Scenario: I witnessed this scenario take place during my student teaching in college.

Names are not mentioned.

Student A is a student that has a behavior plan, does not follow the rules, and makes
average to poor grades.

Student B is a student that makes a’s and b’s, follows the rules, and has a strict home
life.

Teacher is walking around the room monitoring a test. Students have privacy boards up
and there is a seat empty every other student to avoid looking onto papers. Teacher
notices Student A looking into his desk a couple of times. After investigating, notices the
study guide is in the cubby of the desk. Teacher makes a scene in front of the class and
writes a referral for Student A. Student A has ISS the next day even though there are no
prior referrals for academic dishonesty.

A week later, students are taking another assessment. Teacher notices Student B
keeps looking down at their hand. Teacher walks over to Student B asks to speak with
them out in the hallway. Teacher comes back in from hallway and proceeds to take the
assessment from Student B’s desk. The next day Student B is back in class with no
visible punishment (no punishment). Teacher gives another assessment to Student B
and has them sit at a back table for test.

The next day there was an angry parent phone call asking why their child received ISS
when another student had the same offense, and did not receive the same
consequence.

Resolution:

As educators, it can be a hard not to react quickly to the student that is a challenge.
Especially when they are demonstrating academic dishonesty. It can also be easy to
overlook a student that usually follows expectations and works hard.

In this case, it would seem that because neither student had prior referrals for academic
dishonesty, they should receive the same consequence. Being consistent and having a
behavior plan in place, either as a school or a class would be helpful to avoid the
situation. It may not send the right message to the student or to others if consequences
do not seem fair. With academic dishonesty, if one student is not corrected, it can send
a negative message to others- “if they can, why can’t we?” While it is confidential what
happens to other students (not other parents concern), consistency could help in this
case.