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Blackbaud Education Management Solutions vs. PowerSchool Student Information System

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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Blackbaud Education Management Solutions

    Score7.1 out of 10
    N/ABlackbaud Education Management Solutions is a unified student management system for K–12 private schools. Blackbaud Enrollment Management System™: Gives schools and families the ability to track admissions progress from first impressions all the way through the application process to acceptance, enrollment, and tuition payment. Blackbaud Learning Management System™: Track students' academic performance and progression…N/A

    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
    Blackbaud Education Management SolutionsPowerSchool SIS
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Blackbaud Education Management SolutionsPowerSchool SIS
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeRequiredNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Blackbaud Education Management SolutionsPowerSchool SIS
    Considered Both Products
    Blackbaud
    No answer on this topic
    PowerSchool Group LLC
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    73%
    Would buy again
    11 Answers
    95%
    Would buy again
    18 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    85%
    Delivers good value for the price
    11 Answers
    93%
    Delivers good value for the price
    14 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    87%
    Happy with the feature set
    13 Answers
    89%
    Happy with the feature set
    17 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    7 Answers
    90%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    9 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    83%
    Implementation went as expected
    10 Answers
    92%
    Implementation went as expected
    12 Answers
    Features
    Blackbaud Education Management SolutionsPowerSchool SIS
    Student and Faculty Administration
    Comparison of Student and Faculty Administration features of Blackbaud Education Management Solutions and PowerSchool Student Information System
    Feature
    Blackbaud Education Management Solutions
    -
    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
    Blackbaud Education Management SolutionsPowerSchool SIS
    Small Businesses
    No answers on this topic
    No answers on this topic
    Medium-sized Companies
    No answers on this topic
    Schoolmint Hero
    Score9.7 out of 10
    Enterprises
    No answers on this topic
    Schoolmint Hero
    Score9.7 out of 10
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Blackbaud Education Management SolutionsPowerSchool SIS
    Likelihood to Recommend
    7.0
    (120 ratings)
    9.0
    (32 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    7.5
    (9 ratings)
    10.0
    (2 ratings)
    Usability
    6.5
    (7 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Support Rating
    7.0
    (115 ratings)
    8.5
    (12 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    7.0
    (21 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Blackbaud Education Management SolutionsPowerSchool SIS
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Blackbaud
    A good, and constantly improving solution for private schools. I don't know that a lot of its functionality would be well suited to public schools, but maybe? The integration with other Blackbaud software is a huge plus for us, as we have several of their other products including their flagship Raiser's Edge. Smaller schools may not need the sophistication of Blackbaud solutions, and it is not an inexpensive option.
    Incentivized
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    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
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    Pros
    Blackbaud
    • Seamless integration between the LMS, EMS and SIS modules
    • Real-time, effective chat support helps me not only with urgent needs but also to work through possibilities for increasing how we use the product.
    • Feature upgrades monthly that respond to voiced needs from users
    Incentivized
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    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
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    Cons
    Blackbaud
    • Forms - lack of conditional questions
    • Gradebook -lack of links to assignments
    • Not being able to customize displays, for example, Grading tab - we just finished 1st semester and teachers could only see the current quarter but not the 1st one which is still part of the first semester. Lack of customization in assessments.
    • Scheduling- even though re-running generating schedules, we're still getting a high number of unscheduled students. Lack of being able to limit the number of scheduled classes in a row for teachers.
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    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.
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Blackbaud
    It is a solid product. We have some issues with the capabilities of the website building components and the out dated technology behind its communications software but overall Blackbaud Education Management Software services to combine numerous functions into one product.
    Incentivized
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    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
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    Usability
    Blackbaud
    Blackbaud EMS is very usable from my perspective. I am a power user and get lots of valuable functionality. It is, however, a complex system. Sometimes necessarily complex to accommodate flexibility for diverse customer needs. Some complexity seems unnecessary and/or hold-over functionality from earlier versions; nice to see this type being evolved away from over time. It is valuable to receive regular updates to the system along with good release notes of what changed and notices of significant changes in advance.
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    PowerSchool Group LLC
    Great features, but it can feel very cumbersome at times
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    Support Rating
    Blackbaud
    Decent support however the chat feature can take a great amount of time out of the workday. If for instance you are waiting for someone to respond in the chat and there is a fire drill, if you are not responding within a few minutes, you are disconnected and have to start all over again. It would be great if you could submit your problem and then whoever has the most experience, can respond. The training in the Blackbaud University is good but also time-consuming - a 3 hr training in the middle of a workday is a lot to ask. I like the 90-minute sessions. It would also be great to offer a shorter webinar to update on any changes implemented. Other than the email I subscribed to, there is no information on how these updates actually work.
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    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.
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    Alternatives Considered
    Blackbaud
    Blackbaud K-12 is very similar. I feel like I would be trading one set of issues for another so it's kind of a wash. We are very much hooked into the Blackbaud website with our Google SSO, SmartTuition, and Schooldoc integrations. It would be difficult for us to transition. That is the main reason I haven't really entertained other web firms.
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    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.
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    Return on Investment
    Blackbaud
    • Negative - The rollout is brutal. Blackbaud said it could happen in 6 months, but that is definitely not a reality. It will take well over a year, and one complete school cycle to actually integrate everything correctly.
    • Positive - The amount of time saved in data processing has allowed our office to become more involved in other areas of the school.
    • Positive - The ease of having everything in [one] place, from inquiry to application to contracts and course registration, has been a HUGE benefit to our applicants and their families.
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    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
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    ScreenShots

    Blackbaud Education Management Solutions Screenshots

    Screenshot of Topics pages help organize units of learning throughout the year in the Learning Management SystemScreenshot of Blackbaud's education management solutions come with strong reporting tools to get the information you need quicklyScreenshot of Schedule view makes it easy for teachers to manage their daysScreenshot of Blackbaud Enrollment Management System Admissions Checklists help applicants track their progress in the admissions processScreenshot of Blackbaud's education management solutions come with strong reporting tools to get the information you need quicklyScreenshot of Keep track of all the key information about your students in one place

    PowerSchool SIS Screenshots

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