PowerSchool

4.4
Overall rating
Reviews

4.4
Overall rating
Reviews

About PowerSchool

PowerSchool is the leading provider of cloud-based software for K-12 education in North America. Its mission is to power the education ecosystem with integrated technology that helps educators and students realize their full potential, in their way. PowerSchool connects students, teachers, administrators, and parents, with the shared goal of improving student outcomes. From the office to the classroom to the home, it helps schools and districts efficiently manage state reporting and related compliance, special education, finance, human resources, talent, registration, attendance, funding, learning, instruction, grading, assessments and analytics. PowerSchool supports over 50 million students globally and more than 15,000 customers, including over 90 of the top 100 districts by student enrollment in the United States, and sells solutions in over 90 countries. Visit www.powerschool.com to learn more.
PowerSchool Software - PowerSchool School and District Administration
PowerSchool Software - PowerSchool Family Access to Information
PowerSchool Software - PowerSchool Pre-Built Dashboards
PowerSchool video
PowerSchool Software - PowerSchool School and District Administration - thumbnail
PowerSchool Software - PowerSchool Family Access to Information - thumbnail
PowerSchool Software - PowerSchool Pre-Built Dashboards - thumbnail

PowerSchool pricing

PowerSchool does not have a free version and does not offer a free trial.

Starting Price:
Not provided by vendor
Free Version:
No
Free trial:
No

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Browse PowerSchool Reviews

174 of 174 reviews
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Joseph
Joseph
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Functionality
4
Ease of Use
4
Customer Support
0

4
Reviewed on 27/11/2023

Effective LMS

Our school adopted Powerschool in the last 5 years. This program is way better than the system we use to use. Great for overall attendance, student records, and grading.

Pros

Fairly easy to use for K-12 education. Attendance is a breeze and helps maintain accurate class grades and records.

Cons

Not too many cons to report. Data records for families and emails tend to be a little hard to access, but this could be how our technology department uploaded this information.

Aaron
Aaron
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1+ year
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
4
Customer Support
0

5
Reviewed on 8/12/2019

PowerSchool: Nice Interface and Easy to Use Features

Overall, PowerSchool offers an easy to navigate attendance and grading system for schools. They have done a nice job with the layout in that most things are easy to find and where you would be expected to find them. There are many customizations available at the district level, so successful implementation will also be dependent on your district set up and ensuring that they are getting input from the appropriate stakeholders.

Pros

My school district switched over to PowerSchool about a year and a half ago. I now use it for grades, attendance, lunch counts, reports, and many other things. What I like most about PowerSchool is the interface. As a teacher, when I log in, the initial screen shows the things I use on a daily basis- attendance, lunch count, and contact information. I like that it is set up in a way that the things I use the most are right there. There is then an additional menu called "Power Teacher Pro" that is used for things like grade entries and reports that I might use more on a monthly basis. The report options offer lots of different variables and allows the user to create PDF, excel, and other types of files. Having these different options has been helpful.

Cons

The user experience has been a positive one for me. However, the initial training we received could use some improvement. The training modules are fairly dry to sit through and can be confusing to navigate.

Devin
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 6-12 months
  • Review Source
Value for Money
3
Functionality
3
Ease of Use
4
Customer Support
5

4
Reviewed on 10/1/2025

To SIS and Attendance and Beyond!

PowerSchool is best for larger schools seeking to build out from an SIS, and willing to pay a premium to gain access to more tools that integrate neatly with the core system. For small schools, it may be more difficult to justify with the alternatives out there.

Pros

PowerSchool's dashboard was useful for managing things at a bird's eye view, it was the first SIS I experienced and it was a pretty accessible tool overall. The attendance tracking was great for admin, and was consistently accurate without error.

Cons

It's not that PowerSchool was ineffective, rather as it has grown into more from just the attendance tracking and the SIS side the number of add-ons and features has grown and the pricing became a little outside of our range.

eric
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
1
Functionality
1
Ease of Use
1
Customer Support
1

1
Reviewed on 5/6/2024

Don't buy this product

I can't name one good thing that other programs don't do better

Pros

I cant think of anything the system is antiquated and ridged more fitting of the 90s

Cons

I can't build an off set schedule to allow for block scheduling of 3 different grade levels. this program was not built for education it was build for programmers.

Katie
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Functionality
4
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
0

4
Reviewed on 21/10/2024

Easy Grading

Overall I do like PowerSchool. It is a great way to keep track of grades.

Pros

I like the ease of entering grades and taking attendance.

Cons

It is hard to navigate to find student information.

Melissa
  • Industry: Retail
  • Company size: 2–10 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 6-12 months
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
0

5
Reviewed on 21/5/2022

Great for employee training!

Pros

We loved using Powerschool for new employee training. It had so much to offer and was very easy to use!

Cons

There is nothing that I dislike about Powerschool.

Alternatives Considered

Totara Learn

Switched From

Schoology

Reasons for Switching to PowerSchool

The options it offers seemed better suited for us
Josh
  • Industry: E-Learning
  • Company size: 201–500 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Functionality
4
Ease of Use
3
Customer Support
4

4
Reviewed on 19/2/2024

Standard No-Frills SIS

As someone who has been on the teacher and the parent side of PowerSchool, I appreciate how it is simple and doesn't try to be impressive. Though it can feel a bit clunky at times, it keeps a careful approach to student information, trying to efficiently keep and display accurate records. What you see is what you get with PowerSchool, which is often a good thing.

Pros

PowerSchool maintains a clean, no-nonsense approach to student information. There are no flashy, "cool" features, but it is easy to navigate and simple to locate whatever is needed. I really appreciate the formal, professional look and feel of the software, and all sought-after information is easy to find.

Cons

Sometimes the appearance of PowerSchool can be quite cramped, with a ton of information slammed into one screen. Depending on the area being looked into, there can be so much text on screen that it makes it difficult to move from one item to the next.

Talana
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1-5 months
  • Review Source
Value for Money
1
Functionality
1
Ease of Use
1
Customer Support
1

1
Reviewed on 20/10/2023

Disheartened and disappointed

The idea of PowerSchool is actually great but they really have trouble implementing all they promise. Their special programs does not work well with the SIS program as they describe. They push you through the implementation process whether the systems are working together correctly or not. The people you work with do not have a knowledge of Special Education so you cannot get them to understand what the problems are. I was actually excited to switch to PowerSchool and Special Programs but I cannot tell you how disheartened I am with this company.

Pros

I think PowerSchool could be great, there is potential there if it actually did what it is advertised. There are too many glitches and problems that they need to figure out. They need to make their products function together smoothly.

Cons

-Their customer support is terrible, to the point that they straight out lied in order to close out the implementation process (then you have to pay for support tickets). -You cannot simply talk to someone on the phone. You have to submit support tickets that take weeks to get a response. - I do not find it user friendly. Difficult to find what you are looking for. Not simple-Do not like the look of the the printed forms in Special Programs, not organized well.

Sheena
  • Industry: Nonprofit Organisation Management
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
0

4
Reviewed on 7/10/2024

Program Manager

Great tool in tracking meal balances and grades

Pros

Getting notifications how my child's grades are doing

Cons

No cons- It is great for tracking meal balances and grades

Bianca
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 201–500 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
5

5
Reviewed on 20/12/2023

All teachers and students should use this !

I like PowerSchool the parents are more involved as they can see their child grades and progress on the app it’s really great .

Pros

What i like most is that it tells you your schedule and the room number to your classes and it’s digital you don’t need to have a paper with your schedule and worry out losing it.

Cons

There is absolutely no cons about PowerSchool

Susan
  • Industry: Construction
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 1+ year
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
5

5
Reviewed on 21/8/2023

Power School Gets an A+!

Overall, as a parent, I really enjoy Power School. I don’t have to keep track of paper report cards, or use multiple websites to track my kids. Everything I have needed to access so far has been easily found in Power School. My favorite features being attendance and grades.

Pros

I love Power School. It’s a very clear, well organized online site that allows a parent or guardian to see everything they need to see in regards to their student(s). Attendance is clearly tracked, grades are all there, teachers comments, test results, forms and enrollment. It’s a one stop shop for keeping track of the student(s) in your lives.

Cons

I think the phone app features could be better. The computer website is fantastic, but the app lacks a lot of information that the website contains. I wish they were similar.

Jenna
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
5

5
Reviewed on 8/5/2023

PowerSchool Has the Power!

We would not survive without this resource!

Pros

PowerSchool is a staple in my daily work life. It keeps all important data in one organized place.

Cons

There are times where loading is slow or pages will say "Not Found" when they are there.

Verified Reviewer
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: Self Employed
  • Used Daily for 1+ year
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Functionality
4
Ease of Use
4
Customer Support
0

4
Reviewed on 19/9/2018

Indispensable tool tracks all school info in one place.

Keeping up with important school information can be an overwhelming chore - but PowerSchool makes it so much easier. In addition to being available online, the app makes it possible to see what's going on with your child at any time. You will likely be notified by your child's school if PowerSchool is available to you; signing up with your school district's individual code might be a little bit of a pain, but once you're in, you're all set.

In the Dashboard area of the mobile app, you'll find all of the following:

- GPA
- Class Overview: grades for each class, with the option to see individual assignment grades
- Assignments Due: homework or in-school assignments, in case your student needs reminders!
- Assignment Status: see missing, incomplete, and late assignments
- Attendance: absences and their status - excused or unexcused
- School Bulletin: information about clubs, activities, school news, etc.
- Meal Balance
- Fees

At the bottom of the app are options to see Classes (your student's entire schedule at a glance), Calendar, and Account (change notifications and student profiles), as well as a school info and help section.

I have two children in two different schools and can easily switch between them by tapping an icon in the upper right corner of the app. I love how easy it is to keep up with both kids in one app.

PowerSchool has become one of my indispensable tools, and I'd recommend it to every parent who has this option.

Pros

I love being able to see everything I need to know about grades, assignments, attendance, and school news in one place - and being able to switch between my children and see info for both, even though they attend different schools. I use this app every day!

Cons

It can be a little tricky to navigate student grades because there are so many options (semester grades vs. current grading period, etc.) If you have more than one student, the app has switched between them when not in use, so pay attention to which child you're looking at when you first turn on the app! One of my daughters freaked right out when I told her that she had a C in English...when I was actually looking at her sister's grades by mistake.

Juvy
Juvy
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 201–500 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1+ year
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
5

5
Reviewed on 25/9/2018

PowerSchool organizes my school records and it empowers me as a teacher

Pros

I was given the chance to explore this software when I started teaching at Somerton Middle School. This software helped me to appreciate the importance of technology in keeping the important records of my students - their grades. The PowerSchool is a superb and amazing software because students were able to access their academic standings from time to time. I like also its feature in which seating arrangements can be changed from time to time. With this powerful software, I could definitely say that my school records are very organized and the students were able to know their classroom performance from time to time. Different reports can also be generated in which it helps me to provide hard copy of students reports instantly.

Cons

At this point, when I explored all of its features, I like all of them. PowerSchool really empowers me as a teacher and everything I need in an online software for the teacher is in PowerSchool. The menus are user-friendly and I can easily navigate and switch from one task to another. Over-all, it has no features that I don't like.

Verified Reviewer
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
0

5
Reviewed on 7/5/2019

The power of Powerschool is great

Pros

I have used powerschool both as a teacher and an administrator. What I like most about it is how well it does its job. It literally transforms how things are done. As a teacher I loved how well it was organized, well beyond what I could keep track of on my own and provided assistance in ways I didn't know I needed them. Probably most important to me is that it did all the math for me.
As an Admin I like that it takes so much work off my plate. Whether it be managing student data or reviewing gradebooks Powerschool hold it all together.

Cons

I am not a fan of the app. I think this is becoming a common theme for me in general. The webportal and desktop app are great, but when it comes to taking something like this and making it for an ipad or even worse a phone... you lose features, visibility and my interest.

Verified Reviewer
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
5

5
Reviewed on 18/2/2019

Simple School Information Software

Pros

PowerSchool is a great all in one place to keep track of student data. I don't even use all of the features that this software provides because it does so much. It's straight forward and easy to use. My favorite part is that it also allows me to run various preprogrammed reports, or I can work with our IT Department to customize a report for my department when needed. I've only ever used on a management side, but I imagine that the software is just as easy to use from the parent side as well.

Cons

I do not have any complaints about this software. It does exactly what is advertised and offers tips and trainings if needed.

Verified Reviewer
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
3
Customer Support
4

4
Reviewed on 17/4/2019

Too many places to search

I was use to the desktop app but have managed to migrate to the online version. I do like how comprehensive it seems to be but would love to be able to remove/hide some items I never use.

Pros

This software does everything you need once you get a hang of where everything is. I love how we can use the Swiftk12 to send messages to parents.

Cons

There are a lot of places to look for what you are searching for. Some items do not seem to be placed in logical locations. Thankfully we have a great division person who has created how-to documents.

Amy
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
3
Functionality
4
Ease of Use
4
Customer Support
2

4
Reviewed on 19/3/2019

Powerschool experience

Overall Powerschool is a useful tool for student information. I use it daily and have few issues. I would like to see the reports function easier to use, and also expand student fields. I feel it is comparable to other student information software available.

Pros

There are several functions of PS that I have found to be really great. The ease of use for state reporting is a huge plus. Importing and exporting information is simple and fast, and the new updates such as the multi-select feature, contacts, and student alerts have made organizing information even easier.

Cons

Creating custom reports is difficult. It takes a great deal of skill and time to put together an object report. Customer support is also very inconsistent and can be frustrating. Some of the people working at the help desk have very limited knowledge of the software, and issues that come up can take weeks to resolve.

Verified Reviewer
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
0

5
Reviewed on 26/1/2019

Very Easy to Navigate

Pros

As a special area teacher, PowerSchool is easy to navigate for my 16 classes and 350 students. It allows me to quickly look at schedules and demographics to find important information.

Cons

As a teacher, I would like to provide section nicknames to make it easier to find the section I am looking for. We have the title from the district, but I would like to identify these differently to make it easier for myself to find.

Caitlin
Caitlin
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
3
Functionality
4
Ease of Use
3
Customer Support
3

4
Reviewed on 25/4/2019

Academic tool

It is easy to pull data and have all data and information easily accessible.

Pros

It is a great database to store and pull data. In an educational setting it is imperative for everything to be in one place and powerschool makes that simple.

Cons

There are some features that can only be used if you buy a more advanced version. I wish all features were accessible to all schools despite funding limitations.

Heather
  • Industry: Machinery
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Functionality
4
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
0

5
Reviewed on 12/3/2021

Keeps you up to date almost instantly with your child's progress in school

Before PowerSchool, I struggled to know what was going on in my daughter's classes and by the time I received a progress report, it was too late to fix grades or errors or intervene before it went too far. Now, I have almost real-time updates and it has really helped me keep her on track in school.

Pros

I love that the app will tell me as soon as she is marked tardy or absent and anytime her class grade changes. I can look back and look up what grade she receives on any assignment and I can obtain each of her teacher's contact info right there in the app. It also tracks her school lunch account balance so I know when I need to re-fund it.

Cons

It would be great if they would integrate a way to load the school lunch account through the app but maybe that's in the works.

Kathryn
  • Industry: Building Materials
  • Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Functionality
4
Ease of Use
3
Customer Support
0

5
Reviewed on 8/7/2022

It Does the Job

Pros

Use it mainly for grade management. It does fine with this, but other features are not as useful.

Cons

Wish it had the ability to fill in a grade for every student NOT already assigned a grade. (i.e., enter the few non-100s and then just fill everyone who did score a 100). Also wish it would integrate with Canvas better. It is not easy to select just parents for sending an email (too many clicks and fields to work through).

Kathleen
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 5,001–10,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
4
Functionality
4
Ease of Use
3
Customer Support
4

4
Reviewed on 8/4/2020

A School's One Stop

Overall, my PowerSchool experience has been positive. Some of the features seemed user un-friendly at first. Once I got acquainted with the software I can zip around and complete hours worth of work in minutes. Teacher appreciate every minute we get!

Pros

My favorite thing about PowerSchool is that everything is in one place. You sign onto one program and everything is there for you: attendance, student information, grades, etc...

Cons

One of the things that bothers me most about PowerSchool is that the buttons are small icons, without labels. It would be helpful if a text box appeared when you hover over a button to give a short description. If you don't know what a button is, you have to click to find out.

Danielle
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 201–500 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Functionality
4
Ease of Use
4
Customer Support
0

5
Reviewed on 28/11/2018

PowerSchool Works For Me!

My overall experience with PowerSchool is definitely a positive one. My students know that I will sometimes use the "random seat generator" function to mix up our class seating and they also know that parent contact information is just a click away for me, which keeps them more accountable for their actions in class.

Pros

Taking attendance is a cinch with PowerSchool, butI really appreciate that I can look deeper into my students' school performance with the click of a button or two. Although I am their science teacher, I have easy access to all of their grades, including missing assignments and directions for completing them. It has made proving specific support to individual students more meaningful and helpful.

Cons

I don't like that I can't print class lists without also printing extraneous information, such as text boxes that appear for attendance taking purposes.

Verified Reviewer
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1+ year
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
0

5
Reviewed on 27/8/2022

PowerSchool is such a simple tool that helps me a lot.

Pros

When I began with this school district and was introduced to PowerSchool, it became so easy to manage all my grades, assignments and student attendance. I love it!

Cons

I cannot think of a single thing that I do not like about it.

Alexis
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 5,001–10,000 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
3
Functionality
3
Ease of Use
3
Customer Support
0

3
Reviewed on 8/12/2023

PowerSchool Education Tool

Pros

I like that PowerSchool is a one stop shop for many different things. I primarily used PowerSchool to give assessments for my students and track their progress. My school also had me track HB1416 students' hours using PowerSchool and it was a good centralized place that everyone could easily access. Inputting grades is also easy and efficient.

Cons

One thing that I do not like is how essay question answers are displayed. As an English Teacher, we often write essays and they are frequently on tests. When I go to grade them, I cannot see but a small portion of the essay at one time. It's difficult to read the essay in one go. I also am unable to leave feedback or make comments.

Miranda
  • Industry: Transportation/Trucking/Railroad
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1+ year
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
0

5
Reviewed on 27/10/2023

PowerSchool

Pros

I am able to view real-time grades for my children to know where there struggles are before the end of the marking period. Very user friendly.

Cons

No issues thus far

amber
  • Industry: Accounting
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Functionality
1
Ease of Use
1
Customer Support
1

1
Reviewed on 5/10/2023

Utter Garbage

I can't log in through the app and when I do, it is non-functional. When I try to use the website, the login page just leads to the FAQ page and there is no way to log in.

Pros

The concept of this app is great. The execution of it falls extremely short.

Cons

I don't know what is worse, this app or the fact that my school district REQUIRES it's use for students to work in any online capacity.

Chris
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
0

5
Reviewed on 12/5/2023

PowerSchool is effective and user-friendly!

I've had a very positive experience with PowerSchool. It's easy to submit daily attendance and create seating charts. It's user friendly and fairly simple to navigate. I can quickly find contact information regarding parents and guardians. It's a terrific resource for our school district!

Pros

We utilize PowerSchool to take attendance daily. This is the system used for our official grades at school. This is incredibly helpful when looking up emergency contact info, birthdates, seating charts, etc.

Cons

There are so many features that I am still learning about, and I've yet to come across something that I do not like about PowerSchool.

Yves
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
0

5
Reviewed on 29/3/2023

Powerschool

Powerschool is a really helpful tool for me and my kids and all of my problems have been resolved.

Pros

What I liked most about Powerschool is that I can easily find my child's account and if they have an insufficient lunch balance I can put money into their account online

Cons

What I expected more of from Powerschool was remembering my login information. Recently, I tried logging in with my username and password and it said it doesn't remember my device.

Danielle
  • Industry: Primary/Secondary Education
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
5

5
Reviewed on 21/1/2023

Great way to keep track of grades

Overall, I enjoy PowerSchool and use it with easy daily in my classroom.

Pros

PowerSchool is easy to use and overall very user-friendly. It is easy to input grades and export data. I like using PowerSchool.

Cons

Some information is not easily accessible unless you are an administrator. Some of the older teachers struggle with using the technology.

Ticia
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 5,001–10,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 1-5 months
  • Review Source
Value for Money
1
Functionality
2
Ease of Use
1
Customer Support
1

1
Reviewed on 27/10/2022

The Worst Report Card Software - Ever!

Frustrating and infuriating. This program is way too complex for people that do not have a computer background or a programming background. It was not designed for the end-user in mind. For that reason, it should not be used in elementary school.

Pros

Absolutely nothing. Myself and my colleagues are literally typing our report cards in word documents or Google docs and copying and pasting them into this program because we have no other choice. See below

Cons

This software is so difficult to use. PowerSchool owned our previous software which was user friendly and specific to the needs of Ontario teachers… then they decided to stop supporting that program and encouraged our board to go with this new program. First, everything is in a very small font. The ‘comment’ window that you type in is in a black background making it equally difficult to see. The comment window does not expand to the whole screen…it might expand to 30% of the screen, which means you can never view your whole comment while you are working. There is no way to quickly preview what you were typing or to see if you have enough room for the comment. Everything in the drop-down menus is in code and not in user-friendly recognizable words. My report cards have now taken an extra 50 hours and I’ve only got through five kids with 21 more to go. Also there was no training provided for teachers beyond watching a one hour webinar. I’ve read other peoples reviews and it seems like there was lots of training involved. Quite frankly there are way too many things in this program that do not and would not be used by a classroom teacher.

Denice
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Functionality
3
Ease of Use
3
Customer Support
0

3
Reviewed on 24/6/2022

Powerschool . . . it does a lot, but could use some tweaks.

In terms of housing student information, completing attendance and lunch count, and entering class scores, I appreciate the functionality. The report card function needs some minor upgrades to make it more user friendly on the teacher end.

Pros

I appreciate that I can access my students' demographic information easily. Attendance and lunch count are easy, as well. The student information management aspect of PowerSchool is intuitive. I rarely have to go to our school secretary for details, like I would have in the past.

Cons

The report card function needs some adjustments. The score entry section works well. It even allows you to adjust the font, which my older eyes appreciate. However, the printable report sent to parents each trimester is uncomfortably tiny in terms of font size. Even the comment section is very tiny, and those are some of the most valuable aspects of the report. Also, I'd very much appreciate being able to have a screen view that allowed me to look at each student's individual reports. This would be very helpful in looking for missing scores prior to report cards being printed. I have to do a lot of scrolling and clicking to track an individual child's scores over various subject areas. A single student screen view that allowed me to enter scores, if needed, would be a nice boost to the usability of this product.

Adelyn
Adelyn
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
4
Functionality
2
Ease of Use
3
Customer Support
3

4
Reviewed on 29/6/2018

I used this software in middle school and starting sophomore year in high school.

I think this was a significant upgrade from the software my school used to use for grading, although that software did have the grade calculation function that we wished PowerSchool had. The best thing about now using PowerSchool is that it doesn't crash as easily and it's easier to see grades at a glance. Additionally, teachers can make announcements and that function has been really helpful for my school as a whole.

Pros

My favorite function in this software is that you can submit assignments through this and it will send you an email update that lets you know that it was turned in. This is helpful because sometimes teachers don't notice that something was turned in and will count it late and this way students have a way to back up their claim that it isn't late. I also really like that teachers can do things like vocab tests and simple multiple choice tests that self-grade and auto-input the grades because it's less work for both the teacher and the student and it's a fast turnaround. The third thing that I like about this software is that you can look at the calendar on the landing page and immediately see which assignments are more urgent (in terms of due dates). This makes our lives a lot easier because that way we don't have to write all the dates down for the assignments we have yet to complete.

Cons

The software will sometimes crash and give us a picture of a cat with a ball of yarn and say that it's just tangled up, which gets frustrating because a lot of people my age obsessively check their grades and remind themselves of assignments, and we get very fidgety and stressed out if we can't see the grades because of all the things that could be being updated but that we just aren't able to see. Also, as far as my school's use of this software goes, we can't test to see what our grade would be if we get a certain grade on another assignment that the teacher has assigned point values to already. This is a function available in some other softwares in this category so students get frustrated that it's possible but the school makes it so we have to use outside resources to figure it out, or just our general math knowledge, when it could be much easier.

Mindy
Mindy
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
5

5
Reviewed on 18/1/2019

The best I've seen

I have used PowerSchool for about eight of my 15 years teaching. I would recommend it for any school. I would say one of the best features is being able to see my students' schedules, the grades they have for their classes, and a breakdown of their assignments. As a resource teacher, I often work with students who require credit recovery. It's so nice being able to see exactly how they're doing in their classes. It makes counseling and organizing so much easier.

Pros

I have been teaching for 15 years and have gone through many school management systems. PowerSchool is by far the best one. I am able to take attendance, keep track of grades, access communication information for the student, I can see their schedule, their grades for each class and what they are missing in that class. Everything I need is in PowerSchool. It's visually appealing, and easy to navigate.

Cons

I teach resource classes and often have several different grade levels in one class. This is set up as multiple classes with the same period number. I wish I could combine those so my attendance page and my grade book aren't so messy.

Sharon
Sharon
  • Company size: 501–1,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
5

5
Reviewed on 11/6/2018

Very easy to use program

It makes looking up birth dates, parent/guardian names, addresses, phone numbers, attendance, etc. very simple and easy.

Pros

I like that PowerSchool is so easy to understand and use. I am on PowerSchool daily to complete IEPs, to contact parents, or to check attendance of my students. It's easy to click the area you need and find your information. PowerSchool also gives me the capability to run reports on students so I can check for behavior referrals, print classroom rosters, and more. I can also submit my hearing screening results easily and it makes a great place to house all of the hearing information for my students.

Cons

The system logs me out after a short period of inactivity. I wish it would allow me to stay logged in longer, but perhaps this is a setting on my corporation's end and not PowerSchool itself. I really have no complaints about PowerSchool, so writing cons is difficult. It's a great, easy to use program.

Leah
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Weekly for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
2
Functionality
3
Ease of Use
3
Customer Support
0

3
Reviewed on 3/11/2022

Using PowerSchool

I worked in a school and had many jobs from teacher assistant to office manager, so I used powerschool in several ways. I would help teachers with the technology side of it, and sometimes even enter grades from a teachers gradebook into the system. Parts of it I found to be very user friendly and other parts were not so intuitive or limiting. Like the number of characters you could put into a reports text space.

Pros

From an office point of view it was nice that students were automatically moved up a grade at the end of the year but as an international school with a high turn over in students it took a very long time to enter each new student into the system.

Cons

The system has many many screens and options and it is hard to find the fastest way to use it and to access the information you need.

Judy
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
5

5
Reviewed on 29/11/2018

Easy transition

My school loves using PowerSchool. It is so versatile. Every level teacher can use the program. My work is in the office and I managed the program by inputting the students, setting up the classes and did the rollover each year. I enjoyed learning every part of the program. It was a rewarding challenge. It was a pleasure to introduce the staff to PowerSchool.

Pros

I LOVED the videos that trained me in every step as I was in charge of the transition to PowerSchool for our school. I worked with our contact from PowerSchool who walked me through the data set up and transfer of our students information. Working with her was very helpful, but for the fine tuning I returned over and over to the videos to reinforce knowledge of the program. I loved turning around and training the schools staff in the use of PowerSchool by being able to tell them specifically which videos applied to them so they were brought up to speed very quickly, then if they had the desire they could go on to learn more. Each teacher was able to do the minimum required by our board and many of the younger teachers delved in even further for a more robust experience.

Cons

The process of beginning our school on PowerSchool was a bit difficult because the consultant assigned to my school seemed to make assumptions maybe based on other schools she had worked with? This was done without my input which resulted in my needing to go in and hand make some changes int eh initial data transfer which took a large amount of time.

Kaitlin
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Functionality
4
Ease of Use
4
Customer Support
0

4
Reviewed on 27/8/2019

Powerschool is a powertool

I was resistant to the change to PowerSchool, at first, but I can honestly say that it's a great software that has the whole school on the same page. It's really helped us go digital, as well!

Pros

Powerschool has everything for the district in one place, which makes keeping track of students easy across the board. Grades, attendance, reports, lunch and library fees, any sort of notes, are all kept track in Powerschool, and if a student transfers within the district, the information travels with them, so it really is a wonderful hub for teachers and administrators.

It's also great because parents and students have their own login information so that everyone is able to stay up to date on grades, etc. without teachers having to constantly send home updates.

Cons

Set-up in powerschool is a little more involved than it was in Pearson. And updates aren't automatic but instead have to be done manually. Also, when the system goes down (which is occasionally does), then you're out of luck for literally everything...

Adelyn
Adelyn
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Functionality
3
Ease of Use
4
Customer Support
0

4
Reviewed on 17/5/2019

Does the job, could be better

Pros

You can see your grades at a glance and this is really convenient for students. You can make submissions through Google Drive without relinquishing your ownership of the document like Google Classroom does (I understand the premise of that strategy, but it's majorly inconvenient).

Cons

Unlike in Canvas, you can't test what kind of grades you'll need on weighted assignments to maintain a certain overall grade. The UI/UX are also designed kind of poorly and my school frequently gets errors saying that PowerSchool is undergoing development. I never get those messages from Canvas. It's also extremely frustrating that I can't submit documents from Google Drive if they're in a Team Drive, whether or not they're owned by me.

Claire
Claire
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
0

5
Reviewed on 19/1/2019

Great for students and teachers

PowerSchool keeps students accountable for monitoring their progress. Most check it and use it on a daily basis.

Pros

I've used this software as both a student and as a teacher, and have always appreciated it. When I was in middle school and high school I would check my grades on PowerSchool, and it was always very convenient and easy to use. Now that I am a teacher, I like that I can easily upload grades and print reports through it. It is so smooth and quick to use and is a great way to develop communication between parents, teachers, and students.

Cons

It's a really good software and I don't have any major complaints. One downside is that students complain about the app being difficult to use and say that it crashes often.

Verified Reviewer
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
4
Customer Support
5

4
Reviewed on 27/9/2018

Great option for districts!

Great to use, countless features, up-to-date, etc. I highly recommend it!

Pros

PowerSchool is a phenomenal option for managing student data. Here are the pros I see with the software:
- easy-to-use for newcomers
- tons of features and layers of data management
- great customer support and help videos. They even offer a site where you can make suggestions and upvote ideas that could be released in future updates.
- updated, web-based gradebook platform
- really just a great one-stop-shop for almost all of your SIS needs

Cons

They have gone through some major updates, which thew some people for a loop, but I think they were needed and necessary. I do not have any major complaints really.

Doug
Doug
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 1,001–5,000 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
4
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
3
Customer Support
5

5
Reviewed on 29/5/2019

Powerschool review

Great information tool to keep tabs on student progress...ideal for a parent to monitor their kiddos grades and attendance at it's base level. Great mobile app!

Pros

This is a nice program to gather all of a students information in one place. The reports are very detailed showing as much information as is put into it.

Cons

Some of the attendance reports are challenging to read all of the various codes down at the bottom of the screen, seemingly only separated by commas. The information is only as good as the administrator and has a lot of possibilities for expansion if the administrator chooses to do so. In our case, it is way underutilized.

Charisa
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 6-12 months
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
0

5
Reviewed on 1/4/2019

PowerSchool for Substitute Teacher

I have found PowerSchool very easy to use as a substitute teacher. Even when I sub for multiple teachers in one day, I can easily log in with my substitute login details to different teachers' classrooms. It has made it much easier for me to remember student names, as the ID pictures of students are paired with their names, and I can also review teacher-made seating charts on PowerSchool. I have found this attendance software much easier than the paper systems used by other school districts I have worked for.

Pros

I am a substitute teacher for a charter school that encompasses three schools: elementary, middle, and high school. PowerSchool's login page for me makes it very easy to switch between the schools, as I can log into all three schools from the same login page. Most of my work on powerschool is attendance, so I don't use all administrative features of the site, but as a substitute, I have my own login page that gives me access to class rosters for the specific teachers I'm subbing. This makes attendance easier and gives me access to student ID photos so I don't have to struggle with students names.

Cons

As a sub, I don't have access to the grades in powerschool, so i only have partial access to the site. However, I don't need that access, as I am not responsible for students grades. My access is appropriate to my position.

Verified Reviewer
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 11–50 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
4
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
4
Customer Support
4

5
Reviewed on 20/7/2020

Powerful School Management System

Overall it functions well as a system for teachers, staff, students, and parents to share information.

Pros

Although there is a learning curve to the software, once the user has mastered the elements that are most used, it is a pretty good interface. Demographics, attendance, grades, discipline and other alerts such as medical and legal are quick few click from any screen.

Cons

There is a learning curve and it can take awhile to get used to. It is also confusing to perform certain actions that are only done a few times a year (finalizing grades).

Verified Reviewer
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
5

5
Reviewed on 13/4/2019

PowerSchool is the the BEST school information system out available

I would be lost without this software.

Pros

Our schools have been using this SIS since 2008. PowerSchool is very intuitive and easy to learn. I provide tech support to our school office and teacher users. The parents and students also have accounts to log in and verify grades, attendance, school bulletin messages and more. Updates and edits made by teachers and office staff are in Real Time so the data is always up to date.

Cons

PowerSchool university is expensive training. It is very good training though.

Verified Reviewer
  • Industry: Higher Education
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
5
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
5

5
Reviewed on 24/5/2019

Easy to Use, Super Helpful Tool

Educational record-keeping and communication

Pros

As a student user of this software, it was incredible helpful. More than anything, I just loved how it was a a nice and basic layout but also afforded users the opportunity to add notes, comments, and other things of that nature. It was also nice that there were distinctly different views/options for students, parents, and instructors.

Cons

In the 4+ years that I used PowerSchool, I never once encountered any issues. It's wonderful.

Stacey
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
0

5
Reviewed on 21/7/2020

Love this Program!

Overall, this system is quick, easy, and very well set up. I would recommend Powerschool to anyone to use for special education tracking and documentation.

Pros

PowerSchool is super helpful for special education legal documents. It contains documents for IEPs, evaluations, invitations, MDRs, etc. All drop down menu friendly. It also tracks the dates and timelines for special education students. There are also sections for parent communication, service capture, etc.

Cons

I wish so badly there were 504 forms within Power School. Having all special education and 504 forms in one place would be helpful. I also don't like that only one person can be working in the page at one time. With multiple providers, this gets hectic when trying to meet timelines together. There can be a lag in the system for when someone gets out of the document too keeping the page locked.

Dylan
  • Industry: Education Management
  • Company size: 51–200 Employees
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Functionality
3
Ease of Use
5
Customer Support
0

4
Reviewed on 24/3/2019

Powerschool meets needs but could be better

Does what it needs to and nothing more. Has induced its fair share of frustration with slow performance. If I had a choice, we would use something else for grade books.

Pros

Daily functionality is decent. It is an ol system for attendance, seating charts, looking up student information, etc. The in-browser functions are simple and straight forward generally. Clean interface, streamlined user experience.

Cons

Powerschool can be buggy. Some features are slow or have issues working consistently. Biggest gripe - the grade book function. It is very slow, cluttered, and can be a pain to use. Interface cannot be customized which leads to lots of unnecessary buttons. Lots of issues connecting with servers. Does not work when there are issues with internet connectivity. Needs features like building reports for student groups, assignments, progression/growth, etc.

John
John
  • Used Daily for 2+ years
  • Review Source
Value for Money
0
Functionality
5
Ease of Use
4
Customer Support
0

5
Reviewed on 16/6/2018

Excellent for grading/attendance, and reporting

Pros

The versatility. It provides many needed reports, such as attendance, honor rolls, and even connects to Cognos reporting. Report cards are easily printed.

Cons

I have found that the fields we see for student information are quite limited. Our system talks to our SIS, so it may be an issue there, but perhaps there's a way to customize your SIS fields to make it more expansive that I just don't know of yet...

174 reviews

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