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Google Classroom vs. PowerSchool Student Information System

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Google Classroom

    Score8 out of 10
    N/AN/A

    $0

    per month

    PowerSchool SIS

    Score6.3 out of 10
    Mid-Size Companies (51-1,000 employees)
    The PowerSchool Student Information System covers administrative needs, such as scheduling, attendance, reporting, data management, faculty management, emergency/medical and health management, registration, and more for K-12 schools and districts. It is easy to use and boasts an industry-leading gradebook, PowerTeacher Pro. Users enjoy a fully web-based SIS that is flexible, configurable, and scalable with real-time updates on any operating system, browser or device.N/A
    Pricing
    Google ClassroomPowerSchool SIS
    Editions & Modules
    Education Fundamentals
    $0
    per license/per month
    Google Workspace for Education Standard
    $3
    per student/per year
    Teaching and Learning Upgrade
    $4
    per license/per month
    Google Workspace for Education Plus
    $5
    per student/per year
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Google ClassroomPowerSchool SIS
    Free Trial
    YesNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional DetailsEducation Fundamentals Version - 30-day free trial for qualifying institutions.—
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Google ClassroomPowerSchool SIS
    Considered Both Products
    Google
    Chose Google Classroom
    Google Classroom beats all these other tools in how they can integrate with other websites and educational resources.
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Classroom
    Google Classroom is free and easy for all. It's also easy to integrate other Google platforms with. It helps transfer grades from one place in Google to another. I currently use PowerSchools for grade recording, and have used Infinite Campus in the past. These are great for …
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Classroom
    Google Classroom provides some of the same features that Canvas it does. It feels much easier to implement with younger students and allows them to be familiar with this type of platform before jumping into Canvas. Canvas does have more details in their features, but we feel it …
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Classroom
    I was not involved in the decision to purchase it for our school, but I do use other Google products personally and enjoy them.
    Incentivized
    Chose Google Classroom
    Paid solutions such as Powerschool Learning do provide a wider range of features and integrations, but Google Classroom is still a very powerful tool. If you're already a G-Suite user, it is a no-brainer. It's free, and is ready to use once your Google Users are created. It …
    Incentivized
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    Chose PowerSchool SIS
    PowerSchool was the learning management system that was in place when I started at this institution but I approve of it. It definitely does help simplify the amount of work that goes into the grading process. Grades can easily be calculated as long as a proper setup has been …
    Incentivized
    Chose PowerSchool SIS
    PowerSchool has many more features than Blackboard such as attendance, grades, performance review standards platform, lunch, etc. Blackboard makes it easy to find a parent’s email or phone number quickly which is not in PowerSchool.
    Incentivized
    Chose PowerSchool SIS
    Each of the above products has great features, but PowerSchool has features that each of the above products has, all in one system. This means that you could more easily use JUST PowerSchool without needing extensions and other systems to supplement features. This is less …
    Incentivized
    Chose PowerSchool SIS
    I used Blackbaud at a different school system so there was not a choice or selection. I feel that it was pretty similar to PowerSchool so I had a very smooth transition from one platform to the other. The gradebooks felt very similar, along with the recording and reports …
    Incentivized
    Chose PowerSchool SIS
    PowerSchool blows the other Student Information System that my school used out of the water. The other Student Information System was a glorified grade book/report creator, and had no other function. PowerSchool has so many functions and elements inside of one program that it …
    Incentivized
    Chose PowerSchool SIS
    I used Infinite Campus previously while working at a different school. My position was the same at both schools. PowerSchool is more user-friendly than Infinite Campus for those staff members who are not strong with utilizing technology. Infinite Campus allows users to print …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    97%
    Would buy again
    37 Answers
    95%
    Would buy again
    18 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    100%
    Delivers good value for the price
    37 Answers
    93%
    Delivers good value for the price
    14 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    89%
    Happy with the feature set
    34 Answers
    89%
    Happy with the feature set
    17 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    95%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    19 Answers
    90%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    9 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    29 Answers
    92%
    Implementation went as expected
    12 Answers
    Features
    Google ClassroomPowerSchool SIS
    Learning Management
    Comparison of Learning Management features of Google Classroom and PowerSchool Student Information System
    Feature
    Google Classroom
    7.4
    60 Ratings
    8% below category average
    PowerSchool Student Information System
    -
    Ratings
    Course authoring8.752 Ratings00 Ratings
    Course catalog or library7.639 Ratings00 Ratings
    Player/Portal6.538 Ratings00 Ratings
    Learning content8.141 Ratings00 Ratings
    Mobile friendly7.757 Ratings00 Ratings
    Progress tracking & certifications7.244 Ratings00 Ratings
    Assignments7.158 Ratings00 Ratings
    Compliance management6.934 Ratings00 Ratings
    Learning administration7.346 Ratings00 Ratings
    Learning reporting & analytics6.842 Ratings00 Ratings
    Social learning8.751 Ratings00 Ratings
    Gamification3.98 Ratings00 Ratings
    Single Sign On (SSO) Enabled Learning9.812 Ratings00 Ratings
    Student and Faculty Administration
    Comparison of Student and Faculty Administration features of Google Classroom and PowerSchool Student Information System
    Feature
    Google Classroom
    -
    Ratings
    PowerSchool Student Information System
    8.5
    3 Ratings
    2% above category average
    Integrations with 3rd-Party Education Technology00 Ratings9.02 Ratings
    Online Registration Management00 Ratings10.02 Ratings
    District Communications, such as messaging and alerting00 Ratings8.12 Ratings
    Roster Management00 Ratings9.03 Ratings
    Platform Customization00 Ratings7.73 Ratings
    Teacher Self-Service00 Ratings9.03 Ratings
    Student Data Security00 Ratings9.43 Ratings
    Community Support00 Ratings7.43 Ratings
    Class Scheduling00 Ratings9.43 Ratings
    State and National-level Reporting00 Ratings7.12 Ratings
    Compliance Support00 Ratings7.62 Ratings
    Teacher and Parent Mobile Application00 Ratings8.03 Ratings
    Best Alternatives
    Google ClassroomPowerSchool SIS
    Small Businesses
    Teachable
    Score9.4 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    Schoology Learning
    Score8 out of 10
    Schoolmint Hero
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Enterprises
    D2L Brightspace
    Score7.8 out of 10
    Schoolmint Hero
    Score9.7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Google ClassroomPowerSchool SIS
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.1
    (80 ratings)
    9.0
    (32 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    10.0
    (4 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Usability
    8.1
    (11 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Availability
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Performance
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    1.9
    (14 ratings)
    8.5
    (12 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    2.0
    (2 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Product Scalability
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Google ClassroomPowerSchool SIS
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Google
    Google Classroom allows teachers to post for daily lessons and assignments. It also allows teachers to be able to communicate with students easily outside of class. Students are able to stay connected and know where to find all information and resources easily in a streamlined manner for all of their classes.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    PowerSchool Student Information System is a cool software that can be highly recommended to anyone who is living in the educational management space. It is proven that this software can reduce your manual workload massively if you use it right. Plus it is really worth the price you pay. Especially if you are in the administrative field, this software will help you to minimize manual efforts put into student registrations, staffing recruitment, and main resource management processes.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Google
    • Student-teacher communication - I love using Classroom for this because my students can always go back and check what was on Classroom by looking through the stream. This way they don't have to go dig through emails to find what they're looking for.
    • Posting to multiple classes - I can post the same announcement or assignment to multiple classes at once without having to repeat the process or send separate emails.
    • Streamlining grading - when students turn work in on Classroom, it all goes to one place and then when I'm grading I can open their documents directly from Classroom or my Drive folder. This way, I'm not looking through emails and Google Doc shared files for their assignment.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    • PowerSchool houses student or staff information that can be easily accessed by those teachers and administrators who need the information. This allows everyone to go to one place to access information.
    • Parents can view their child's grades at any time with their protected login on a parent portal. This allows teachers to keep parents informed and involved in their child's progress at school. When everyone works together it increases our students' chance for success.
    • PowerSchool offers videos to train new users. When we have new employees, the videos can be accessed at any time the employee needs as opposed to them waiting for someone to help them.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Google
    • The content management of the Classroom is not that good. The sub-section for notes, syllabus, or discussion is missing.
    • It doesn't have parental control feature.
    • It converts the excel output into a normal file. All the formulas and pivots got changed into plain text.
    Read full review
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    • Does not consistently communicate with related software such as Illuminate for Special Education Students.
    • Drop down menus frequently refresh as data is entered which slows down the user's ability to enter information.
    • Icons are sometimes unclear and not easily understandable. Word labels for some items might be more effective.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Google
    Testing is particularly important in online learning, and Google Classroom falls far short of other learning management systems in this regard. Security is also a concern: while account control is reasonable for the account used with Google Classroom, the person controlling a particular account is often able to, for example, forward or download proprietary materials.
    Read full review
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    We would be starting over at square one if we did not continue our PowerSchool subscription. We do not have a program in a place that would take its place.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Google
    Simple design and seamless integration with Google tools and drive, but missing some key features. However, since it is limited in overall functions and ability to truly personalize / customize, it is quite user friendly and easy to set up and get going, other than sending out the code to your course or dropping students in via their gmail account. Users of Google Forms and sites will find the layout similar in design.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    Great features, but it can feel very cumbersome at times
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Reliability and Availability
    Google
    We have had very little trouble in accessing Google Classroom. Our issues, if any, have risen from our server and not the Google servers.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    No answers on this topic
    Support Rating
    Google
    Since this platform is provided by Google, the technical support is better than any others, and we are not required to bother about the space constraints for adding the contents. If we have a good uninterrupted internet facility we can access Google Classroom without any delay or lag. They have app support in both Android and iPhone.
    Read full review
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    Overall, I have not had to use support for PowerSchool Student Information System because our school district gives us training in each area in which we will be utilizing PowerSchool Student Information System. In terms of in-user support, I feel that there is mild to moderate user support that is built into PowerSchool SIS.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Google
    It was relatively easy to implement due to the simplicity of the platform. Even our more technology challenged teachers found it easy to get started with Google Classroom.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    No answers on this topic
    Alternatives Considered
    Google
    I haven't tested or evaluated another digital classroom website or application. I feel like Google Classroom is convenient for many reasons such as compatibility to Google docs, slides, etc. I also love the ability to link to YouTube and other sites. I don't know if there would be a site that is easier to maneuver.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    I have heard good things for Infinite Campus and Skyward. I would [evaluate] each of them and see what fits your needs. Each has their strengths and weaknesses and so picking the right one for your needs is important. PowerSchool [Student Information System] does have some great features, but lacks some fundamental reports and functions to make it top notch.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Scalability
    Google
    It is very easy to push out this program across our buildings. Teachers are able to use it without much trouble.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    No answers on this topic
    Return on Investment
    Google
    • Students are able to continue learning in a remote environment
    • Parents have a single, consistent organization structure to make it easy to track assignments and progress for multiple children
    • Much better solution than the quickly assembled Zoom-and-gloom of the previous spring when school abruptly went remote with no planning
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    • It has created shortcuts for all staff members, saving us time.
    • In creating shortcuts and combining many different systems into one, it is saving our school money.
    • It has created a safety net for teachers because grades and student information is stored electronically, which means teachers not having to worry about losing or misplacing their grade books.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    PowerSchool SIS Screenshots

    Screenshot of Student attendanceScreenshot of Standards-based gradingScreenshot of At-risk dashboardScreenshot of Parent view of student schedule