Honor Code

FCHS Honor Code

Falls Church High School Honor Code
Adopted August 2011

Honesty, integrity, and responsibility are the keys to achieving one's full potential.  The Honor Code at
Falls Church High School supports a climate of academic integrity.  All community members realize life-long benefits by accepting responsibility for maintaining an environment of mutual respect and trust.

To maintain academic integrity at Falls Church High School, all students will avoid:

• Cheating –  gaining or receiving of unauthorized information; giving or gaining an unfair advantage
• Fraud – deceiving others for personal gain (including copying, forgery, dishonesty, and falsifying data)
• Plagiarism – copying the language, structure, idea, and/or thought of another person and representing it as one's own original work; using information obtained from printed or electronic sources that is not appropriately cited

Proactive Measures

Student Responsibilities
To maintain and support the academic integrity of the school community by

• completing all assigned work, activities, and tests according to the stated policies without engaging in cheating, fraud, or plagiarism.
• understanding the school-wide Honor Code and individual teacher assignment guidelines.
• clarifying with the instructor any ambiguities about violations of the Honor Code on an assignment.
• protecting individual work from use by other students unless teacher permission is specifically given.
• signing designated assignments with the statement, “I have neither given nor received help on this assignment,” thereby asserting the integrity of the work.  
• checking all papers carefully for documentation and originality of thought 

Teacher Responsibilities
To maintain and support the academic integrity of the school community by

• clearly presenting the school-wide Honor Code and individual teacher guidelines, including specific guidelines for collaboration on assignments.
• maintaining the integrity of the testing process through monitoring test taking, changing assignments from year to year, developing multiple versions of a test, as well as other methods.
• utilizing a variety of resources to check for plagiarism and originality of thought
•  reporting any violation of the Honor Code to the parent and administrator

Administrator Responsibilities
To maintain and support the academic integrity of the school community by

• making the Falls Church High School Honor Code available to all students, teachers, and parents
• administering Honor Code violation consequences according to the guidelines, including parent conferences
• maintaining records of Honor Code violations

Parent/Guardian Responsibilities
To maintain and support the academic integrity of the school community by

• becoming knowledgeable of the Honor Code expectations
• attending conferences as requested

  Plagiarism Resources
To avoid plagiarism, Falls Church High School faculty will continually instruct students on how to prevent plagiarism.  To facilitate the instruction a variety of tools will be available to faculty and students alike.  The goal is to educate the student body so that incidents of plagiarism are eliminated. 

The guidelines are as follows:

• Students will thoroughly check all papers using a variety of resources to ensure correct documentation and originality of thought.
• Students are responsible for correcting issues identified and will consult teachers for help as needed with those corrections. 
• Teachers may use all resources available to ensure the academic integrity of the work.

Consequences

Violations of the Honor Code will result in the following consequences:

1st Offense

• Student will re-do assignment for the purpose of demonstrating learning – 50% maximum credit.
• Administrator, counselor, and parent are notified by referral.
• Conference with student, parent, dean, and teacher
• Violation entered into school record
• Possible removal from or ineligibility for honor society membership
• Honor Society officers are put on probation or removed from position.

2nd Offense

• No credit on assignment
• Administrator, counselor, and parent are notified by referral.
• Conference with student, parent, and administrator
• 5-day activities suspension and 5 days administrative detention
• Students suspended from leadership positions (i.e. editors, class or club officers, team captains)
• Removal from or ineligibility for honor society membership

3rd Offense and Subsequent Offenses

• No credit on assignment
• Administrator, counselor, and parent are notified by referral.
• Conference with student, parent, and principal
• 10-day activities suspension and 10 days of administrative detention
• Permanent removal from or ineligibility for honor society membership
• Colleges may be notified of infraction.
• Possible suspension from school

* All offenses are subject to principal intervention.

** If a student’s infraction of the Honor Code is egregious and has violated more than one aspect of the Honor Code, the student may be held accountable for a second or third offense.

***A special thanks to Chapel Hill High School, Mountain Lakes High School, and W.T. Woodson High School for allowing FCHS to use and modify their honor codes.