Academic Integrity Policy

As our mission states, at Whitby, we inspire a passion for learning and empower each child to take responsibility as an open-minded, principled citizen in a global community. To meet this goal, it is important for students to understand how knowledge is constructed, and how to learn. To extend our own knowledge, we rely on the ideas and work of others, both as references and starting points for further inquiry.

We demonstrate the traits of the Learner Profile through our work by:

• Completing work with integrity (Principled)
• Understanding academic integrity (Knowledgeable, Thinker)
• Being empowered to work independently (Communicator, Risk-taker)

Academic misconduct is not always intentional. It’s important for students, parents and teachers to understand what is meant by the term in order to approach teaching and learning with integrity. Academic misconduct can take several forms, such as:

• Cheating
• Plagiarism
• Making up data/citations to suit your needs
• Lying about missing deadlines or needing more time
• Paying or bribing someone to do your work for you
• Getting support on assessments unless authorized
• Using online translator to copy work from one language to another
• Using unauthorized technology/ apps to inform your work
• Collusion (participating in misconduct, often through sharing work with someone else; unauthorized collaboration)
  
  

Plagiarism is one fo the most common forms of academic misconduct. The following are examples of the most common types of plagiarism among younger students, based on a study by Turnitin[1].

Plagiarism can mean:

• Copying directly from a source or an individual, word for word (or nearly word for word)
• Copying from multiple sources and mixing them into one piece
• Paraphrasing without citation (from single or multiple sources)
• Replacing words and phrases (using synonyms), but leaving the general idea/structure the same
• Citing some sources, but not others
• Inaccurate/incomplete citations
• Work that includes proper citations for all references, however little to no original thought

[1]https://www.turnitin.com/resources/plagiarism-spectrum-2-0

Consequences for failure to adhere to the Academic Integrity Policy should be supportive of student learning and help prevent further instances of academic misconduct. For this reason, it is important to outline consequences for instances of academic misconduct, either deliberate or accidental. When assigning consequences, the Head of Lower/ Middle School and teachers will consider the intent and extent of the issue, as well as the number of offenses. Below is a sample of the consequences that the school may take to support learners after incidents of academic misconduct. Other consequences may be assigned at the discretion of the division heads to fit the incident.

Notation made in the student file: Instances of academic misconduct will be noted in a common area that is accessible by all teachers and include a description of the circumstances of, and leading up to, the infraction. This will allow teachers to work together to support students in their learning. When discussing consequences, the number of offenses will be cumulative across classes, as expectations for Academic Integrity are consistent.

Conversation with teacher: Teachers will facilitate a discussion about the issue, including a plan to avoid academic misconduct in the future. Both the teacher and student will sign the plan, to be shared with the advisor/parents.

Communication to parent/advisor*: In order to give students the support of their community, the parent(s) and advisor will be notified of any event of academic misconduct by the teacher. The plan for moving forward will be shared.

“0” score for the assignment: Any classwork or assessments (depending on where the misconduct took place) will be marked as “0”. If resubmission of the assignment is appropriate, discussion of this will be included in the plan created with the student. Make-up times may be taken from lunch, electives and sports, to ensure that any work can be made up as soon as possible.

If resubmission is appropriate: Assignment re-scored: Assignments will be re-scored by teachers when complete. Re-scoring will take place on the teacher’s timeline. Infractions near the end of the reporting period may mean that grades/comments are not available for reports.

Revision of work: Students are required to re-do their work. The answers to what/when/how will be discussed with the teacher and included in the plan. For second offense and beyond, this revision of work may be part of an in-school suspension (as dictated by the scenario).

Conversation with the division head: For second offenses and beyond, students and teachers will also meet with the division head about the issue. The division head will review the plan and check in with the teacher about make-up work.

Reflection on plan turned in to teacher/division head: For second offenses and beyond, students are required to submit a reflection on what happened and the plan put in place. How are they working towards the plan? What steps are they taking/have they taken to prevent another occurrence? This reflection will be added to the notes on the event.

 Conference with the division head, teacher(s), advisor and parents: Third offenses and beyond signify significant gaps in understanding and/or student agency. At this point, it’s important that all stakeholders sit down together and make a plan going forward. At this point, revision of the work and/or assessment may no longer be allowed, situation dependent.

* for students in 7^th and 8^th grade, the Director of Secondary School Counseling will also be included in any communication

Students, teachers and parents are encouraged to seek clarification on any issue related to academic Integrity from the Head of Lower School/Middle School. This policy was reviewed during the 2021-2022 school year.

The Academic Integrity Policy will be reviewed every three years to reflect best practice and the needs of the Whitby School community.