Academic Honesty Policy

Academic Honesty plays a very important role in an IB Education. The IB Program at Oakmont follows the Oakmont High School Academic Honesty Policy, as well as some additional procedures via the Oakmont High School IB Program Academic Honesty Policy. Both Policies are available for review below. At the bottom of this page is a document from IB with guidance of effective citing and referencing. All students are encouraged to review the information in this document.

Oakmont High School Academic Honesty Policy

Our Philosophy

Oakmont High School has a commitment to academic honesty. The Viking Expectation of Integrity affirms that we believe in the intrinsic value learning, and that we therefore demand personal integrity and intellectual honesty in all academic work and related interactions.

Having academic and social integrity means valuing and demonstrating positive regard for:

1. Intellectual honesty

2. Personal truthfulness

3. Learning for the sake of learning

4. The creations and opinions of others (i.e., intellectual property)

Academic Malpractice

A) Plagiarism

Plagiarism is defined as using another person’s words, pictures, charts, or ideas without properly giving that person credit. Using another person’s intellectual property without citation is theft. At Oakmont High School, students are taught how to use the ideas of other’s as evidence to develop their thoughts, not as a substitution for their own ideas. Students are taught that plagiarism will not be accepted.

There are three types of plagiarism:

· Direct copying of material without proper citation. This includes cutting and pasting from websites and copying directly from a book.

· Use of large segments (sentences or even phrases) of un-cited, copied wording mixed in with your own words.

· Relying heavily on a source instead of using the ideas in the source to establish your own thoughts.

Examples of plagiarism include (but are not limited to) the following:

· copying answers to Math homework from a friend during tutor group

· cutting and pasting material off the internet and using it in a speech or essay

· having a tutor edit and rewrite parts of your work

· having an outside source build a model or paint something for Art Class

· repeating the exact words used by your teacher given in class (verbally or in writing)

· copying dance sequences from music video sequences in PE class

· pasting pictures in your research work without citing the original source for Art

· rewriting a paragraph in basically your own words, but clearly only using the ideas and structure of the source you are reading

· changing the lines of a published play without the consent of the playwright

B) Collusion

Collusion is defined as a secret agreement between two parties to commit a fraudulent act; therefore supporting the academically dishonest behavior of another student. This could include allowing one’s homework or an assignment to be copied or submitted for assessment by another student or sharing answers to a test. This includes work completed in previous years. An example of collusion is the sharing of work between siblings in different year levels.

It is important to note that collaboration is different from collusion. Ideal collaboration occurs where a group task is divided and equal contributions are made. You will, at times, be asked to collaborate with other students; a science lab where your group comes up with shared data would be a good example. In this case, however, the shared data should lead to the production of an individual and unique piece of work.

Collusion is also a serious academic offense. Examples of collusion include (but are not limited to) the following:

· giving a friend in the same class a copy of the homework

· allowing your essay or assignment to be copied

· telling a student what material appears on a Math test

· hiding the truth from a teacher when you know someone is cheating

Enforcement of these policies

The tools and technology at the disposal for Oakmont High School staff and students are: the Certificated Library Media Teacher, EasyBib (full suite and citation tools), SafeAssign (through BlackBoard), database citation tools, and DiscoveryStreaming (with citation tools).

Academic Dishonesty is a serious academic offense which carries severe penalties. Our first goal is to provide resources to remediate the malpractice through intervention and re-teaching of referencing skills. In the case of willful malpractice, the Oakmont discipline policy will be enforced which may include (but is not limited to): after school detention, parent conference or administrative referral. Teachers may recommend additional remediation or consequences for academic dishonesty based on their written course syllabus/class policies.

Referencing

While many different citation standards exist, Oakmont High School staff will be using at least one of the following: Chicago, MLA, or APA. These styles will be explicitly taught in different subjects across different grade levels at Oakmont High School. Students should consult directly with each teacher regarding subject specific requirements.

Ultimately, it’s most important that students make a distinction between their own ideas and those of others with proper citations.

Strategies to help promote academic honesty

· Always take notes in your own words, and never write your answers or essay while directly looking at your textbook or other source of information. Use quotation marks to identify someone else’s words.

· Try to combine information from different sources; when carrying out research, don’t just use one source of information.

· Avoid “cutting and pasting” large parts of text from the internet.

· Always properly cite sources in footnotes and a bibliography according to the teacher’s instructions for that particular assignment.

· Remember that your teacher wants to know your ideas and read your words, not the ideas and words of someone else.

· If a friend asks you what is on a test or asks you to complete their homework, explain why you cannot do so. Explain to your friend that they are putting your grades and student record at risk.

· Always contribute as much as you can in group work so you do not end up taking the ideas of others.

Oakmont High School IB Program Academic Honesty Policy

Academic Honesty

The Oakmont High School IB students are expected to follow the Oakmont High School Academic Honesty Policy. In addition to that policy, the IB program has expectations and consequences for Academic Dishonesty.

Academic honesty in the International Baccalaureate (IB) is a principle informed by the attributes of the IB learner profile. In teaching, learning and assessment, academic honesty serves to promote personal integrity and engender respect for others and the integrity of their work. Upholding academic honesty also helps to ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge and skills they acquire during their studies.[1]

Academic Misconduct

The IB Regulations define malpractice/academic misconduct as behavior that results in, or may result in, the candidate or any other candidate gaining an unfair advantage in one or more assessment component.

Malpractice includes:

· plagiarism: this is defined as the representation of the ideas or work of another person as the candidate’s own

· collusion: this is defined as supporting malpractice by another candidate, as in allowing one’s work to be copied or submitted for assessment by another

· duplication of work: this is defined as the presentation of the same work for different assessment components and/or diploma requirements

· any other behavior that gains an unfair advantage for a candidate or that affects the results of another candidate (for example, taking unauthorized material into an examination room, misconduct during an examination, falsifying a CAS record). [2]

Maintaining Academic Honesty

To ensure proper conduct, IB teachers, students, Coordinator, and Head of School must work together. A school wide policy will be reviewed annually and adjusted to address the needs of the school and community. Students will be educated annually on academic honesty and the school wide policy.

The IB Coordinator and Head of School are responsible for educating the IB teachers about the:

• definition of Academic Misconduct

• appropriate ways of citation and acknowledgement of work

• ways to identify an authentic piece of work

• consequences in IB if found guilty of malpractice

Teachers are responsible for educating the students about the:

• definition of Academic Misconduct

• appropriate ways of citation and acknowledgement of work

• consequences in IB if found guilty of malpractice

Teachers are also responsible for validating student work as authentic, to the best of their ability. Teachers are expected at Oakmont High School to use SafeAssign through the BlackBoard system for submission of all Internal Assessment work. Teachers should also allow students ample time to work on their assignments as well as having thorough planning stages.

If the coordinator and/or a teacher has reason to believe that part or the whole of a candidate’s draft work submitted for discussion prior to final submission might be deemed to be in violation of the principles of academic honesty and constitutes a case of malpractice, they must draw the candidate’s attention to this risk and her/his duty to respect the policy and requirements of academic honesty. Once a candidate has officially submitted the final version of his or her work to a teacher (or the coordinator) for external or internal assessment, together with the signed coversheet, it cannot be retracted. [3]

Students are responsible for:

• attending all trainings on academic honesty and understanding the policies

• ensuring that their work is authentic, with the work of others properly cited/acknowledged (this includes but is not limited to quotations, diagrams, photographs, digital music)

• understanding the OHS deadlines and giving themselves ample time for their final draft to be reviewed as authentic

• submitting all IB internal assessments on BlackBoard for plagiarism check

• communicating with their instructors/coordinator if a situation arises that might be a misconduct of academic honesty

Investigating Malpractice

The following circumstances are those that most commonly give rise to an investigation.

• A coordinator (upon being informed by a teacher) informs IB that they suspect that a final work submitted for assessment may be affected by malpractice.

• A coordinator informs IB that malpractice may have taken place during an assessment.

• An examiner suspects malpractice and provides evidence to justify his or her suspicion. An IBO member of staff identifies examination material that may not be the authentic work of a candidate and provides evidence to justify his or her suspicion. [4]

1. IB initiates an investigation of malpractice and report it to the school with evidence relating to the possible malpractice

2. School provides a report (upon request) to IB

§ Statement from the teacher will include information on how the candidates were given guidance on citation of work, the supervision given to the student in regards to the assessment in question, and how the teacher was able to validate that the work was authentic.

§ Statement from the coordinator will include information on how the candidates were given guidance on citation of work and academic honesty, any special circumstances in the situation, and an opinion on the allegation of malpractice.

§ Statement from the student will directly address the allegation on the non authentic work

3. IB will have appropriate senior examiners review the work and school report and recommend whether the allegation is true. If the senior examiner finds a case of malpractice, then the final award committee will review all documentation and make the final decision.

4. If a case of malpractice is confirmed then no grade is issued for the subject in question. This will mean a student will not receive their diploma nor will be allowed to retake the subject examinations at any time in the future.

[1] “Academic Honesty in the Diploma Program” Pamphlet published by International Baccalaureate Organization

[2] “Diploma Programme Academic Honesty” Published September 2007 by International Baccalaureate Organization

[3] “Diploma Programme Academic Honesty” Published September 2007 by International Baccalaureate Organization

[4] “Diploma Programme Academic Honesty” Published September 2007 by International Baccalaureate Organization