ACADEMIC HONESTY AT MARSHFIELD HIGH SCHOOL

Why It’s Important
Honesty is the very foundation upon which knowledge and skills are based.  Marshfield High School expects students to be honest in all their academic work.  Academic dishonesty does harm in a number of ways.  First, it harms the student who is dishonest by resulting in a false evaluation of the person’s performance and mastery of the subject matter.  Next, it harms other students by lowering the value of their honest achievement.  Third, it violates the basic integrity of the Certificate of initial Mastery and the Certificate of Advanced Mastery which certified to the general public that the student has, in fact, mastered the knowledge and skills necessary to complete the educational program described.  And lastly, students should reflect on how they will be thought of by others in school and later life.

How to Avoid Dishonest Behavior

Seek Honest Evaluations:  The purpose of attending school is to broaden your knowledge about yourself, the world around you, and prepare yourself to be competent within your chosen field of study or profession.  Learning occurs throughout a person’s lifetime, and grades are simply an indication of a student’s mastery of subject matter at a certain point in time and in a particular learning environment.  Students who are honest with themselves seek and appreciate a realistic evaluation of their performance, as these strengths and weaknesses assist the learner to chart a course for future learning.  Students who participate in acts of dishonesty do harm in a number of ways, but, most importantly they deceive themselves.

Develop Sound Habits:  In general, those students who develop sound study habits will do better over time than those who do not.  Probably the first step is to plan ahead and manage your time effectively.  Be prepared to balance the demands of attending class, working on assignments on a daily basis, preparing in advance for examinations, extra curricular activities, and having fun.  Academic success becomes easier if you stay current with your reading and assignments, listen carefully in the classroom, take effective notes, and complete all required assignments.  Students need to keep a calendar of important due dates similar to what would be expected in businesses and families.  Become an enthusiastic participant in the learning processes as you prepare for your future.

Maintain Integrity:  Remember that those who are academically dishonest hurt everyone and really decrease the value of your education.  Take the initiative to prevent other students from copying your assignments and tests.  The honorable approach would be to offer to tutor and teach them as every student needs to master the subjects and skills.  If you observe an act of dishonesty, report it to the instructor confidentially.

Get Help When You Need It:  If your study skills are not what they should be, get advice and take action to improve them.  A variety of options exist that your instructor and counselor can provide.  Initially it may take more time to master a subject, however in the long term you will become a better student.

What Constitutes Academic Cheating:  The following are commonly considered acts of cheating when done without the teacher’s directions and approval following the intent of the assignment.

Cheating and Fabrication:  an act of deception by which a student misrepresents that he or she has mastered information, or falsifies information.  Examples include copying from another student’s paper, allowing another student to copy from your paper, use of unauthorized materials during a test, and fabricating information and data.

Plagiarism:  the suggestions that someone else’s words, ideas, or research data are your own academic work.  Examples include failure to acknowledge the sources of information by using references; failure to acknowledge someone else’s words through quotation marks and footnotes; and failure to acknowledge another person’s words, ideas or research data when paraphrasing or putting these into your own words.

Assisting in Dishonesty:  helping another person to commit an act of plagiarism, cheating, fabrication or tampering with grades, assignments, or tests with the intent to deceive.  Examples include taking an exam for someone, stealing or selling/buying all or part of an assignment or test, giving way all or part of the answers to a test or assignment, tampering with grade books, graded assignments, tests or other academic records.

At Marshfield High School:  In order to assist students realize the seriousness of academic cheating, the following consequences will be used for all classes by the Dean of Students.

First Cheating Offense:
•	Receive an “F” or zero from the teacher on the test or assignment
•	Teacher to contact the parent
•	Referral form sent to the Dean of Students for cross referencing with other classes
Second Cheating Offense:
•	Receive an “F” or zero from the teacher on the test or assignment
•	Teacher to contact the parent
•	Referral form sent to the Dean of Students for cross referencing with other classes
•	Staffing with student, parents, counselor, administrator arranged by Dean of Students
Third Cheating Offense:
     (From the same teacher)
•	Receive an “F” or zero from the teacher on the test or assignment
•	Teacher to contact the parent
•	Referral form sent to the Dean of Students for cross referencing with other classes
•	Staffing with student, parents, counselor, administrator arranged by Dean of Students
•	Removal from all extra curricular activities for the remainder of the semester
•	Descriptive entry into the students permanent file, all correspondence and transcripts to reflect cheating behavior
•	If from the same teacher, removal from the class with “F” grade, removal from all extra curricular activities for the remainder of the school
      (From a different teacher)
•	Receive an “F” or zero from the teacher on the test or assignment
•	Teacher to contact the parent
•	Referral form sent to the Dean of Students for cross referencing with other classes
•	Staffing with student, parents, counselor, administrator arranged by Dean of Students
•	Removal from all extra curricular activities for the remainder of the school year
•	Descriptive entry into the students permanent file, all correspondence and transcripts to reflect cheating behavior
•	If from the same teacher, removal from the class with “F” grade