Code of Honor

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There is a clear expectation that all students will perform academic tasks with honor and integrity, with the support of parents, staff, faculty, administration, and the community. The learning process requires students to think, process, organize and create their own ideas. Throughout this process, students gain knowledge, self-respect, and ownership in the work that they do. These qualities provide a solid foundation for life skills, impacting people positively throughout their lives. Cheating and plagiarism violate the fundamental learning process and compromise personal integrity and one’s honor. Students demonstrate academic honesty and integrity by not cheating, plagiarizing or using information unethically in any way.

What is cheating?

Cheating or academic dishonesty can take many forms, but always involves the improper taking of information from and/or giving of information to another student, individual, or other source. Examples of cheating can include, but are not limited to:

  • Taking or copying answers on an examination or any other assignment from another student or other source
  • Giving answers on an examination or any other assignment to another student
  • Copying assignments that are turned in as original work
  • Collaborating on exams, assignments, papers, and/or projects without specific teacher permission
  • Allowing others to do the research or writing for an assigned paper
  • Using unauthorized electronic devices
  • Falsifying data or lab results, including changing grades electronically

What is plagiarism?

Plagiarism is a common form of cheating or academic dishonesty in the school setting. It is representing another person's works or ideas as your own without giving credit to the proper source and submitting it for any purpose. Examples of plagiarism can include, but are not limited to:

  • Submitting someone else's work, such as published sources in part or whole, as your own without giving credit to the source
  • Turning in purchased papers or papers from the Internet written by someone else
  • Representing another person's artistic or scholarly works such as musical compositions, computer programs, photographs, drawings, or paintings as your own
  • Helping others plagiarize by giving them your work

All stakeholders have a responsibility in maintaining academic honesty. Educators must provide the tools and teach the concepts that afford students the knowledge to understand the characteristics of cheating and plagiarism. Parents must support their students in making good decisions relative to completing coursework assignments and taking exams. Students must produce work that is theirs alone, recognizing the importance of thinking for themselves and learning independently, when that is the nature of the assignment. Adhering to the Code of Honor for the purposes of academic honesty promotes an essential skill that goes beyond the school environment. Honesty and integrity are useful and valuable traits impacting one's life.

Questions or concerns regarding the consequences associated with a violation of the Code of Honor may be directed towards your child's school administration and/or the school district.