IB World Topics is a class offered to seniors. The class studies areas of history around the world. For their second unit, they studied Mussolini and Fascism, and their unit test was administered in the previous weeks.
In one of the sections of the course, a student was found to be cheating on the exam by leaking the test questions before the test was given out. The test went on as scheduled, without any knowledge of the cheating occurring by the teachers. However, shortly following the test the cheating was revealed to the teachers.
“We at Annandale High school are committed to the IB learner profile traits particularly the characteristic of being principled,” IB Coordinator Linda Bradshaw said. “This means to have integrity, honesty, and respect for self and others. Actions of cheating are non-examples of being principled.”
After finding this out, every student in this course was required to retake a different version of the test.
“IB does not tolerate instances of academic dishonesty,” Bradshaw said. “Cheating, plagiarism/failure to credit your sources, falsifying research, and copying work result in a “no mark” or score of ‘N’ from IB.”
Many students are frustrated at this, as they feel that their previous effort on the test had been a waste.
“I worked so hard to study for the original test and it was not easy,” senior Joscelyn Ventura said. “In class, I was rushing to get the test done and put a lot of thought and effort into my responses, and now it is just thrown out.”
Some find that they are not as frustrated that the student cheated, but that their tests were thrown out and that they had to retake a much harder version.
“I do not think it is okay for students to cheat,” Ventura said. “But I don’t think it’s fair to the rest of the students who were not involved to have to retake it without notice.”
Teachers and administrators have taken this opportunity to provide a lesson for IB students.
“The lesson to learn from this is that cheating is wrong and impacts everyone,” Bradshaw said. “If this occurred in college, a student could be expelled.”
Many students understand the need to retake, and realize the importance of not cheating.
“I was disappointed that I had to retake the test,” senior Liza Chichester said. “But I realized that it was necessary.”
Measures to prevent something like this from happening in the future have been put into place.
“Teachers will be more viliagent in securing their assessments as well as administering them in the future” Bradshaw said.
Teachers and administrators hope that students will make better decisions from now on.
“Let’s hold each other accountable to being principled, and make better choices,” Bradshaw said.