Committee

The committee in charge of designing, revising this document for the year 2024-2025 consists of a multidisciplinary team and HHS staff who represent the interests of the community. This committee and policy will be updated every two years.

  • Principal - Dr. Joshua Mallory

  • Assistant Principal - Ms. Margaletta Reid

  • Diploma Programme Coordinator - Dr. Sanders Benkwith

  • Middle Years Programme Coordinator - Ms. Keshetta. Henderson

  • English Department Lead/English Teacher - Ms. Savannah Bowman 

  • History/TOK Teacher - Mr. Alexander Christman

  • Psychology/TOK Teacher - Ms. Margaret Meyer

Hillside is dedicated to ensuring that all students understand what Academic Honesty entails.  It is very important now, and in later educational and career pursuits, that honesty is top priority.  The IB Academic Honesty Guide is available on the IB page of the Hillside website.  

Proper practices includes, but isn’t limited to:

  • citations: correctly attributing/acknowledging the work of others. Students should use approved citation styles when citing work.

  • references: providing further information about the sources of works cited.

  • appropriate collaboration: working with others can provide meaningful learning opportunities when done appropriately and with the explicit approval of the teacher. Students will give appropriate credit to each other when working collaboratively.

Malpractice includes, but isn’t limited to: 

  • plagiarism: this is defined as the representation of the ideas or work of another person as the candidate’s own

  • collusion: this is defined as supporting malpractice by another candidate, as in allowing one’s work to be copied or submitted for assessment by another

  • duplication of work: this is defined as the presentation of the same work for different assessment components and/or diploma requirements

  • improper use of AI: use of an AI tool (ex. ChatGPT) without both in-text and bibliography citations

“And any other behaviour that gains an unfair advantage for a candidate or that affects the results of another candidate (for example, taking unauthorized material into an examination room, misconduct during an examination, falsifying a CAS record).”  (Academic Honesty Guide, July 2011) 

  • Students must remember that internet sources should be properly cited as well by listing the internet address and the date the information was collected.  

  • Citations (in the form of a footnote or endnote) should be after each sentence with a quotation or a paraphrase.

  • Hillside has purchased a subscription for TurnItIn.com that students are able to upload documents for review before submission.  If a teacher determines after reviewing the turnitin report that collusion, plagiarism, or duplication has happened, then the student will receive a zero for that particular assignment.

  • Students will be taught how to ethically and properly use AI.

Responsibilities

It is the responsibility of all educators and program staff to ensure that students understand what academic honesty is, best practices around academic honesty, and how to follow the five fundamentals of academic honesty:

  • Honesty

  • Trust

  • Fairness

  • Respect

  • Responsibility 

These fundamental principles are explicitly taught, modeled and rewarded as part of the following tools designed to maintain ethical integrity within and beyond the classroom setting:  

  • IB Learner Profile integration in unit plans

  • DPS Student/Family Handbook - Student Code of Conduct

  • IB Expectations Contract

  • Positive Behavior Interventions System (PBIS) 

These tools further allow students to demonstrate conscientious academic effort & a strong commitment to learning as well as display a high standard of personal behavior and responsibility.

Student Responsibilities

  • Produce original work and appropriately acknowledge the contributions of others through proper citation and referencing. This includes the use of appropriate formatting for both in-text citations and works cited/reference pages. For additional information, refer to the IB Effective Citing and Referencing Guide. 

  • Understand the difference between common knowledge and information that requires citation.

  • Accept responsibility for any incidents of academic misconduct and take appropriate steps to correct and learn from the situation.

  • Use all forms of technology and digital resources in an ethical and responsible manner, including refraining from using AI inappropriately and the misuse of plagiarism detection tools to avoid accountability.

Teacher Responsibilities

  • Engage in regular reflection and review of the school’s academic integrity policy to ensure it remains relevant and effective.

  • Clearly communicate the principles and expectations of academic integrity to students, reinforcing its importance across subjects and grade levels.

  • Provide explicit guidance on assignment and assessment expectations, including appropriate collaboration, use of resources, and proper citation practices.

  • Integrate instruction on academic integrity into their teaching, including lessons on research skills, paraphrasing, and best citation practices.

Parent Responsibilities

  • Parents will support their students in their academic endeavors. 

  • Familiarize themselves with the school’s academic integrity policy.

  • Encourage their child to complete work independently and seek to help their child in appropriate ways.

  • Maintain open communication with teachers regarding concerns about student work.

IB Coordinator/Administration Responsibilities

  • Promote a culture of academic integrity by modeling and celebrating good academic honesty practices.

  • Ensure staff has proper training and resources to support students adequately.

  • Ensure policy is implemented consistently and with fairness and fidelity. 

  • Publicize the policy on the school website and the student handbook to ensure students, parents, and staff know it.

Investigations of Malpractice & Consequences

Per the DPS Student Code of Conduct, cheating is prohibited. Cheating includes actually giving and receiving any unauthorized aid or assistance, or the actual giving or receiving of unfair advantage in any form of academic work. This offense is considered to be Level 1. For a level 1 offense, the consequences can include in-school interventions and discipline, and possible suspension up to five days for aggravated factors. 

Most violations can be investigated by the IB teacher, and consequences can be limited to that class. Since our job is to instruct students on academic honesty, teachers should have some flexibility in how they handle malpractice within the classroom. Teachers should also take advantage of the originality reports function in Google Docs for smaller assignments. Teachers will document student misconduct in Educator Handbook, categorizing the incident as a minor or major infraction based on the nature of the behavior. A first occurrence will typically be recorded as a minor fraction, while repeated or serious behavior may be escalated and documented as a major infraction. 

If a pattern of malpractice appears, the teacher will refer the offending student to the IB Coordinator and IB Administrator for further guidance and discipline. However, if there is suspected malpractice with the Personal Project, an internal assessment, extended essay, or another document that is to be uploaded to IB, then investigation of suspected cases of malpractice will be conducted by the teacher, IB Coordinator, and/ or the IB Administrator. Parents will be notified. The final decision is determined by the teacher, IB Coordinator and IB Administrator, if applicable. 

If a student is found guilty of academic dishonesty, then a record of this will be added to their IB file as the first offense. The student will be allowed to redo the assignment before it is uploaded to IB, although their grade for that assignment within class (if applicable) will remain a zero. If the assignment is an IB internal assessment, the work may be redone and resubmitted if time permits. If time doesn’t permit, then the student will not receive the MYP Certificate or the  IB Diploma.  If work is submitted to IB and IB finds it to be created dishonestly, IB will not award the MYP Certificate or the Diploma to that student.

Revision: April 2025