Ellis Elementary School Academic Integrity Policy

IB Standards

Culture 3.1: The school implements and reviews an academic integrity policy that makes the school's philosophy clear and is aligned with IB guidelines. (0301-03- 0100)

Culture 3.2: The school clearly describes in its academic integrity policy the rights and responsibilities of all members of the school community, what constitutes good practice and misconduct, and the actions that are to be taken if there are transgressions. (0301-03-0200)

Culture 3.3: The school articulates responsibilities for teaching a variety of practices related to academic integrity, and reflects its five fundamentals: honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility. (0301-03-0300)

Philosophy

At Ellis Elementary school, we believe in students developing a principled mindset when it comes to academic integrity. As a community, we model how to show respect and honor for others' ideas. Collaboration is essential to our community as it is a combination of authentic individual ideas that evolve into a compilation of ideas. We believe this acquisition of knowledge begins with a purposeful attitude of respect and honesty. All teachers, students, and parents engage in this responsibility to ensure academic integrity extends beyond the elementary setting.

Role of the Students

Students will receive adequate instruction about why and how to honor and respect others' ideas. Students will be offered opportunities to practice different ways to acknowledge others for their intellectual properties. When researching, students are expected to follow the guideline of proper citation and evaluation of sources. Students are expected to use the knowledge of academic integrity that they acquired from class into their individual assignments and group activities. The goal for students is to exercise their independence with technology in a creative, safe, and honorable manner. Ellis Elementary is pilot school for the Common Sense Technology Education.

Role of the Teachers

Teachers are the ideal models of academic honesty. Teachers must offer clear and relevant opportunities for students to understand and honor academic honesty. The opportunities offered to students will emphasize the correct and responsible methods of honoring sources and ideas that are not original. Teachers also offer lessons in digital citizenship and lessons on the code of conduct regarding academic honesty. The objective is that the class community is built on honest and fairness so that students will feel comfortable sharing their individual ideas and to become active participants in their collaborative experiences. Academic honesty must a part of the daily routine within the class community.

Role of the School Community

The school community is made up of representatives within the school. The school community developed and continuously revised this policy to meet needs of the school. The collaboration on this policy ensures the consistency and clarity of the expectations throughout Ellis Elementary School. Families are informed of the academic honesty expectations by being provided a copy of the policy at the beginning of the school year and by having access to the electronic copy on our school website. The policy will be available in many different languages in order to ensure all members of our school community understand the academic honesty expectations.

Educational Opportunities and Support

Teachers and students will…

• Review the policy as class communities are being established

• Highlight the learner profiles

• Demonstrate the appropriate way to site sources amongst all disciplines

• Demonstrate proper citation, especially during the PYP Exhibition

• Model principled academic behaviors

Grade Level expectations

Procedures for reporting, recording, and monitoring

The development of the class community will provide students with a tiered approach of how to report academic dishonesty and the consequences for individuals act in academic dishonesty. The tiered approach begins with a teacher-student informal conference, then leads to conferences with parents and students, and the last level is a conference with school administrators, teachers, students, and parents. Students will have the opportunity to report other students' academic dishonesty by reporting the event to the teacher. Teachers will have the opportunity to report a student's academic dishonesty to the school administrators after two events and teachers have spoken to the student and parents.

Access to Policy and Complaint Procedures

This policy is accessible to the school community by a physical copy of the policy being posted in the front office of Ellis Elementary School, and it is posted on the Ellis Elementary School Website under the International Baccalaureate tab on the site. This policy is available in English and Spanish in the front office and on the website.

The complaint procedures are also available to the school community by a physical copy of the document being posted in the front office of the school and on the school website. This documentation is also available in English and Spanish.

Revised 2022