Capuchino High School Academic Integrity Policy

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Definitions and Justification | Offenses | Consequences

Definitions:

Integrity (noun): firm adherence to a code of values; the quality of being complete or undivided; honesty
Cheating (noun): the act of fraudulently deceiving; obtaining property from another by the intentional active distortion of the truth; the practice of fraud or trickery; violating rules dishonestly
Plagiarize (verb): to steal and pass off the ideas or words of another as one’s own; to use without crediting the source; to commit literary theft; to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source
-- Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary

Simply put, academic integrity means doing schoolwork honestly.  Cheating is gaining advantage dishonestly; plagiarism, a form of cheating, is presenting someone else’s words or ideas as if they were your own.  Students are sometimes legitimately unsure about what is acceptable, and what isn’t.  Teachers should clearly communicate their expectations to students, and make every effort to avoid situations in which students are confused about how they are expected to meet assignment requirements.
 

Why Cheating is Wrong:

Think of the person you love most in the world – your mom, your little brother, your boyfriend or girlfriend, whoever it might be.  Now, imagine they’re having open-heart surgery.  Do you want them to have the heart surgeon who got a B in Anatomy, or the one who cheated his or her way through the class, and got an A?  Maybe you think if you’re not planning to be a doctor, cheating doesn’t matter, but the same idea applies no matter what you plan to do.  How about the brakes on your car – do you want the mechanic who had to take the class twice to get it right, or the one who cheated for a passing grade?

Good relationships between people are based on trust; cheating violates that trust.  Getting a high school diploma is supposed to mean that you’ve demonstrated certain skills.  When you pick up that diploma, you will want to know that you’ve earned it, not faked your way to it.

Capuchino High School’s purpose is to help students learn and grow both academically and personally.  Plagiarism and cheating go directly against this goal, and undercut the mission of the school.  Among the factors that may lead to cheating are pressure for grades, parental expectations, poor study skills, and students taking advantage of teachers who don’t adequately monitor classes.  None of these reasons makes cheating acceptable.  The teachers of Capuchino are committed to helping our students learn, and this includes helping students to put genuine understanding ahead of grades.

Offenses:

The consequences of cheating are severe.  They are school-wide and cumulative for all the years you attend Capuchino High School.  This means if you violate the policy in a math class in your freshman year, and a history class in your senior year, you have two offenses on your record. The professional judgement of teachers (and when appropriate, administrators) will determine whether cheating has occurred, and the level of the offense, based on solid evidence and careful review.  Students are reminded not to give teachers cause to consider their actions a violation.

Level One.  Level One violations include, but are not limited to:

• Looking at, or allowing someone else to look at, your own or another’s paper during an exam, test, or quiz.
• Using unauthorized “cheat” notes.
• Talking or communicating with another student during an exam, test, or quiz.
• Copying work assigned to be done independently, or allowing someone else to copy your own or another’s work, including computer-generated information and programs.
• Copying or closely paraphrasing sentences, phrases, or passages from an un-cited source for a paper, or for research.
• Submitting translations from Internet translation programs in a world language class.
• Giving or receiving test information to or from students in other periods of the same teacher or same course.
• Fabricating or altering laboratory data.

NOTE:  Since individual teachers have differing expectations for homework (for instance, some teachers encourage students to work together, while others may expect students to complete assignments independently at home), it is the responsibility of teachers to clarify their expectations to students.

Level Two.  Level Two violations include, but are not limited to:

• Submitting papers taken from the Internet, other publications, or other students.
• Submitting individual projects that are not wholly your own work.
• Submitting a computer program developed by someone else.

Level Three.  Level Three violations include, but are not limited to:

• Stealing examinations
• Altering grades on a computer database

NOTE:  Where appropriate, Level Three violations will also be referred to law enforcement.

Consequences:

Any combination totaling three, either in the number of offenses, or in the level of offenses, results in the maximum penalty.  Penalties are as follows:

First Offense at Level One:

• Student receives zero for the assignment.
• Teacher notifies parent (via choice of email, phone call, or mail).
• Teacher notifies administrator via referral.
• Administrator logs first offense in discipline file and warns student about cheating policy.

Second Offense at Level One; or, First Offense at Level Two:

• Student receives zero for the assignment.
• Teacher notifies parent (via choice of email, phone call, or mail).
• Teacher notifies administrator via referral.
• Administrator logs offense in discipline file, and suspends student.
• Student becomes ineligible for California Scholarship Federation.

Third Offense at Level One; or, a combination of a Level One and a Level Two Offense; or, First Offense at Level Three:

• Student receives zero for the assignment, if applicable.
• Teacher notifies parent (via choice of email, phone call, or mail).
• Teacher notifies administrator via referral.
• Administrator logs offense in discipline file and suspends student for three days.  Suspension and cause are reported to colleges in the student’s record.
• Student becomes ineligible for California Scholarship Federation.
• Student becomes ineligible to participate in awards and ceremonies, including graduation.

The Academic Integrity Committee of Capuchino High School gratefully acknowledges Palo Alto High School and The Connecticut International Baccalaureate Academy, whose policies Capuchino has used in formulating its own position on Academic Integrity.