At HuZ International School (HuZ) we strive for students to be: engaged learners, critical thinkers, effective communicators and responsible global citizens. Our central principles are aligned with the profile of an IB learner. This document details the importance both HuZ and IB place on academic honesty. We feel it is essential that every member of the HuZ community are honest and see it as a central mission of the school to instill the values of honesty and integrity as these are central to the university experience, future employment, and, indeed, a successful and fulfilling life. Many incidents of plagiarism are inadvertent and the purpose of this document is intended to serve as a guide to help students and other members of the HuZ community understand and adhere to HuZ standards.

IB defines academic honesty as each student being “responsible for ensuring that all work submitted for assessment is authentic, with the work or ideas of others fully and correctly acknowledged. Candidates are expected to comply with all internal school deadlines; this is for their own benefit and may allow time for revising work that is of doubtful authorship before the submission of the final version” (Academic Honesty, p. 5).

Academic honesty requires that each student submit original work. Original work is defined as academic material that is created without plagiarism, theft, or inappropriate collusion with another person. The purchase of academic material and the resubmission of academic material from one class to another is considered plagiarism.

All HuZ teachers take seriously the school’s commitment to honesty.  As the educators with ultimate responsibility for the administration of the IB curriculum, they are well-placed to evaluate the academic honesty of each student’s work. The aligns with IB: “it is the responsibility of the teacher to confirm that, to the best of his or her knowledge, all candidates’ work accepted or submitted for assessment is the authentic work of each candidate” (ibid.).  Because of this, teachers are required to 1) include a statement of academic honesty in their syllabi and 2) provide regular feedback on student assignments.

Administration Responsibilities

The administration is responsible for creating and cultivating a spirit of academic honesty and curiosity.  The administration will do this by:

· Maintaining an open dialogue with all teachers to see the effects of this document.

· Revising this document as needed (with a yearly minimal review.)

· Ensuring all member of the HuZ community understand what constitutes academic honesty

· Clarifying to teachers, parents, and students what constitutes a violation.

· Providing proper conditions for the taking of assessments, as well as their storage.

· Thoroughly investigating any credible allegation of violation.  This investigation will be conducted by the teacher, IBDP Coordinator, and/or headmaster.

· Reporting, as necessary, violations to IB.

Parental Responsibilities

It is integral that parents support their children’s adherence to academic honesty. Parents also have the responsibility of reading this Academic Honesty Policy with their children.  Both parents and students must read the HuZ Student Handbook at the beginning of each academic term, which includes the Academic Honesty Policy.  They must also sign an agreement to abide by the Academic Honesty Policy.

Teacher Responsibilities

Teachers have the responsibility of educating their students on academic honesty.  This includes explaining the differences between collusion and collaboration, what constitutes plagiarism, and proper citation.  Many violations of the Academic Honesty Policy are inadvertent and teachers must help students avoid them. When a teacher believes an honest mistake has been made, the teacher should treat the incident as a learning opportunity and allow the student to revise the mistake.

Teachers should use the OWL Purdue resource to teach correct citation.  The citation style of the school is MLA.

If a teacher feels that a violation was made of the Academic Honesty Policy, they must collect evidence and follow the guidelines listed under “Consequences of Violations” in this document. Teachers who have discovered violations of the schools academic honesty policy must report the incident to the IB coordinator and recommend a punishment.

Student Responsibilities

Students hold the ultimate responsibility to ensure that they are abiding by the HuZ Academic Honesty Policy. Students are given guidance and instruction by their teachers and are expected to only submit original and authentic work. When students have questions or concerns about what constitutes authentic work, it is their responsibility to ask a teacher.

Student Rights

As stated in General Regulations: Diploma Programme, “The candidates and his or her legal guardians have the right to see evidence, statements, reports and correspondence about the case” (Academic Honesty, pg. 11, 2007). If the student chooses, he or she can request a hearing of a committee to dispute the allegations.  This hearing must be requested within two weeks of the allegation.

Definitions

· Collusion:  “Supporting malpractice by another candidate, as in allowing one candidate’s work to be copied or submitted for assessment by another; a form of malpractice in the DP” (Abrioux and Rutherford, p. 563).

· Malpractice: “behavior that results in, or may result in, the candidate or any other candidate gaining an unfair advantage in one or more assessment component” (ibid., 567).

· Plagiarism:  “A form of malpractice; the representation of the ideas or work of another person as the candidate's own (ibid., 568.)

Consequences of Violations

Minor Violations

The teacher in whose classroom the incident occurred will handle certain first-time violations. These include, but are not limited to, the following infractions:

· Use of unattributed sources

· Cheating on a quiz or examination

· Helping another student cheat on a quiz or examination

· Colluding with another student on an individual assignment

· Copying homework, or allowing others to copy homework

Students who have been found to have cheated or plagiarized will not receive a grade for their work. When appropriate, the student will be allowed to resubmit the work within a period of time to be determined by the teacher. A second violation of the academic honesty policy will be viewed as a pattern and may lead to expulsion.

The headmaster will maintain records of violations in digital form.  These will be available to parents or guardians upon written request.

Major Violations

In the case of a serious infraction of the academic honesty policy, or repeated minor violations, the incident will be referred by the teacher to the IB coordinator and/or the headmaster.  These include, but are not limited to, the following infractions:

· Repeated minor violations

· Submitting academic material that has been  produced by another person

Students who have committed major violations to the academic honesty policy will receive no grade for the assignment and will not be allowed to resubmit the assignment. Additional penalties may follow at the discretion of the IBDP coordinator and or headmaster.

Severe Violations

A severe violation may lead to expulsion and will be investigated by the headmaster. These include, but are not limited to, the following infractions:

· A repeated pattern of minor and/or major violations

· Any alteration of any school record or form

· Forgery

· Theft of academic materials including but not limited to exams

Policy Review

A committee that includes the Headmaster, IBDP Coordinator, and two IBDP teachers will review this document yearly. The committee will consider recommendations from all members of the HuZ community. As necessary, this policy will be revised and the HuZ community notified of any changes.