Across disciplines, we value student collaboration and expression of original ideas. The vast majority of students turn in assignments that either meet or exceed our expectations and contain no plagiarized or copied work. In an effort to honor their work, we introduce the following policy to respond to work that has been plagiarized or copied.
Definition of Plagiarism and Academic Dishonesty for this Policy:
In an instructional setting, plagiarism occurs when a student uses or supplies someone else’s language, ideas, or other original material without acknowledging its source including, but not limited to:
- Copying from the Internet or any other source, or using any unapproved websites/apps to complete assignments (including putting work into an online translator)
- Copying from another student or getting unapproved assistance from another student on an individual assignment
- Turning in another person’s work as your own (including Rosetta Stone)
- Submitting a group project that includes plagiarized or copied work
- Supplying another student with work that is not their own (including Rosetta Stone)
- See AI section for SLA’s guidelines on using Generative AI
MAJOR ASSIGNMENTS
If plagiarism/copying occurs on larger assessments in a given academic year (benchmarks, large projects worth 10% of grade or more):
- 1st offense: Students will automatically fail the quarter if the assignment isn’t re-done. Students can re-do the assignment, and any redone project that meets expectations can earn up to a 50%. The re-done project’s grade will be mathematically factored in to determine the student’s final grade for the quarter. If plagiarism/copying is caught at the very end of the quarter, student will earn an Incomplete for the quarter and will have a maximum of two weeks to re-do the assignment for 50% credit. There will also be a parent meeting with advisors, teacher and student.
- 2nd offense in any class: Student will fail the course where the second plagiarism occurs for the quarter and there will be a parent meeting with advisors, teacher and Mr. Lehmann.
- 3rd offense in any class: Student will fail the course where the third plagiarism occurs for the year.
**Group Projects: If a group project is submitted that contains plagiarized or copied work, other group members who didn’t plagiarize will be penalized one full letter grade (10%) for the project, and the group member who plagiarized/copied will fall under the above consequences. If there is a concern about a group member possibly plagiarizing or not completing his or her share of a group’s work, other group members should voice this concern with their teacher as early as possible, and the teacher will work with the group to come up with a solution.
MINOR ASSIGNMENTS
If plagiarism occurs on other assignments (non-benchmarks; smaller assignments), the following consequences will apply for BOTH copier and copiee:
- 1st offense: 0 and redo for 0 credit, meeting with advisor and alert parents.
- 2nd offense in same class: meet with advisor, teacher and Mr. Lehmann
- Additional offenses in class: parents come in and meet with Mr. Lehmann, possible suspension or failure for quarter depending on frequency of offenses.
**Please note: in all cases when plagiarism/copying occurs, all members of the student’s academic team will be included on progress notes as a supportive measure.
AI Use
At SLA, we prioritize the learning process, and as teachers, we always want to see the steps that students take in order to complete a project or solve a problem. As such, any undocumented use of Generative AI (such as ChatGPT or Gemini) is prohibited, and counts as a violation of the Academic Integrity Policy.
Students can use AI to support, enhance, or proofread their original work, and must submit full documentation of that use via screenshots or exported AI chats. If students fail to submit full documentation, the AI use counts as a violation of the Academic Integrity Policy. Students should consult with their teacher before they attempt to use AI for support. If the teacher flags properly documented AI use as crossing into generative use or worsening the final product, the use will not count as a violation, but the work will need to be revised and resubmitted before receiving a final grade. Teachers may also mark specific assignments as “AI free” — in these instances, no AI use is allowed.
Adapted from the Council of Writing Program Administrators, http://www.wpacouncil.org