Does helping a PhD student with proofreading violate school policy in general? I am proofreading and editing a dissertation proposal for a student for whom English a fourth language--cleaning up the language for clarity and grammar, etc. The student has asked me to paraphrase the information of some articles so that s/he can use what is most relevant to her research. Is this commonly against school policy?
I am proofreading and editing a dissertation proposal for a student for whom English a fourth language--cleaning up the language for
  clarity and grammar, etc. The student has asked me to paraphrase the
  information of some articles so that s/he can use what is most
  relevant to her research.


That is fine.


  I am proofreading and editing a dissertation proposal for a student for whom English a fourth language--cleaning up the language for
  clarity and grammar, etc. The student has asked me to paraphrase the
  information of some articles so that s/he can use what is most
  relevant to her research.


That is abhorrent in two levels. First, the student had the guts to even ask. Second, the task itself involves significant amount of intellectual input that is not of the student's.

I understand you wish the student to do well, and the work would reflect on your mentoring ability. But this is just identical to parents helping children with art project the night before school. It can be a fun and educational experience for kids, but outlandish for a grown up PhD candidate.

At the very least, make the student do the major part of the work:


Highlight the parts that he/she feels relevant. The selection of articles and contents should never be done by you. Discuss with the student on the rationale of the selections, and use this as an educational opportunity.
Paraphrase 5-10 various statements and hand them to the student as a guideline/examples, ask him/her to replicate on a dozen or so, check and give comments.
Send him/her away with a complimentary copy of a thesaurus, or some URLs like  http://thesaurus.com
Identify the ESL center in your institute, and ask the student to work with the ESL staff along the way.
Recommend the student to identify an editor. His/her English standard will not become any better. Now you are helping with proposal, a couple years later you'll help with dissertation---vicious cycle.


Also, as how I define it, if English is my mother tongue, then all languages I would learn are my second languages. It'd only be a fourth language of this student if, say, he/she has Russian as mother tongue, then learned Chinese in Russian, then learned Thai in Chinese, then learn English in Thai. I don't think that is a very viable pathway, and you may want to hook the student up with a Russian English teacher/editor.

And lastly, where were you when I was working on my PhD?!