the situation considering the following dimensions:

○ Student conduct record

○ Student academic record

○ Meeting with the parties involved

○ Direct and indirect evidence of misconduct

Whenever a situation is ambiguous or not listed here, the Academic Honesty Committee will analyze the circumstances, and any behavior that gives an unfair advantage to one or more students will be subjected to internal sanctions, as set forth in the following section.

*The expression of original ideas is considered intellectual property and is protected by copyright laws.

6. Academic Infringement Consequences

Malpractice incidents will be discussed with the student and then reported to parents, counselors, and division coordinators. Age-appropriate consequences will be administered within the school’s discipline protocol and academic instruction, based on frequency and recurrence of the violation.

Internal sanctions will be imposed by the school for incidences of malpractice relating to homework, classwork, and internal exams which do not involve internally and externally assessed final pieces of official IB examination work, and will include:

1st Offense:

○ Teacher notifies coordinator

○ Coordinator notifies parents

○ Retake of exam

2nd Offense:

○ Malpractice offense is noted in school records.

○ Oral retake administered by a committee of two, composed of the subject specific teacher and a member of the faculty

○ External suspension may be applied

3rd, or subsequent Offense:

○ No retakes on the assessment

○ Special Committee decides whether the student will be recommended for withdrawal of DP or school

The school considers infringement consequences in accordance with students’ grade level. We understand that the notion of academic honesty is matured in the early years of Middle School. Thus, during the first semester of Grade 6 teachers will promptly intervene in case of infringements, but school actions will be oriented towards formative understanding rather than punitive measures. In Grades 7 and 8, infringement will only be subjected to the consequences listed for 1st and 2nd offense. Starting in Grade 9, all levels of consequences may be applied in case of infringement of this policy.

High school students who join the IBDP will be required to sign an Agreement of Understanding declaring that they are fully aware of the following IB publications:

Academic Honesty in the IB Diploma

Effective Citing and Referencing

It is recommended that all Middle School and High School teachers, students and families of Escola Eleva read these documents, since they can help all parties deepen their understanding of academic honesty.

7. Policy Review

The Escola Eleva Academic Honesty Policy will be revised at the end of each school year to ensure its continued alignment with the IB and Escola Eleva philosophy and practices. The pedagogical leadership team of the school will lead the review process and representatives of all stakeholders will be involved.

References

Bertram Gallant, T. (2015). Leveraging institutional integrity for the betterment of education.

Handbook of Academic Integrity, 979-993. Singapore: Springer.

Kitchener, K.S. (1985). Ethical principles and decisions in student affairs. In H.J. Canon & R.D.