PowerSchool SIS Reviews & Product Details

I have been using PowerSchool for 6 years as our school's PowerSchool Admin. What I like best about PowerSchool SIS is actually a tougher question than one might think because I cannot narrow it down to just one element as many come to mind with this very helpful software tool. PowerSchool offers a variety of attendance features that aid in tracking and even projecting the students' attendance habits (good and bad). I also appreciate the database PowerSchool provides for both the student and the staff accompanied by the demographics of both which are easily accessible to the validated user. These are just a few traits of this multi-faceted software one can take advantage of. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What I dislike about PowerSchool would be the End of the Year Process as it is ridiculously difficult to execute without spending 4 hours on the phone (minimum) with a PowerSchool Tech Support Representative (which are always helpful and professional). I also dislike the way PowerSchool seems to be very picky with other software I have tried to implement it with such as Clever. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What I think is best: Combining the SIS with Special Programs for IEP writing is very important to me. Allowing the teachers to see the IEP is important. I use the program on a daily basis and getting a student's grades and attendance quickly is important. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I dislike: creating reports takes is difficult Communication with PowerSchool Special Programs is not great. When changes are made in Special Programs, it does not communicate that change with the SIS. There is not the ability to include a separate parent address if 2 parents have the right to receive documents but don't live together. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like how PowerSchool streamlines our processes and workload. Teachers create assignments and assessments on their LMS page- the grades are automatically entered into the grade book. The SIS system populates the LMS with student and demographic information. The LMS is very intuitive and easy to use. It is such a strong program, it was easy to go to virtual learning last year at the start of the pandemic. Easiest gradebook there is. SIS has so much information and so many ways to access and use the information, I learn something each year. The PowerScheduler is very adaptable and gets easier to use continually. And ALL these programs supply the student information to each other- again, streamlined. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Holy cow- the online application program. We have been trying for TWO YEARS to get it up and running. Wasted time, wasted money. We are not leaving PowerSchool- but if the company purchases another company's software, please spend more time making sure it plays with current PowerSchool software. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like that powerschool allows for you to pull data from multiple areas. With practice and knowledge, you can access granular data about students and groups of students for analysis. Additionally, it is great at being a place to store multiple details about a student. The support chat is always responsive and helpful, even when they aren't able to assist. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Unfortunately, PowerSchool is so massive that it often becomes hard to wield.

1) There are too many nuanced features that could be automated. -- I downloaded PA state codes either a year or two ago. When I went to submit a report only certain codes pulled. The others did not because the table was not up to date. This is frustrating -- if the incident template updated to not pull those codes, why couldn't the codes update? It didn't even produce the erroneous codes for me to update. Instead, I ended up looking at all of the missing records and creating the multiple state spreadsheets by hand.

2) The chat doesn't always have an answer & the additional help is hard to access - When trying to get support for problems the chat is a great resource. However, when they have to escalate a problem, it turns into a black box. Communication is not always consistent or clear and the wait time is significantly increased. It's hard to know if I should speak to our rep, use KTO hours or just wait for an escalated case. With integrated programs, you can't simply request assistance, you need to go to another department. PowerSchool doesn't know the lottery app info, or Special Programs and vice versa.

3) The system doesn't "play nice" - PowerSchool SIS is difficult to integrate with other programs (specifically other platforms on the PowerSchool menu). We initially switched over to PowerSchool Special Programs so that all of our student data would be consistent and consolidated, however learned after that though data is transferred, there is not a 1 to 1 relationship. This complicates state reporting and other things such as enrollment.

4) Support for unique situations - Powerschool's final area of growth for me is the lack of support within the programming for unique situations. If I have two separate bell schedules the process to have them properly reflected is convoluted. If changes need to be made mid year it's difficult and at the risk of losing critical data. Guides are helpful, but there is so much to manage and so much nuance to each school that sometimes they don't apply. Data validation only occurs at certain levels with staff and students (I can create a student or staff member, but only when I change a field do certain validation points appear). Plugins are necessary to enhance situations like this, which is fine if you find them (level data for this situation) but not necessarily ideal.

I'm hopeful our additional KTO hours will help us when it comes time to build the upcoming school year. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

PowerSchool SIS is easy to use to manage student data. It allows us to collect and maintain data about the students, schedules, etc in a relatively easy-to-use format. I like being able to retrieve the data I need from one secure location in a digital format. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

While overall PowerSchool is a great system, it's one downfall is that it is not always user-friendly. If it were more user intuitive it would be helpful for those new to the system or for those fluent in the system looking to retrieve information that is rarely used. It would also be helpful to receive a step-by-step of what is new - whenever an update is done. Some of the information stored in the system is hard to retrieve in a reportable format that is easy to access. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

PowerSchool constantly updates their site. I appreciate the updating of the state reporting items the most. It saves me time with the end of the year reports that I have to upload into the state system which is Infinite Campus. I also like their tech support system. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There is nothing that I dislike about PowerSchool at this time. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

I like that I can navigate Powerschool and easily find what I need. It is easy for me to create queries that others can use, and update/pull data as needed. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There are a couple of features that I feel could be integrated, such as Years and Terms feeding into the Grading Terms area. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Parents can make payments through Revtrak and the payment is automatically uploaded into Powerschool. This saves a ton of time and effort on staff that would otherwise have to manually record the payment information. It also promotes a real time data environment. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There is not anything that I dislike. This is a great feature that not many SIS programs can do. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

As a new user of PowerSchool, I like the interface and the ease of menu navigation within the system. The support from PowerSchool is amazing as well. Not just the phone support but the PowerSource Community is amazing as well in regards to support. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

There isn't much to dislike about PowerSchool. If anyone dislikes it, it's most likely due to not being familiar with the system itself. Once you learn the system, or at least the basics, it all comes together quite well. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

The best thing about Power School is that it is easy to use and also syncs grades with Schoology. It is way to use and I have never lost any data. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Occasionally there will be outages, just like with any other LMS. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.