At Westview Centennial Secondary School value is placed on the character and potential for learning capacity each student brings into the classroom. There is an expectation of excellence from parents, teachers and more importantly students.
Recognizing the individual student's learning potential is key and is part of the design of assessments and evaluations. The overall outcome or mark is a measure of both what a student knows, understands and analyses as well as what further learning needs to occur to meet the standard of excellence defined by the individual student.
There are times when a measure of learning is not reflected as the student's own and is referred to as cheating or plagiarism. However, it is a breach of an individual's academic integrity.
Integrity as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary is the quality of being honest and having strong moral uprightness.
Whether in a traditional classroom or remote learning setting it is the responsibility of the student to make every attempt possible to maintain their Academic Integrity.
There are many times students do not intend to submit work that is not their own. However, it is the responsibility of the teacher to provide instructions how to avoid breaching academic integrity, moreover, it is the responsibility of the student to ensure they are not infringing on the academic integrity of others.
If a student does not know how to prevent academic dishonesty they are responsible for asking the teacher, librarian, guidance counsellor and administrator for help.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is copying, reproducing or paraphrasing significant portions of someone else's published or unpublished material, and representing them as one's own thinking by not acknowledging the appropriate source or by failing to use appropriate quotation marks even if the source has been cited.
Plagiarism also includes copying and using information from the Internet or other electronic sites without citing the source.
The concept of plagiarism applies to all assignments including lab reports, diagrams, essays, and computer projects. Different forms of writing require different types of acknowledgment/documentation.
Cheating
Cheating in the general context involves practising deceit or breaking the rules. In the context of evaluation, cheating is deviation from the behaviour expected in an evaluation situation.
Examples of cheating on an evaluation include but are not limited to:
copying from another student's work
using another student's work on an evaluation
unauthorized use of electronic devices and sources to obtain answers during an evaluation
bringing unauthorized notes or notations into an evaluation
Westview Centennial Secondary School follows the policies defined by the TDSB when a teacher believes the work submitted does not reflect that of the student. The procedures to address the policy are as follows:
The teacher conducts an investigation into their suspicions.
The teacher informs the department Assistant Curriculum Leader (ACL), administrator and parent or guardian if the student is under 18 years.
The teacher meets with the student, parent/guardian, ACL and administrator to discuss the consequences and impact they will have on an individual overall mark.
These are the guiding principles of the policy, but each investigation will be dealt with individually and the teacher's professional judgement will align with the policies.
The consequence for a student who has been found in violation of academic integrity will receive a mark of zero on the assignment/test/evaluation.