MALPRACTICE

The International Baccalaureate Organization defines malpractice as “behavior that results in, or may result in, the candidate or any other candidate gaining an unfair advantage…” and includes:

-          Plagiarism – the representation of the ideas or work of another person as the candidate’s own

-          Collusion – the supporting of malpractice by another candidate, as allowing one’s work to be copied or submitted for another

-          Duplication of work – the presentation of the same work for different assignments

-          Other – includes

o        taking unauthorized materials into an exam, test, quiz or other assessment situation

o        engaging in misconduct during an exam, test, quiz  or any other assignment

o        falsifying any records

o        copying, paraphrasing, reusing or submitting another’s work without acknowledging the source, including information from the Internet

o        receiving or giving of any unauthorized assistance on any form of academic work

 

The IB faculty is opposed to malpractice and cheating for several reasons.

-          Cheating does not level the playing field.  Cheating may result in a student receiving the same or a better grade than students who have honestly earned the grade. Such dishonesty could result in the cheater’s grade point average and class rank to be unfairly inflated and thus negatively affecting other students’ class rank.

-          Cheating misrepresents to parents, colleges and teachers a student’s mastery of the subject.

-          The time taken to monitor students for cheating causes a reduction in the time a teacher has to use for academic instruction.

-          Students who are mature enough to select and qualify for a rigorous academic program should also be mature and committed enough to work for and accept the grades they earn.

 

Students who have questions regarding whether or not something constitutes plagiarism have a responsibility to consult with the teacher prior to submitting the work/assignment.

 

ATTENDANCE

Students are expected to be in attendance for every class, test or quiz and assignments barring serious illness or hospitalization. With the block schedule, a significant amount of instructional time is lost when students are absent.

It is expected that students will schedule make up work with teachers immediately upon returning to school.  Per school board policy, skipping class or any other unexcused absence will result in a 10% reduction in the grade.