Academic Integrity Policy

Rockwall ISD

International Baccalaureate

Academic Integrity Policy

PURPOSE: Rockwall ISD’s Academic Honesty Policy articulates the ways in which we promote academic integrity and honor the IB Learner Profile as well as the fundamental authenticity of student engagement and achievement.  

ATTRIBUTION: This policy incorporates the framework and tenets of Garland High School in Dallas County, Texas, and the Academic Integrity Policy published by IBO (October 2019, updated March 2023).

DEFINITIONS: IB defines academic misconduct as “deliberate or inadvertent behavior that has the potential to result in the student, or anyone else, gaining an unfair advantage in one or more components of assessment” (IBO).

• Plagiarism, collusion and cheating are serious offenses and will be reported as misconduct. All offenses will be subject to Rockwall ISD and/or IBO disciplinary consequences.  

• Plagiarism:  representing the ideas or work of another or work that is AI-generated as your own, intentionally or unwittingly, without proper, clear, explicit acknowledgement.

• Collusion:  supporting malpractice by another student, for example, allowing your work to be copied.

• Duplication of Work:  presenting the same work for a different assessment.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE IB COORDINATOR:

• provide teachers, students, and parents with the most up-to-date IB publications in regards to Academic Integrity policies via the Rockwall ISD IB Website

• provide teachers, students, and parents with definitions and examples of academic misconduct

• provide teachers, students, and parents with clear expectations of the possible consequences for unethical conduct

• provide ongoing support for the IB community in understanding and implementing the Academic Integrity Policy

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE IB TEACHERS:

• provide students with clear expectations for assignments. i.e. students should assume an assignment is their own original work unless specified by the teacher.

• provide students with clear expectations for assignments that do allow for collaborative work.

• provide students with clear guidelines as to the range of permissible resources used on a particular assignment.

• provide students with ongoing support on the requirements for citing and acknowledging original authorship, including the use and citation of AI-generated sources

• provide guidance on the distinction between valid collaboration and unacceptable collusion.

• advise students on what constitutes intellectual property and authentic authorship.

• provide students with clear expectations of the possible consequences for unethical conduct.

• use turnitin.com on all major writings and projects.

• correctly reference all materials shared with students.

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE IB STUDENTS:

• follow ethical academic behavior as defined by the Rockwall ISD IB Integrity Policies.

• use proper academic citations and formats

• request a clarification of expectations for assignments.

• strive to emulate and apply the qualities of a learner as depicted in the IB Learner Profile.

EXAMPLES OF PLAGIARISM, COLLUSION AND CHEATING:

• Copying another person’s assignment or allowing someone else to copy your assignment.

• Substituting synonyms for another person’s or AI-generated word choices, or restating someone else’s or AI-generated ideas in your own words without crediting the source.

• Handing in another person’s or AI-generated work as your own.

• Copying sentences, phrases, paragraphs, or pages from books, web sites, AI-generated text, or other sources without providing documentation. Writing should be either original or attributed.

• Using intellectual property (pictures, graphs, diagrams, quotes, books, films, music recordings, television, or any other media, including AI-generated content) without proper citations.

• Dividing questions on an individual assignment so that several students answer a portion of the assignment, permitting each other to copy answers. Although group work and cooperative learning are often encouraged, individual assignments must remain the work of the individual student. Always ask your teacher if an assignment may be completed with others. Do not assume it is allowed.

• Taking answers from a classmate’s quiz or test paper, using a cheat sheet, or sharing answers during a testing situation.

• Falsifying data, conclusions, and answers and presenting them as fact. 

• Taking images of assessments

• Discussing exam questions in any manner with students who have yet to take the exam.

DISCIPLINARY CONSEQUENCES FOR BREACH OF ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY:

• If malpractice is suspected, or the teacher has reason to believe that academic dishonesty has occurred, the following steps will be taken:

  • The teacher will communicate the outcome of his/her investigation to the IB coordinator.

  • The student will receive no credit for the assignment in question, but may be allowed to complete an alternate assignment for credit, and disciplinary action will be enacted by the IB coordinator.

  • The IB coordinator or classroom teacher will communicate, in writing, disciplinary consequences to the student and his/her parents, as well as his disciplinary administrator. This letter will be placed in the student’s file in the coordinator’s office but will not become a part of the student’s permanent academic record.

• Consequences for academic malpractice range from the student earning a zero on the work involved to immediate dismissal from the IB Program, depending on the severity of the infraction.

• If a student enters the IB Diploma or Coursework program with a record of malpractice from previous courses, that record constitutes the student’s first incident of academic malpractice.

• If a student is allowed to remain in the IB Program following a first incident of academic malpractice, a second incident of any type, on any assignment, at any time during the student’s enrollment in programme will result in the student’s dismissal from the Rockwall ISD IB Programme. 

UPDATE AND REVISION:

This policy will be reviewed and updated by members of the school community including students, teachers, administration, and parents to ensure that the policy is in alignment with both IBO’s and RISD’s expectations for student conduct.

Respect of self and others is of paramount importance, and compliance with all aspects of the IB Learner Profile is compulsory for participation in the IB Program in Rockwall ISD.