Sycamore School

Pros

The simplicity of the software package and the ease of implementation. Sycamore offers the software without nickel and diming for add-ons or necessary features. For a small and/or non-profit institution, it is an AWESOME option at a very reasonable cost.

Cons

Not much support in terms of online manuals/support. I function better as a self-directed learner, and the online manuals and videos that were available at the time I onboarded were not very helpful. On the other hand, the phone support was very helpful in assisting when I couldn't find the answer online.

Pros

Our school was able to implement the Sycamore system without a lot of support. The software is laid out in a way that is intuitive and logical. Most questions that we asked ourselves were easily discovered by our own team. Whenever we had questions that we could not find (rare), the tech support quickly resolved the matter for us. The transition for us was much easier than we thought it could be.

The Sycamore software has also been simple for our clients (both students and teachers) to navigate. We used the software as our mail tool during our spring of 2020 change to remote learning. Parents had little trouble navigating around Sycamore to find the instruction and information for remote learning. We never anticipated using it that way, but it did a good job for us.

Cons

Sycamore has a few idiosyncracies that one has to get used to. Some listings require the user to go back to the beginning of the list after a choice has been made. Little things that I am sure will be refined over time.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Sycamore School

Reasons for Switching to Sycamore School

Pros

I really cannot be positive. It looks like an early 90' s site, where more and more junk accumulated on to it.

Cons

Menus are redundant and hard to navigate. Day long classes are restricted to grading all subjects with the same exact categories. The system glitches, does not updated posted grades after, say, dropping a lowest grade. Pass a note is obnoxious and nearly useless as a communication tool. If using the website for attendance, and a student comes in late, you have to go through multiple windows just to mark them present.

Integration is a joke. There is no organization for uploaded files that can be navigated, and trying to use it with Google Classroom was a tedious, painful joke. The email feature is way out of date and grossly insecure (one must disable security features in gmail for it to work)
I could go on, but it is like death by a thousand paper cuts.

Pros

It has many features and lots of options giving it great customization.

Cons

It can be hard to navigate and find what you need.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Choosing Sycamore School

Reasons for Switching to Sycamore School

Pros

We really value the ease of use with Sycamore and the various needs that the system meets. The Sycamore team is always looking for ways to improve. They also are always looking for creative ways to manage the daily demands of running a school.

Cons

Overall we have been very satisfied with Sycamore and their team of developers. There is nothing that we like least about Sycamore.

Pros

Very easy to use once you know how to use the software.
The On-Boarding one-on-one contact was greatly appreciated during the start-up process.
The Support Ticket team is very responsive.
I enjoy the ease of the Online Help, the only troublesome part of that is not all of the features being presented (maybe the Online Help just needs to be updated?).

Cons

Have yet to be able to fully integrate our Google Classrooms with Sycamore, so the teachers aren't able to use that feature as they would like.
Feels like some features could be simpler to get to.

Alternatives Considered

Reasons for Switching to Sycamore School

Pros

First of all, they have excellent customer service. They really are doing their best to help schools succeed. They have great integrations with google, which for us was one of the primary deciding reasons for going with them. They now have a quality app and more features than most programs have for a fraction of the cost. They also have a REST API which is extremely helpful for expanding the potential of the software.

Cons

One of the hard parts about being an educational software is that it is hard to know when to stop developing different​ features and instead focus on making the features they do have into amazing experiences. IMO Sycamore has a broader instead of deeper development philosophy. This is good for small schools that need a comprehensive solution, but it can be frustrating for schools with more users that end up choosing multiple solutions because the overall experience and depth of usability are better. An example of this is how they have 3 different enrollment/admissions portals that they have tried to develop. Instead of making one amazing, they have tried multiple times. Their most recent one is promising, but still,​ isn't​ usable for schools who need all of the features available.

Pros

Ease of use. Customer support. Frequent updates/upgrades. Meets all IS needs for our private school.

Cons

Graphics, as well as look & feel could use an update. Wish this product would integrate with our online curriculum.

Pros

I really liked how it integrated grading, communication, and attendance.

Cons

The multiple pop-up windows got annoying after a while. It would be good to integrate some sort of video instruction capabilities where teachers could post information for the students.

Pros

It’s very efficient for all my teaching needs!

Cons

There is really nothing I dislike about this software!

Pros

There are very little pros, except that I easily reached a customer service rep when I needed help with an issue.

Cons

I did not like Sycamore as an LMS. I found its interface to be clunky, filled with unnecessary options, and difficult to navigate. For example, to this day, I still have no idea how to create an assignment so that a student can upload there work. Believe me, I tried to figure it out. Eventually I gave up and used another system. The grade book was another problematic feature. At the end of the semester, it does not show final grades computed with the final exam. You have to go into each individual student and look at there "grade report" to see the end computation. I do not recommend this system. There are much better LMS's available.

Pros

I used Sycamore Education for years at a Christian school in Illinois. When I came to Japan last year, I realized that my new school was not using a school management system. I was very happy to have previous experience with Sycamore. As the principal, I was able to address the school board with our great need, and they approved the purchase of Sycamore. Our teachers are very happy to be able to post grades, our parents are happy to have direct access to their child's academic progress on a daily basis, and our office administrator is happy to be able to print report cards in minutes. I continue to be very pleased with the functionality of Sycamore as well as the outstanding customer support!

Cons

On occasion, a screen pops up notifying me there is an error. When I click on the drop down bar again, the error screen is gone. It's not a big issue, and hasn't slowed us down. This never occurred when I previously used the software.

Pros

I like the variety of features that Sycamore has available. From attendance to correspondence, Sycamore has all the features that a school might need.

Cons

Sycamore is very click heavy. To find a feature generally requires several clicks, and may not be where you think it would be.

Pros

Communication has increased between parents and teachers as grades can be tracked and paper grades don't get lost. It also has provided accountability in that teachers are posting grades on a more timely basis. It allows consistency between grades and years. The system is very powerful; customer service is probably the most helpful that I have encountered. I love the ability to create transcripts and that these are kept on the system. It tracks attendance much better than we were doing previously. The medical logs have been helpful. Doing online admissions has taken us to a new level as well.

Cons

The system isn't as intuitive as I would like. Because I have worked with it several years, it's much easier now and people end up coming to me to figure out how to do specific things with it.
I have been frustrated a bit b/c it doesn't allow for creative flexibility (for instance transcripts don't have a lot of space for extra activities) or for things that aren't the same in different countries. We have worked around a lot of the barriers, and Sycamore has been very helpful to put things on the list of potential fixes.

Pros

1, Very cost effective
2. You are purchasing all that the program has to offer. There are no additional fees for upgrades
3. Customer Service is awesome! Quick to respond, helpful and you can reach them by phone or PAN.
4. Very user friendly
5. HIGH HIGH rate of parent satisfaction with being able to access grades, teachers, one another, etc. All of them rave about the program!
6. Sycamore Leaf keeps us updated
7. Sycamore is always seeking to improve their program
8. PAN - we absolutely LOVE this feature. Our high school classrooms are in "learning cottages" aka trailers - and the teachers are separated. This feature allows all of us to feel so connected!

Cons

1, Not too many or serious... we did notice that if you make a change on the family or student information (you have the mother's name wrong ex.) then when you correct it, you cannot do it in just one area, you have to go into multiple areas.

2. We had some issues with the GPA configuration. I did not deal with it, but I know our high school conselor had numerous phone calls and PAN' s to get it figured out properly. For some reason we now have to do something different to get our proper grading.

3. Getting my parents over the learning curve of using the program. It is frustrating to hear them say " We seldom check Sycamore" and in our memos and everything else we keep saying HOW MUCH we put on Sycamore and to check it out. Word of mouth is helping this... I hear parents telling other parents that they really need to use it, or someone asking another how they knew about something and they will say "on Sycamore" .

Pros

Moving from paper report cards a few years back to centralized report cards and student information through Sycamore has been an excellent transition. Their setup team worked to make it a smooth transition. We probably only use half of its functionality at this point but we saw immediate wins with a centralized calendar, documents and family data. The reporting functionality of the system is also very helpful. As we compared Sycamore to other SIS options, it became clear that it was one of the best values that we researched. The live US based tech support has been outstanding. Every staff person I have talked to knows the system well and has been extremely helpful. I highly recommend Sycamore.

Cons

The user interface can be difficult to navigate sometimes and find the exact feature you are looking for. It is an excellent School Information System (SIS) but we did realize that its functionality around lesson plans and curriculum is very basic.

Pros

I like the app for my phone. It streamlines my ability to quickly send attendance to our office. I also like the school directory so that I can easily pull up information for any school family.

Cons

Sending group emails (batch emails) isn't obvious to me. I wish the email portion seemed more like gmail or other email applications.

Pros

The features that are most useful to me are the attendance and ease of updating when students are tardy or leave early. Our daily health screening is something that has been helpful with our new guidelines.

Cons

ALL the Clicks to get to where we need to be.

Pros

The support is fantastic. Trouble tickets are answered quickly and phone support is great.
The database is securely hosted on-line so it can be accessed anywhere and there is no set-up for a new computer.
The cafeteria feature works really well even with 24 teachers entering attendance / lunch orders at the same time.
Easy to send batch emails and individual emails to parents.

Cons

We don't use the "pass-a-note" feature very much. Sometimes parents use it and it comes up on the teacher's screen when they log-on in the morning.

Pros

Sycamore is a fairly easy school management system to navigate .

Cons

There have been some features and reports that would be nice to have that aren’t included as of yet.

Pros

Sycamore does a lot. It can do almost anything you would need a SIS to do, and it has the best google classroom integration of any SIS and LMS out there.

Cons

Sycamore can be tedious to navigate at times, and some of the design decisions are baffling. It is not easy to figure things out without training.

Pros

Sycamore keeps all our school data in one place so that the office, administration, and teachers can all share information. The more we learn to use it, the more helpful it is for us! I absolutely love the customer support. They respond quickly, kindly, and are always helpful. They are open to suggestions for change, and often we see those changes take place!

Cons

We sometimes call it "clickamore". There are often a lot of steps embedding in a process. That said, there are a lot of shortcuts that I keep learning about that make me like using Sycamore more and more!

Pros

I am most happy with the ability to access grades and grading where and when ever I have internet access. I don't need to carry a gradebook or storage device with my grade spreadsheets, like years past. Being able to excuse students from assignments or customize who the assignment is assigned to is invaluable.

Cons

The interface is improving, but feels a day late the the UI/UX game. We started to use the library module when we first setup with Sycamore, but it needs work and features. The lesson planner for teachers should be scrapped and a connection made with Planbook.com. The Scamore planbook makes it hard to move lessons when things happen like fire drills or snow days.

Pros

Easy to use for parents and staff; customer service is the BEST -- quick to respond , servant-minded and very competent.

Cons

There are a few quirks, like only uploading a single photo at a time (unlike something like Facebook where several can be done with a click). We had to go with a different accounting system (Quick Books Online) because we couldn't integrate it with Sycamore. Email is hard to manage at times.

Pros

The ability to get and find information that usually had to be found in several locations. As an administrator for this software, I enjoy the ease of creating reports and being able to costomize them. Overall the amount of things you can do with this program is amazing.

Cons

There seems to be too many clicks to get to some things. We have a lot of students who don't always share the same last name as their parent so some times it's hard to connect the two when doing some things.

Pros

I have been using this software for over 4 years. I am able to pay my child's tuition, check their lunch account and pretty much anything their teacher posts that I need to know. Easy to navigate and keep track of yearly expenses.

Cons

I have had a few problems logging in but was able to get help easily. Other than that I haven't had any issues.

Pros

1. Looks and performs professionally for school employees and parents.
2. Provides an excellent platform for ongoing communication between the school and home.
3. Customer support is exceptional. They provide helpful, easy to understand assistance in a timely fashion.
4. Over other web-based programs we've used or reviewed, Sycamore stands out as the best value and highest quality for our money.
5. We've received comments from other schools regarding the professional appearance of our grade cards, transcripts, and other school communication.
6. The Pass-a-Note feature makes communication among the school community easy and quick.
7. We've never experienced any "down time"; Sycamore is always functioning quickly and properly.

Cons

1. The user manuals would be more beneficial if they guided the user step-by-step through each process, especially during initial setup. What the user manuals lack, the customer support makes up for!

Pros

Customer service is AWESOME! They are quick to respond and often make upgrades to the system based on our suggestions.

Cons

There are few features like church attendance and basic checklists within the grade book that I would love to see them add.

Pros

I love that it is easy to use and get around to keep my important information all in one place and to keep my accounting up to date.

Cons

That sometimes you have to ask for something to be changed because even as a super user I can not get things added or taken out.

Pros

It is very user friendly for parents, teachers, students, and support staff. The app that has been created is wonderful.

Cons

I wish there would be a way to hide features we do not utilize. Sycamore offers many features for schools to use.

Pros

The conversion from our previous network-based program went flawlessly. We were up an running within a couple of weeks with the majority of the time just verifying data. Our main objective was to improve communication between school and home. Being a small school (<300 students), we were looking for the most inexpensive solution. We compared several of the competitors (e.g. Hunter's, RenWeb, Blackbaud, ACS, etc.) and found this to meet our needs. Our parents appreciate the built-in communication system between them and the school. The customer support is terrific. You can either phone or submit a support ticket online. They respond within 24 hours but most of time sooner.

Cons

The user interface is quirky at times. The button placements are not consistently located. It is a menu-driven interface as opposed to GUI though there is rumors of its soon release.

Pros

I have been working in the education field for 25 years, 20 of them with the local public school system, and have used many different student management systems during that time. Being a small school, I worried when we implemented Sycamore Education because I knew that I was pretty much alone when it came to troubleshooting. No longer would I have an IT rep inhouse who could solve any problems I might have. I have been very happy with the customer service with Sycamore and the ease of use as well. I usually get an answer within 10 minutes any time I submit a ticket for technical help. They are also constantly adding upgrades to the program that are very helpful to the staff and the parents.

Cons

There have been very few things that our school personally wanted changed that were not feasible as other schools had not asked for the same changes. We have been able to work around them.

Pros

You can do everything on this SIS program. It's very versatile. Logging on is simple and creating accounts is quick. It's a good communication tool.

Cons

It's so difficult to maneuver! You need to take many steps to complete one task. He parents do not usually log on because of the complicated user interface.

Pros

Sycamore is priced right and very user friendly. A huge advantage to the system is the technical support. We find the support staff provides great assistance with easy questions as well as more complex solutions. We appreciate their willingness to see us through to the end when we have an issue (even when it's self created). The web-based system provides easy access from anywhere which is a great feature. The system is continually being updated with no expensive upgrade charges which is great for sticking to a budget. Communication with families and among staff is made easy with Sycamore as well.

Cons

Not as much database flexibility (adding fields/tracking) as we woud like.

Pros

Great Google integration (provisioning, email, calendar, classroom...). LOTS of features included in one package, no modules necessary. GREAT price!

Cons

No rotating-schedule ability. VERY obsolete user interface (think Windows 3.5). Other than those two factors, this could be one of the best school-management systems in the world!

Pros

Sycamore is an all encompassing administration software. It allows for great communication with teachers, students, staff, and parents. It includes just about all aspects of administering to a school. I am very pleased...

Cons

I would like to see one feature added to Sycamore. I would like to see an e-mail notification sent to parents as to when grades have been updated. I understand Sycamore's reasoning behind not doing that, however, in today's world, people need as many chances and excuses to log into Sycamore. I would like to see an e-mail stating that their students grades have been updated and a link to log onto sycamore.

Pros

-support is rarely needed, but EXCEPTIONAL in times of need. support ticket response time averages 10 minutes. (yes...10 minutes, not 10 hours!) Support staff is EXCEPTIONAL.
-easy for teachers, parents, & students to use
-has become our "go-to" method of communication with the school family
-ALL IN ONE! No "module" ridiculousness
-no servers to maintain!
-teachers have access 24/7, on or off-campus
-SE is always improving their product and making the experience more and more user-friendly

Cons

-pictures aren't easy to upload (in SE's defense, photo-sharing is not their expertise)

Pros

Ease of system
Reports
Tech support
Quick response to personalized needs
My Teachers LOVE IT!
Has so much to offer beside attendance and grades

Cons

We have not had any issues with this system. Any changes we've needed have been addressed quickly.

Pros

Web interface is speedy
Training is easy and intuitive
Implementation and customer support are exceptional
Openness to innovation, enhancements

Cons

Master Scheduler isn't as robust as I would like to see it, but a new version is set to be released soon, which is a testament to the continual improvement of this product.

Pros

Sycamore Education is very easy to use. It makes communicating grades to parents so easy. A parent can log on at their leisure and check on grades for their student. The Pass-A-Note option is very handy, as well. I communicate hourly with parents and fellow faculty using Pass-A-Notes. I often print reports of students grades to go home, and in a few clicks can email that same report directly to parents!

Cons

It takes a little while to learn to navigate the ins and outs of everything. After a few quarters it becomes like second nature. I just KNOW where everything is.

Pros

We use this at our child’s private school, it’s efficient for paying for her school lunches - eliminates the need to have her carry cash. All we do is add money via our PayPal account. We can also view her lunch menu from there and track her grades.

Cons

I wish there was an option to update account balances via our bank account. I guess at this time, PayPal is the only option. This is it a con but can be a potential inconvenience if PayPal is not working.

Pros

-Excellent customer service. Their contact person for us (Nancy) has been very receptive to our needs and is an outstanding communicator for Sycamore.
-Incredibly fast response to support tickets. Almost instantaneous.
-Flexible! They have been willing to work with us to modify to some specific needs we have.
-Simple to use. Once you learn a few key areas, it's so easy.

Cons

-Needs an aesthetic facelift/tweak.

Pros

- All in one System
- Customer support is quite responsive
- No software to upgrade, No servers to back up
- Very feature rich
- Cost effective all in one solution for Schools of all sizes

Cons

- Many reports are available and Dynamic reports are great but need the ability to save Dynamic report definitions.

Pros

I love that all I require to get things done with my child's school is in one place - student info, lunch booking, payments etc.

Cons

None at this time. Everything needs is well integrated into one great app.