Academic Honesty
Upon enrolling in eSACS Virtual School, students have implicitly asked the district to provide them with the opportunity to develop a deep understanding of the content and skills targeted for learning in the course and to develop each proficiency set forth in our Portrait of a Graduate. Every element within the modules, including but not limited to lectures, reading, writing, discussions, practice work, assignments, and assessments have been selected to support student learning. Cheating is defined as any act of intentional academic dishonesty, through which a student attempts to gain an unfair advantage through dishonest means.
Cheating shall include plagiarism, forgery, unauthorized copying or sharing of information, and all other forms of academic dishonesty. It is against the Southwest Allen County Schools Online Academy policy to participate in or knowingly have access to testing materials in the form of answer keys, completed tests or assignments curated from previous students, or other forms of completed coursework.
Students who cheat are forfeiting the opportunity to acquire knowledge. Southwest Allen County Schools takes academic honesty very seriously, and will uphold the integrity of the online educational experience by applying serious consequences to those who violate this policy.
Violations Include:
1. Cheating on Exams - It is cheating to work with another student or any other person while completing an individual assessment. It is cheating to copy answers made by other students. It is cheating to utilize resources during an assessment, such as using books, a computer, a phone, or other programmable devices, such as calculators, to retrieve information. For take home exams, assignments that involve collaboration, or group projects, the instructor will provide clear rules and students must follow those exactly. If a student has any questions about the meaning or intent of those instructions, they must contact the instructor prior to completing the assessment. In ALL cases, the answers submitted by the student MUST represent his or her own knowledge and skills.
2. Multiple Submissions - Students may not submit the same paper, or substantially the same paper, in more than one course. Students should never attempt to avoid an opportunity to learn and improve their research and writing skills by using a product created in a previous class. Educational tools designed to identify plagiarism will also notify teachers if a student is reusing his or her own work.
3. Plagiarism - Plagiarism entails taking the written composition of another person, or parts of passages of another person’s writings, or the ideas or language embodied in another person’s writings, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind. Plagiarism shall include not only cases where students exactly duplicate the literary work of another person, but also all cases where unfair use of such a work is made by lifting out a portion or portions of work completed by others. The act of plagiarism can include taking the work of other artists, musicians, architects, designers, draftsmen, culinary artists, computer programmers or other creators and presenting their work as an original idea or product without giving them credit. The creation of original ideas is considered intellectual property and is protected by U.S. copyright laws. It is against eSACS policy to participate in or knowingly have access to testing materials in the form of answer keys, completed tests or assignments curated from previous students, or other forms of completed coursework.
All of the following are considered plagiarism:
-turning in someone else's work as your own
-copying words or ideas from someone else without giving credit
-failing to put a quotation in quotation marks
-giving incorrect information about the source of a quotation
-changing words but copying the sentence structure of a source without giving credit
-copying so many words or ideas from a source that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not (see our section on "fair use" rules)
Students who violate the eSACS Honor Code will receive a zero on the work submitted.
Students enrolled in eSACS Virtual School who violate the Honor Code a second time in that same course or in any of their current or future online courses, will face further consequences, up to and including failing the course and not being permitted to enroll in future eSACS online courses.