Back

Academic Honesty Policy

Introduction

At FA, we work together as a school-wide community to help ensure academic integrity. Practices in support of this policy help to build an ethical culture across our campus. It is the responsibility of the entire learning community—administration, staff, students, and families—to understand and adhere to the guidelines detailed within this policy.

Fostering and supporting academic integrity within our K–8 community will help provide students the ethical foundation “fundamental in their development into responsible and caring world citizens of the future.”

The purpose of this document is to detail the academic integrity policy of FA.

What is Academic Integrity?

According to IBO,

“Academic integrity is a guiding principle in education and a choice to act in a responsible way whereby others can have trust in us as individuals. It is the foundation for ethical decision-making and behavior in the production of legitimate, authentic and honest scholarly work.”

The learning expectation for academic integrity is supported in IB Learning Standard (0402-04):

“Students grow in their ability to make informed, reasoned, ethical judgements,”

and is explained in the practices below:

  • take responsibility for producing authentic and genuine individual and group work

  • learn how to correctly attribute sources and acknowledge the work and ideas of others

  • responsibly use information technology and social media

  • observe and adhere to ethical and honest practices during examinations

Academic Integrity and the IB Learner Profile

At FA, the Learner Profile is our student learning outcomes. We encourage our students to be:

  • Inquirers who acquire the skills necessary to conduct inquiry and research

  • Knowledgeable as they explore concepts, ideas, and issues

  • Principled as they act with integrity, honesty, and take responsibility for their actions

  • Open-minded as they seek and evaluate a range of points of view

  • Risk takers who articulate and defend their opinions and beliefs

  • Thinkers who make ethical decisions

  • Communicators who use a variety of resources to research and share their personal thinking

  • Balanced as they understand the importance of intellectual, physical, and emotional balance

  • Reflective as they give careful consideration to their own learning and experiences

  • Caring as they show empathy, compassion, and respect for others’ intellectual property

These qualities, when applied to learning and student work, help establish behaviors and practices that support academic integrity.

Academic Integrity and the Approaches to Learning

At FA we incorporate Approaches to Learning, which provide the foundational work required for students to become lifelong learners. Working together, these five categories help foster academic integrity:

  • Thinking skills – analyze and evaluate the ideas of others and create your own

  • Research skills – apply informational and digital literacy skills to locate, evaluate, and use information in a principled manner

  • Communication skills – use listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills to communicate accurate information and paraphrase ideas across platforms

  • Social skills – develop positive, collaborative relationships when working with others and make fair decisions

  • Self-management skills – effectively manage time and tasks, take responsibility for one’s own actions

When these skills are taught, modeled, and used throughout the learning community, students learn how to learn, and do so ethically.

MYP Level Academic Integrity (Grades 6–8)

As students progress through the PYP and graduate into the MYP, there is growing responsibility and accountability to ensure academic integrity is practiced at a more rigorous level.

What is Academic Dishonesty?

According to the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), academic dishonesty specifically refers to plagiarism, collusion, and cheating. Cheating can take many forms, including duplication of work.

  • Plagiarism: The representation of the ideas or work of another person as the student’s own.

  • Collusion: Supporting malpractice by another student, as in allowing one’s work to be copied or submitted for assessment by another.

  • Duplication of work: A form of cheating that is defined as the presentation of the same work for different assessment components.

Monitoring Academic Honesty

Middle school teachers are responsible for using the extensive resources provided to monitor student work. This responsibility includes monitoring students actively using computers in class, checking formative and summative assignments, and overseeing collaborative group work.

In their own professional intellectual conduct, all FA staff must model academic honesty, proper attribution of sources, and an overall commitment to acknowledging the work of others. Materials presented to students, colleagues, and the greater community will clearly attribute sources and give due credit to others’ work and ideas.

If an instance of student academic dishonesty occurs, monitoring will take place at the grade-level team meetings or the academic support committee’s meeting. All grade-level teachers will be made aware of the plagiarism incident to more closely monitor the student’s work.

Available Resources to Support Academic Honesty (Middle School)

  • Technology support team systems to support prompt response time

  • Separate student Wi-Fi network with content filtering at the firewall level

  • Secondary content filter and management system installed in all student laptops

  • Use of Securly to monitor student online usage during class time

  • Citation resources:

Staff Responsibilities at FA

All staff will:

  • share the academic integrity policy with the learning community

  • make clear connections between Approaches to Learning Skills, the Learner Profile, and academic integrity

  • model the practice of academic integrity

  • model proper citation with distinction between quoting and paraphrasing

  • nurture intrinsic value in producing independent work

  • provide developmentally appropriate learning experiences on how to practice academic integrity

  • ensure students have an understanding of academic integrity, academic misconduct, and possible consequences

  • respond to academic misconduct with a restorative approach

  • make writing submissions into individual parts to examine students’ tone

Student Responsibilities

At FA, students will:

  • understand and follow the school’s academic integrity policy

  • inquire about elements of the policy they may not understand

  • exhibit the Learner Profile attributes throughout the learning process

  • exercise the Approaches to Learning: self-management, social, communication, thinking, and research skills

  • report any academic misconduct

  • acknowledge the use of AI when used in their work creation

Family and Community Responsibilities

At FA, the family and community will:

  • read, understand, and support the school’s academic integrity policy

  • support their children in accessing resources, paraphrasing information, and crediting sources

  • hold their children accountable for exercising academic integrity

  • allow students to be agents of their own work and refrain from completing assignments for students

Examples of Misconduct

  • Cheating or copying

  • Plagiarism

  • Intentional falsification of data, records, or information

  • Aiding in the dishonesty of others

  • Malicious interference

Consequences of Academic Misconduct

Elementary School:
Consequences are based on the severity of the incident and the learner’s developing understanding. They may include: guardian contact, redo of the work, Behavior Ticket, etc. Repeat offenses will escalate consequences.

Middle School:
If a student is found to be intentionally academically dishonest, the teacher will report the incident, notify guardians, and provide an opportunity for the student to redo their task. Scores on Approaches to Learning Skills will be penalized in the areas of self-management and work completion.
Repeated incidents will be referred to the principal for further action.

Policy Review

Falcon Academy Academic Honesty Policy will be reviewed by the learning community annually.

References & Acknowledgment

This policy reflects IB-aligned academic honesty practices. It adapts structures and language from publicly shared IB academic honesty policies while tailoring them to Falcon Academy’s context and approach.

Approved by: School Leadership Team
Effective date: 9/1/2025
Last reviewed: 10/05/2025
Next review date: 8/25/2026

References

  • International Baccalaureate Organization. (2016, November). Academic Honesty in the IB Educational Context.

  • International Baccalaureate Organization. (2018, December). Learning and Teaching.

  • International Baccalaureate Organization. (2019, March). Programme Standards and Practice.

  • International Baccalaureate Organization. (2019, October). Academic Integrity.

  • University of Michigan. (2020). Academic Misconduct.