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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Ellucian Banner

    Score5.2 out of 10
    N/AEllucian offers Banner educational ERP, including its student management system emphasizing control and reporting of process-oriented facets of education such as grading and attendance.N/A

    Unique Learning System

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/AUnique Learning System (ULS) is a special education solution that supports students with disabilities from Pre-K through transition. It provides differentiated, standards-aligned lessons in ELA, math, science, social studies, and life skills with built-in assessments, progress tracking, and automated differentiation.N/A
    Pricing
    Ellucian BannerUnique Learning System
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Ellucian BannerUnique Learning System
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Ellucian BannerUnique Learning System
    Considered Both Products
    Ellucian
    No answer on this topic
    Everway (formerly Texthelp and n2y)
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    80%
    Would buy again
    12 Answers
    97%
    Would buy again
    299 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    82%
    Delivers good value for the price
    9 Answers
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    188 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    80%
    Happy with the feature set
    12 Answers
    94%
    Happy with the feature set
    292 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    83%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    5 Answers
    94%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    97 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    78%
    Implementation went as expected
    7 Answers
    89%
    Implementation went as expected
    178 Answers
    Features
    Ellucian BannerUnique Learning System
    Student and Faculty Administration
    Comparison of Student and Faculty Administration features of Ellucian Banner and Unique Learning System
    Feature
    Ellucian Banner
    8.5
    8 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Unique Learning System
    -
    Ratings
    Integrations with 3rd-Party Education Technology7.98 Ratings00 Ratings
    Online Registration Management8.97 Ratings00 Ratings
    District Communications, such as messaging and alerting8.94 Ratings00 Ratings
    Roster Management8.56 Ratings00 Ratings
    Platform Customization8.16 Ratings00 Ratings
    Teacher Self-Service8.86 Ratings00 Ratings
    Student Data Security8.67 Ratings00 Ratings
    Community Support8.66 Ratings00 Ratings
    Class Scheduling8.67 Ratings00 Ratings
    State and National-level Reporting9.27 Ratings00 Ratings
    Compliance Support8.96 Ratings00 Ratings
    Teacher and Parent Mobile Application7.25 Ratings00 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Ellucian BannerUnique Learning System
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    Freckle by Renaissance
    Score9.4 out of 10
    Medium-sized Companies
    Schoolmint Hero
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Nearpod
    Score8.9 out of 10
    Enterprises
    Schoolmint Hero
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Edmodo (discontinued)
    Score8.1 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Ellucian BannerUnique Learning System
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.4
    (21 ratings)
    8.5
    (309 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.5
    (2 ratings)
    7.8
    (5 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    7.6
    (309 ratings)
    Availability
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    Performance
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.2
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.0
    (5 ratings)
    6.7
    (2 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    5.5
    (1 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    8.2
    (2 ratings)
    Configurability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    6.8
    (2 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    6.4
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    5.5
    (2 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    6.4
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    6.4
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Ellucian BannerUnique Learning System
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Ellucian
    As a SIS, Banner Pages is the full meal deal. There are multiple modules that integrate out of the box. Because Banner is all I've ever used as a SIS, I can't contrast it with another program. I can say, it gets the job done for us. I will also say that a tremendous amount of time goes into strategizing how to get new functions to work for us and there always seems to be some catch that requires even more work. In general, the university has been hesitant to build too many modifications into Banner because they take a lot of time to maintain. Inevitably, a new update (of which there are MANY for Banner) will break stuff that isn't "vanilla." This is unfortunate because we've had some great ideas for how to make Banner better for us, but also understandable. If you're looking for a highly modular system, this isn't it. Banner has lots of components, but the components work the way they work and that's that. Also, don't expect very quick responses to bugs or glitches. If the bug is major, yes, it will be addressed. But, little function issues seem to be regularly overlooked.
    Incentivized
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    Everway (formerly Texthelp and n2y)
    I have actually recommended it to another teacher in a different district for her autism program since she could level and pace it easily and also easily collect IEP data without stressing out her students with extra work. Unique Learning System is also a good program for our autism program because it is consistent with all core subjects, making is very routine based.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Ellucian
    • I think it's great to use if you are tracking grades for certain classes, especially if you'd like to see how students do, comparing midterm to final grades. If you have the permissions, you can see both.
    • It's also good to track students individually. You can look up a certain semester, and see how they did in that particular time frame, but you can also see their cumulative gpa, or even look up their entire course history.
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    Everway (formerly Texthelp and n2y)
    • Data tracking and progress reports - Unique Learning System's Polaris feature is a user-friendly, simple way to track and monitor progress towards learners IEP goals. When creating a roadmap that follows a learner's IEP, you input data such as learning profiles and benchmark assessments and rubrics that then produce goal suggestions. You can craft your own goal, use a suggested goal, or choose a goal from the goal library. It gives you a great idea of what goals to target based on learner needs and progress. Entering data is super easy, just a date and a data point, and a graph generates for you. From there, it will show the data trend and flag it for you when it's at risk. It is also easy to add an intervention. Quarterly, I use the progress report feature to generate a report that provides me with the graphs that I use to put into IEP writer.
    • Curriculum pacing - My school utilizes Unique Learning System for our daily instruction. Unique Learning System provides pacing guides with what to teach and when. Everything is standards aligned and all of the lesson plans have ways that you can differentiate already built into the plans as well as an easy to use, structured/routine based set up that makes daily lessons predictable for learners to increase engagement.
    • N2Y - My learners love News To You! This provides children with access to informational text. We use it as a "fun Friday" read every week. We read the article in class, watch videos, answer questions, and typically do an activity to go along with it. The kids look forward to it every week, and also enjoy the Joey's Locker games that go along with the articles. They have a new feature to be able to assign activities that go along with the article which is really nice because I assign them as supplemental activities to go along with what we are learning about in class!
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    Cons
    Ellucian
    • One thing I miss from the previous version of Ellucian Banner, is the control + page down. I struggle with alt + page down.
    • I love the Ellucian Banner favorites; however, it is a little difficult to navigate.
    • I can honestly only think of 2 things that could be improved. I use Ellucian Banner daily.
    Incentivized
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    Everway (formerly Texthelp and n2y)
    • Unique Learning System's materials in the science and social studies areas aren't "fluffy" as other areas, but they are continuously adding materials
    • The layout of the website isn't the most user friendly, but most teachers are able to navigate easily after an initial training
    • The administrator side of things isn't super straightforward, reports can be confusing to find/run, but the one on one meetings always provide clarity.
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Ellucian
    We have no reason not to renew with Ellucian - we are in deep with the ecosystem, and have Ellucian providing us with information technology support. If anything, should the opportunity arise, we'd probably consider adding a different ellucian tools into the suite of applications we already have on board.
    Incentivized
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    Everway (formerly Texthelp and n2y)
    I appreciate all the various resources that Unique Learning System has to offer. However, due to my limited interaction with other resources similar to Unique Learning System I do not know enough to compare it against other programs. I also am not a person in charge of renewing Unique Learning System for my organization.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Ellucian
    You definitely have to learn it before it becomes easy to use. It's better than it was, but it's still not entirely intuitive. You can't just look at it and play around to figure out how it works
    Incentivized
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    Everway (formerly Texthelp and n2y)
    There is a lot of content in Unique Learning System. It can sometimes be time consuming to navigate through everything. I appreciate the depth and breadth of the resources, but it can also be tough to use when I need a worksheet or packet for my students. The use of Unique Learning System on the computer is great, but my students seem to learn best when they have a pen and paper in front of them.
    Incentivized
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    Reliability and Availability
    Ellucian
    It's pretty much up all the time.
    Incentivized
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    Everway (formerly Texthelp and n2y)
    errors will show up
    Incentivized
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    Performance
    Ellucian
    Has gotten much better due to new hardware.
    Incentivized
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    Everway (formerly Texthelp and n2y)
    there have been few issues with login or glitches
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    Support Rating
    Ellucian
    Our department generally does not contact the support center for Banner but the IT department does. That being said, in the seven years that I have been here, I have not once needed to contact the support center; we have had no glitches on Banner's side that needed to be addressed.
    Incentivized
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    Everway (formerly Texthelp and n2y)
    The individuals helping have always been great. The response to requests for changes in functionality or reporting less so.
    Incentivized
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    In-Person Training
    Ellucian
    No answers on this topic
    Everway (formerly Texthelp and n2y)
    it was all over the place hard to follow along
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Ellucian
    very satisfied, along with the IT staff and ellucian support the upgrades do very well and have minimum down time.
    Incentivized
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    Everway (formerly Texthelp and n2y)
    good product
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Ellucian
    PeopleSoft was more user-friendly. It also provided the ability to save and bookmark queries. PeopleSoft will allow users to use common names to search for queries. Overall, it seemed much more current than Banner. PeopleSoft provided enrollment data for specific sections which allowed one to spot trends of enrollment in a given class.
    Incentivized
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    Everway (formerly Texthelp and n2y)
    We viewed Encore by TeachTown. The product seemed to be a notch above Unique Learning System and included workbooks and other books but was very expensive. The downfalls of Encore was that it did not include the Profile Assessments like Unique Learning System and also the monthly checkpoints which are very valuable.
    Incentivized
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    Scalability
    Ellucian
    being able to scale with hardware was easy and not cumbersome. We were allowed to user virtual machines which made things very scalable.
    Incentivized
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    Everway (formerly Texthelp and n2y)
    todays weather would not load sometimes
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    Return on Investment
    Ellucian
    • There is positive ROI on the product overall. It had reduced or allowed us to focus our staff members on something which is very use and it does the job in the background.
    • The application has supported in a lot of ways in saving resources and utilizing them in very productive & efficient manner
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    Everway (formerly Texthelp and n2y)
    • Ease of planning is #1. I am able to plan an entire lesson or a week's worth of lessons during my 30-minute planning time.
    • Data that is collected for IEPs is so valuable and reports are parent-friendly.
    • Students are able to work on the alternative path toward a diploma because this curriculm is covering all of the standards they need to see in order to earn their diploma.
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    ScreenShots

    Unique Learning System Screenshots

    Screenshot of assessments and progress monitoringScreenshot of lesson planningScreenshot of research based contentScreenshot of Science of Reading coursesScreenshot of a system overviewScreenshot of teacher reference materials