ACADEMIC INTEGRITY POLICY

Academic Integrity Policy of the IB Middle Years Programme

Academy integrity would be visible if the attributes of the IB learner profile are practiced.
We encourage learners to be: inquirers, knowledgeable, thinkers, communicators,
principled, open-minded, caring, risk-takers, balanced, and reflective. Principled learning
needs learners to be honest and ethical in referencing sources of information and ideas in
their work. Academic misconduct is defined as behavior that results in, or may result in, the
student or another student gaining an unfair advantage in one or more assessment
components (MYP: From Principles into Practice 95). Malpractice includes plagiarism,
Collusion, students academic misconduct and duplication of work, (as defined above).

Teacher's Responsibility
• Communicate expectations you have for students by clearly referring to the Academic
Integrity guidelines
• Encourage honesty and communicate the consequences of breaching IB regulations.
• Detecting and reporting -Upon evaluating each student’s assessment, teachers need to
pay close attention to any work that seems misaligned with the level of that student.
When academic dishonesty is detected by a teacher, he/she should report the issue to
the principal and coordinator to provide adequate evidence of the malpractice.
• Make the Approaches to Learning (ATL) skills an explicit focus for teaching and learning,
particularly information literacy skills such as conducting research.
• writing academically to fulfill the expectation of authentic authorship.
• acknowledging sources using citations (MLA format)
• working collaboratively
• establishing timelines, so work can be proof-read and edited by knowledgeable sources
prior to the assessment submission deadline.

Student Responsibility
• Make your work personal and write using your own “voice”.
• Acknowledge help and resources used.
• Allow yourself time to do the work properly.
• Submit work that is authentic as part of the e-Portfolios and personal/community
projects.
• Familiarize yourself with what constitutes academic misconduct in the on-screen
examination.
Role

Role of MYP Librarian

● support teachers and students in understanding Academic integrity by sharing good
practices.
● Support students in finding good resources.
● Conducting various sessions with students, teachers, and parents
Steps to help students achieve this
GIVING CREDIT
Each student is responsible for ensuring that all work submitted for assessment represents
authentic authorship, with the work or ideas of others fully and correctly acknowledged.
Even if the intellectual property is summarized or paraphrased, it requires proper MLA
citations. Parenthetical citations should be used in all essays, and a works cited page is
required for multi-source research and/or analytical writing.
CLARIFICATION
If, at any point, a student is concerned that his/her behavior may be interpreted as
malpractice, he/she needs to seek clarification regarding Academic Integrity expectations.
Attempts to gain clarification prior to submission of work will never be penalized, as this
demonstrates the student’s desire to act in a principled manner and serves as a learning
opportunity. Therefore, students should feel comfortable asking for clarification and
remember that all questions concerning Academic Integrity are welcomed.
PRINCIPLED ACTION
a. REPORTING
Students who may know of a potential act of academic dishonesty or of an act that has
already occurred, are required to report it to a teacher immediately. Students who report
these incidents act with integrity and help their peers see the importance of academic
integrity.
b. ACCEPTING CONSEQUENCES
Students “must bear the consequences if they submit work for assessment that is not their
own, regardless of whether the plagiarism was deliberate or the result of poor research
skills” It is our hope to avoid situations of malpractice, but should a situation arise, we
expect students to cooperate with staff, take responsibility for their actions, and use the
experience as a learning opportunity for the future.
Prevention:
● Education on Information Literacy will be introduced appropriately starting with Primary
school. The Librarian makes the most of the initiatives with the team of teachers.
Students in Primary school learn proper search skills and learn to record sources.
● Run workshops for students on Research and reference skills leading to 'Learning how to
learn' (or Approaches to Learning). Each teacher is responsible for developing
information literacy skill (approaches to learning) through respective subject groups.
● Teachers maintain a meeting log to show the development of the work
● Share the Academic Integrity Policy with students, and Parents.
● Structured Induction program on 'Academic Integrity' to new candidates during
Orientation.
ACTION FOR ACADEMIC DISHONESTY

Sanctions against academic dishonesty may range from warning to dismissal depending on
the seriousness of the offense. If any case of academic dishonesty is found the teacher will
inform the Coordinator and the Principal. The Principal will notify the parents in writing of
the incident. School will also inform the organization (IB) and will support any
consequences. The penalties may include one or more of the following:
The offense may be recorded on the infraction record form, a copy of which is placed in the
student's file. The candidate may be allowed to resubmit the work.
● A warning letter may be issued, a copy of which is placed in the student's file.
● Receiving no grade in the piece of work or examination.
● Suspension from regular lessons.
● Dismissal from the school.
● If a teacher or the IB coordinator has reason to believe that a piece of work to be
submitted to the IB is not authentic, that work will not be accepted. This will result in no
grade being awarded for the subject.
● Action that the IB may take in cases of alleged academic misconduct
● If the IB starts an investigation into academic misconduct, the coordinator is informed
by email. The IB requires the coordinator immediately to inform the head of school of
the investigation.
● The IB will include full instructions for the investigation, including the steps to be taken
by the coordinator, statement templates, and so on, with the email.
● The evidence is then considered by the Academic Integrity sub-committee of the final
award committee and the outcome is decided.
● If the allegation is established, the student's result will not be released for that
particular subject, and he/she will not be given his/her final passing MYP certificate. If it
is decided that no breach has occurred, the subject result will be released in the normal
way.

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ASSESSMENT POLICY

Purposes of assessment at Shiv Nadar School Noida

Assessment is an integral part of the teaching and learning process. To ensure the effectiveness of the
student’s educational experience it is important that varied assessment techniques should be used at
regular intervals. The following are the objectives for assessment which we at Fountainhead school
would be targeting as part of the IB global community.

1. To provide quality feedback to students so as to ensure growth in the learning of students.

2. To prepare students so that they can meet the assessment requirements of MYP assessment.
3. To provide quality feedback to teachers regarding the learner's stage in the learning process,
level of knowledge acquired and the extent of skill development.
4. To provide feedback to parents regarding student’s progress through grades.
5. Ensuring that assessment is criterion-related and not norm-referenced.
6. Ensure that the assessment process is aligned with the school’s assessment objective.
7. Ensuring that the assessment process is reliable and trustworthy.

Continuous assessment as an indicator of effective assessment and assessment practice

To measure the knowledge, understanding, and skills attained by students, it is necessary that
continuous assessment should form an integral part of the MYP. The school provides ample
opportunities for continuous assessment through varied assessments. The faculty at school will assess
the student continuously over a period of time through his / her performance in group projects,
activities (individual or group activities). The students will be receiving feedback from teachers at regular
intervals which will enable them to focus on their areas of improvement and consolidate on their
strengths. Through continuous assessment, the teachers will over a period of time ascertain the level of
student’s progress and will be able to plan their teaching strategies so that effective learning takes
place.

Formative assessment

● Formative Assessments are Checks For Understanding to inform teaching and learning practices.
It allows teachers to monitor the progress of each student through the unit so as to be able to
counsel them and to give advice.
● Formative Assessment, which takes place during each unit and may be repeated many times
over.
● Formative assessments can be taken by teachers in different formats(Pen Paper, Performance,
reflection, oral presentation, quiz) at any point of the plan as per requirement in the flow of
teaching in the regular subject slots
● Information about formative assessments may or may not not be given to the students or
parents.
● Task-Specific Clarification, Assessment rubric along with the achievement levels will be prepared
and shared with the students specifically for the formative assessment (at least 1) which the
teachers choose to report to students and parents.

Summative Assessment:
 ● It takes place at the end of each unit of work and provides an indicator of student achievement
in the particular unit against the MYP objective and the Assessment criteria for that particular
subject.
● The subject teachers should publish the summative assessment calendar in advance regarding
the upcoming end of unit summative assessment for all time bound or process based
assessments.
● The teachers should also post the content that will be covered in the summative assessment
with the assessment objectives in focus.
● The duration of the summative assessment can be decided by the teachers as per the task.
● Task-Specific Clarification should be mentioned in all Summative Assessment/s.
● Assessment rubric along with the achievement levels should be prepared and shared with the
students.

Absence during the assessment day -

In case a student misses the summative on the scheduled date, he/she will be marked 'Excused' for the
specific assessment. On returning, the student will complete the missed assessment as a formative task,
enabling him/her to demonstrate comprehension of the concept/material. On submission, the teacher
will provide a level and detailed feedback to help students understand his/her progress and areas for
improvement. This absence will not negatively impact the final grade of the child. The levels will go as an
anecdotal comment on Toddle for future reference. Medical certificate to be produced in case of
medical emergencies

Assessment Timeline

TO BE DISCUSSED

MYP Assessment Criteria and Assessment Rubrics

The MYP curriculum is organized through the study of eight subject-groups: language acquisition,
language and literature, individuals and societies, sciences, mathematics, arts, physical and health
education, and design. Each subject-group has four learning objectives that directly correspond to four
assessment criteria. For the Personal Project (year 5) and interdisciplinary units, there are three criteria.
The table shows an overview of the criterion for each subject, the personal project and interdisciplinary
units.
Each of these criteria are divided into various achievement levels (numerical values from 0 to 8) that
appear in bands, and each band contains general, qualitative value statements called level descriptors
that define what students need to do to achieve that specific level. The levels 1 and 2 appear as the first
band, levels 3 and 4 as the second band, and so on. All criteria have four bands and a maximum of eight
achievement levels and each criterion in a subject is equally weighted.

MYP Grade 9-10 curriculum and assessment at Shiv Nadar School Noida

For Grade 9 and 10, students are able to make subject-choices keeping in view their interests for Grade
11 and 12 and further studies. Students prepare themselves for an e-assessment which will take place at
the end of Grade 10. E-assessment consists of on-screen assessments and e-portfolios. There is a
balance of on screen exam and e-portfolio. Onscreen exam is a time bound exam where students write
their responses to questions by using laptops. It does require the internet for submission of responses to
IB as they are directly submitted to Ibo electronically. For e-portfolio, students work on project-based
tasks with the help of teachers. Students are given 4-6 weeks to complete the project where final work
is submitted to IBO for external moderation after completing internal marking by teachers. In Grades 9
and 10, students will continue to participate in service as action and additionally do a Personal Project.
They will also take an Interdisciplinary assessment. SNS offers a wide range of subject disciplines under
each of the 8 subject groups

Eligibility for MYP Certificate at the end of grade 10:

● Complete the on-screen examinations for a minimum of four subjects, one from each of the following
subject groups: ○ Language and Literature ○ Language Acquisition ○ Individuals and Societies ○ Sciences
○ Mathematics
● Take the Interdisciplinary examination
● Submit at least one e-portfolio from any of the following skill-based subject groups: 1. Arts 2. Physical
and Health Education 3. Design
● Submit the Personal Project
● Complete the school's requirement for Community Service (Source: General Regulations: Middle Years
Programme, April 2014).

The Personal Project

The Personal Project is an independent student project carried out with teacher supervision, reflecting
students’ ability to initiate, manage and direct their own inquiry. The ATL skills developed in subject
groups will prepare students to work more independently to develop the Personal Project over time. It is
introduced to students towards the end of Grade 9 and completed in February of Grade 10.
● Students decide what they want to learn about, identifying what they already know, and discovering
what they will need to know to complete the project.
● Students create proposals or criteria for their project, planning their time and materials, and record
the development of the project.
● Students make decisions, develop understanding and solve problems, communicate with their
supervisor and others, and create a product or develop an outcome.
● Students evaluate the product/outcome and reflect on their project and their learning.
● Students will demonstrate how they met their project objectives through a presentation or a report
at the end of the project.
For the personal project, students are expected to document their process in the process journal. In this
way they demonstrate their working behaviors and academic honesty. The project is internally assessed
by a teacher supervisor and standardized with other MYP teachers before submission to the IB for
external moderation.
Awarding, Recording of student achievement level in the MYP

● During a semester students receive a Subject-Specific Criterion-Based level for individual assignments
and assessment tasks on a scale from 0 to 8. These levels will be communicated via the Learning
Management System.
● At the end of a year the student receives a final Grade on a scale from 1-7 for each subject studied.
The final Grade will be communicated via report card on the Learning Management System.
● Standardization and moderation of student work is done among teachers to ensure fair assessment
according to task specific clarifications. The Subject-specific Criterion-Based levels are awarded
according to the process described above for each individual assessment task. For each subject, teachers
are required to assess all strands for all four criteria at least twice per year. However, teachers might
choose to assess each criteria multiple times. The awarded level for a summative assessment is recorded
and communicated via the Learning Management System where all summative assessments are
recorded. Decimals, percentages, or fractions are not consistent with criterion-related assessment and
are not used as summative assessment. The final achievement Grade is awarded at the end of each year.
The teacher will, based on the evidence collected throughout the year, use professional and informed
judgment to award each student a final achievement level in each of the criteria. The achievement level
is not an arithmetical average of the marks achieved throughout the semester; rather the student will be
graded at the end
The final achievement levels for each of the criteria are added together. The sum produced is used to
translate the student’s final achievement into the IB MYP 1-7 scale according to the official MYP
published grade boundary. (See below). For example, if the sum of the values awarded for each criterion
in a Language and literature class is 25, the final achievement mark for that class will be MYP grade 6.
Reporting in the MYP:
• Formal Report ( four times per year)
• Student self-reflection on learning and goals is included in the semester end report card
• Parent-Teacher, Teacher-Student and Parent-Teacher-Student conferences.
• Teacher communication with parents via notes, emails and phone calls

Assessment for Students with learning difficulties:

Students on learning support are assessed for all tasks. Students with learning support requirements
may require reasonable adjustments to access the MYP curriculum framework. Access accommodations
are provided to students of MYP 1 to MYP 5 with specific learning needs during their assessments in
compliance with the school's Access and Inclusion Policy.

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Language Policy

The language of instruction at Shiv Nadar School is English, and the School aims at students working
successfully within the English medium. The school is aware of the multilingual nature of most students
applying to the school and offers a range of levels in English courses to support students who do not
have a proficiency level in English and stretch those who do. The school is committed to supporting at
least one Indian language spoken by the majority of students, which currently is Hindi. The School’s
philosophy aims to understand and respect the languages and cultures of other communities and offers
students the opportunity to study a range of foreign languages in the overall curriculum. The school
believes that the acquisition of language is dynamic and permeates all learning; that language as a
communication tool promotes personal and international understanding, intellectual growth and self-
confidence; that through meaningful communication, we are able to understand each other, the world
around us and ourselves.
The purpose of learning a language is not only to learn to express oneself, but also to learn the culture
of the target languages and to support this. The school also believes that every subject teacher is a
language teacher and each one has a responsibility in the development of languages in school.

Language Profile
The school is committed to ensuring that students are best supported by the English Programme they
have been assigned to. Approximately 90% of our student body speaks English with reasonable
proficiency. We are a culturally diverse school with a community of students and parents from different
cultural backgrounds boasting a variety of mother tongues. All of our administrative and teaching staff
speaks English; most are fluent in at least one other language. The language of instruction and the
primary language of communication in the school is English. While English is the most common language
within the school, the use of other languages in appropriate circumstances is welcomed and celebrated.
All students applying for admission to middle school take an English entrance placement assessment to
ascertain the level of English a student may be admitted

MOTHER TONGUE SUPPORT:

The term ‘mother tongue’ may denote the language learned first and/or the language identified with, as
a “native” speaker. For the school, the “mother tongue” includes both these definitions and describes
the language that the student uses at home. Home language is supported through various programmes
in the school, such as language days, special assemblies, and dramatic productions in languages other
than English. The school library makes available reading material in different languages. Teachers
encourage students to recognise and appreciate each other's home language in different ways, such as
exchanging greetings, sharing stories, etc. To develop language skills, all students are encouraged to
participate in school assemblies and events that enable them to write, speak, and present in English and
other languages.

MYP Language and Literature

English is the Language of Instruction. As part of the planned curriculum, students will read a variety of
texts. Students will identify, evaluate, and synthesize information with the purpose of communicating,
learning holistically and promoting intercultural awareness. Placement of students in the MYP for
Language Acquisition course: New students will fill a language portfolio at the time of their admission
with information about their mother tongue, other languages spoken and any previous experience with
the language chosen in MYP. Students with previous knowledge of Spanish/French/ German or Hindi will
give a placement test of criteria - Listening, Reading, Speaking and Writing. This is in order to determine
in which phase they will continue with language acquisition. The assessment tools specified for each
phase in this document will be used in this placement test.

Planning a progression of learning in the MYP for Language Acquisition Course-

Teaching and learning in the language acquisition subject group is organized into three levels of
proficiency. Students are required to take a diagnostic test to determine at which level they will
continue with language acquisition from a previous educational experience. Students are given the
opportunity to develop their language skills to their full potential, as well as the possibility of progressing
through the levels over the course of the MYP