top of page

Standards of Integrity

Christian Liberty has a no-tolerance policy regarding cheating and plagiarism. Concerning these issues, we strongly encourage parents to be “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves” (Matthew 10:16b). Please provide your student with the oversight and discipline necessary to prevent this behavior. Repeat offenders may face serious consequences, including expulsion.

As Biblical Christians, we should all understand the impact of sin in our lives and the lives of our children. In our several decades of serving the home school community, we have learned that academic cheating occurs even in the Christian home school, at times leaving us at CLH with the unpleasant task of failing the student and informing the parents. Therefore, we strongly encourage you, the parent/teacher, to be actively involved at all levels of your student’s study and to closely and consistently monitor your student’s behavior within your home school.

 

Copying Daily Work

Although this section essentially covers daily work that you have submitted, you should also apply these standards to the daily work you grade but are not required to submit. Your signature on the R&I sheet testifies that you have done so.

Students must never have access to test or textbook answer keys at any time during the school year. Answer keys and teacher’s manuals are for parent/teacher use only, and students should never see them. Necessary corrections to a student’s daily work for teaching purposes should be achieved through guidance based primarily on the contents of the textbook, not through directly communicating the contents of an answer key or teacher’s manual to the student.

On daily work, CLH does not penalize students for

  • writing single words, short phrases, technical definitions and vocabulary from the textbook

  • writing a single-sentence answer from the textbook

  • restating a question to form a complete sentence

  • occasional or coincidental similarities between correct answers and the answer key
     

However, students are forbidden from plagiarizing* or copying from

  • textbooks

  • other books or printed materials

  • answer keys

  • the Internet or any other electronic source

  • other students
     

* For a better understanding of the meaning and the nature of plagiarism, we encourage you to visit the following links from plagiarism.org and Indiana University.


We expect students to do their own work and to answer in their own words.

A student will receive a zero (0) on the entire daily work requirement if our grading committee determines that:

  1. the student’s answers on any portion of a written daily work assignment indicate access to answer keys;

  2. any portion of the written daily work assignment has been plagiarized from any other written or electronic source;

  3. two or more students have collaborated and copied from each other on any portion of a written daily work assignment.

 

If a daily work failure due to cheating or plagiarism results in a course failure, a course retake may be possible. See Retaking a Course for more information.

​

Research Papers

One of the greatest threats to academic integrity today is the temptation offered by the many free research paper websites on the Internet. By way of illustration, type in the search field of your web browser the phrase “free research papers.” You may be shocked at the number of websites offering free research papers and essays on a wide range of topics. The proliferation of these sites has been nothing short of astonishing.

Because of the growing milieu of academic cheating in our nation, as well as the growing apathy toward it, homeschooling parents must be fully engaged at every step of their students’ research projects. The following are a few steps that you can take to develop a “culture of accountability” in your home to prevent plagiarism in this regard.

​

  1. Require your student to check in with you before, during, and after each step of the process of writing a research paper.

  2. Do not let your student move on to the next step in the process until you are fully satisfied that he is doing his work correctly and honestly.

  3. Insist on being fully informed about your student’s electronic and hard copy sources, and check the pages from these sources cited in your student’s paper to be sure he has documented these sources accurately.

  4. Verbally quiz your student during the process of proofreading his early drafts and his final draft to ensure that he is mastering the material he is researching and not just downloading or copying someone else’s work.

​

Copying Tests

Students may not refer to textbooks, notes, Bibles, or any other support materials either written or electronic, or receive coaching from anyone while taking a test or an exam unless such assistance is explicitly permitted in the course instructions. Students must never have access to test or textbook answer keys at any time during the school year. Answer keys are for parent/teacher use only, and students should never see them, nor should their contents in any way be communicated to the student prior to or during a test for the purpose of answering specific test questions. The parent/teacher may verbally communicate the answer key answers to the student after the test is completed for feedback purposes only, but never for the purpose of altering or amending test answers before submitting the test to CLH .

A student will receive a zero (0) on the entire test if our grading committee determines that:
 

  1. any portion of the test or exam indicates access to or coaching from the answer keys;

  2. any portion of the test indicates cheating or plagiarism from any other written or electronic source;

  3. two or more students have collaborated and copied from each other on any portion of the test.

​

If a test failure due to cheating or plagiarism results in a course failure, a course retake may be possible. See Retaking a Course for more information.

bottom of page