• Philosophy

     

    Academic honesty and personal integrity are significant elements of a student’s education and character development. We believe that promoting academic honesty is the responsibility of the entire school community. Principled learners demonstrate academic honesty and personal integrity. Community members, staff, parents, and other stakeholders will support Wharton DLA students in demonstrating academic honesty. When there is commitment on the part of all stakeholders, a school’s academic environment promotes respect for the value of academic honesty. We believe that all learners bear the responsibility for the process of their own learning. The school environment teaches and nurtures the skills students need to be effective lifelong learners by providing relevant, engaging, challenging, and significant learning provocations and resources.

     

    Purpose 

    It is important that all members of our learning community value and protect intellectual property and understand their rights and responsibilities. Our intent is to guide students, staff, and families in becoming knowledgeable, principled, and reflective individuals who are able to access, learn from, and acknowledge the work of others, utilize it to synthesize their own understandings, and contribute unique, creative, and original thinking to the global community.

    Responsibility  

    Student Responsibility

    • Read and sign HISD’s Student Code of Conduct

    • Engage in lessons centering around plagiarism and citing information and sources 

    • Seek help from teachers or the school librarian when not clear on how to properly cite sources

    • Self-assess or work with teachers to assess their intrinsic understanding of the academic honesty

    • Report any academic dishonesty they may observe

    School Responsibility

    • Ensure that all teachers review HISD’s Student Code of Conduct with students and send them home for parents to review and sign

    • Keep a copy of the parent signature as a receipt that they are aware of the guidelines and consequences

    • Ensure that all teachers are aware of the Wharton DLA Academic Honesty Policy

    • Promote the development of integrity in our students throughout the school year 

    • Ensure that all new teachers are trained in the principles and practices of Wharton DLA as they relate to academic honesty.

    Teacher Responsibility

    • Reference the importance of academic honesty constantly throughout the school term

    • Understand the abilities of their students and differentiate instruction accordingly

    • Focus on developing learning skills which will aid in providing the confidence that students need to share their authentic work

    • Teach students how to properly conduct research via the World Wide Web and cite sources

    • Provide exemplars of the ways in which research should be conducted

    • Inform administrators of any infraction

    Parent Responsibility

    • Read and sign the HISD Student Code of Conduct.

    • Encourage your child to practice academic honesty.

    • Encourage your child to cultivate a culture of academic honesty in school.

    • Address concerns of academic misconduct/malpractice with your child and school personnel if necessary.

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    Consequences of Academic Misconduct and Reporting 

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

     

    Definitions

    Academic misconduct is behavior that results in a student gaining an unfair advantage in one or more assessment components.

     

    Academic misconduct includes:

     

    Plagiarism – the representation, intentionally or unwittingly, of the ideas, words or work of another person without proper, clear and explicit acknowledgment

    Collusion – supporting academic misconduct by another student, as in allowing one’s work to be copied or submitted for assessment by another

    Duplication of work – the presentation of the same work for different assessment components

     

    Any other behavior that gives an unfair advantage to a student or that affects the results of another student (falsifying data, misconduct during an examination, creating unauthentic reflections.)

     

    Sources: 

    The IB document: “Academic honesty in the IB educational context”

    Academic Honesty Policy Discovery Canyon Campus Elementary 2016 Revision

    MYP: From Principles into Practice (2014)

     

     

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    *Policy Review: We will review our academic integrity policy at least every year. In collaboration with the faculty and community, this policy was reviewed in August/September 2023.