Gradelink Software

As a teacher, I appreciate the vast amount of information kept within the software. However, the entire program is not user friendly and, as a result, can be very time consuming. My work with the help center has been nothing but an friendly and helpful.

Pros

This is our 4th year using Gradelink at my school and I am really in the groove of using the product. It is full of information, so many things that we cannot even get to in our usage. Most importantly, the customer service and help center is phenomenal. I have never experienced such competency and kindness in a company.

Cons

This software is so full of information and buttons, that it is not always intuitive. Many teachers at my school complain about the complexity of doing what should be the easiest tasks. I have found that much of my work, especially when entering comments, does not get saved. It is also limiting in how report cards can be formatted, which we know not to be the case with other software.

It has been frustrating to say the least because when we have problems or questions, customer service can "only give you 30 minutes". These issues cannot be resolved in 30 minutes. Really feeling like this will be a one year deal because it is currently not worth the money invested, but we will get our one year out of it hope that the kinks and issues get resolved.

Pros

It has everything in one site. It gives parents an opportunity to check their financial status, students' grades, attendance, and behavior assessments.

Cons

It is so frustrating to get set up because the system does not let you customize much, especially in attendance. We are a small school and also have to record church and Sunday School attendance, but it doesn't do that separately nor easily. It doesn't have an option for signing students up for their lunch options for the day! Again, common sense for an All-in-one system. We've foregone the Lesson Plan feature because it displays assignments in a confusing manner. It displays an assignment on the date that it is due...not the day it is assigned. A student/parent can't check to see what assignments they had assigned that day because all of the assignments are listed later on in the week when they are due. We've tried the workaround on that and it just doesn't make sense.

Pros

We have fun tracking progress and grades here!

Cons

I wish parents had access as we do as educators.

It does keep grades and student info well, but the billing and accounting module is lacking.

Pros

user-friendly, easy for parents and staff to comprehend. We like how easy it was to setup the software.

Cons

The accounting module fails the functionality test. We are considering moving to another package because actions that should be simple are missing or tedious. No word from the company if they are working towards a solution.

Pros

We really trust Gradelink, as they previously hosted our old site and always do a great job with our school package we have through them. Since we knew we were overdue for an updated website, it was an automatic choice for us to ask Gradelink to handle the design. We are so thrilled with our new website! It is so much cleaner, fresher, user-friendly, precise and engaging. Vince helped us take the next best steps and continues to assure us beyond the finished product, which demonstrates outstanding customer service. Rep was absolutely phenomenal! So very patient, detail-oriented, honest, attentive and kind he went above and beyond to make sure we were satisfied with the final product and that we felt comfortable to collaborate and share our ideas and needs during the building process. Our site needed so much work, and he was always very gracious in our planning meetings. His expertise was so evident and he worked extremely hard to ensure our satisfaction. Genuine excitement about our website project was also evident and helped spur us along when we needed to envision our future site. We are so grateful for Rep and Gradelink!

Cons

Everyone on our team isn't super "techy" so there will be a learning curve. However, we are glad that we can utilize the monthly support that Gradelink offers.

SIMS, gradebooks, lesson plans, enrollment/billing....it does it all!

Pros

The design of the product makes it easy to learn and use. The Gradelink team is super responsive both when you reach out, and they take customer suggestions for added funtionality seriously. Gradelink upgrades its product regularly with useful features. What you get for their price point cannot be beat by other SIMS products. I had a school full of reluctant users when we adopted Gradelink, and now I have a school full of rabid fans!

Cons

I cannot think of a single thing. Even their online help is good, and I am NOT a fan of most online help areas!

The benefits are outstanding for teachers, administrators and school support staff. It easily aligns all our needs into one spot and it is user friendly!

Pros

Putting grades, lesson plans, communication, teacher features and admin features all in one place is the best thing invented since sliced bread! It has taken so much wasted time and consolidated into one easy to use system for all possible school needs.

Cons

I have not found anything I do not like about this software. We currently use a different system at my school and I was looking at Gradelink that is used at my friends school. There are more features and is it easier to use. So far, it is winning me over!

Pros

User friendly. Very reasonably priced. Great technical support.

Cons

Reports could be easier to do. Special adjustments cannot be locked, even by multiple administrators.

This software makes it very easy for me to manage my grades. I can also quickly access reports on attendance, missing assignments, grade point averages, and more. This software allows me to do things quickly, freeing up more time after work.

Pros

Gradelink is incredibly easy to use. You can easily view report cards, grade point averages, missing assignments, etc. Notifications and assignments can be sent through the site as well.

Cons

There is nothing that I can think of that I dislike about this software. It is easy to use and worth the price paid.

Pros

This program has answered all of our questions regarding a Online Report Card program. Our parents love it because they get real-time updates about grades. Our students love it because they are more focused on their academics. And most important, our teachers love it because it allows them customize their grading styles to fit their class..not the school!

Cons

I really can't think of anything. This program has so many features that we wanted, that I can't think of a con.

Pros

We really like the school news page and the email feature.
It is very helpful to have access to all the student's and family information in one place.

Cons

Getting set up in the beginning was a little challenging. There was almost too much student/family information that could be captured. We don't need all of it.

Pros

Timely responses, provides feedback, very friendly customer service. We are very happy with the service.

Cons

There are a few features that we would like to use for our school site. Overall, it's a great product, just would like to see more functionality to assist users.

Pros

Everything is in one central location and easy to navigate. It is also great that the software developers are constantly asking for suggestions to improve and actually take your concerns into consideration when new updates occur.

Cons

One area for improvement would be to have a upload button that allows information to be uploaded to multiple accounts rather than putting in information one by one.

Pros

Thee isn't too much to say about this software. I wish it was easier to use and to navigate as a parent

Cons

It's very busy and there's a lot going on. It's hard to navigate through and not very user friendly.

Pros

All of our records in one spot. If I run into an issue, customer service is ready to help. If they don't have an instantaneous answer, they will work on it and get back to me promptly!!

Cons

Nothing of any major significance. Each time I have had a problem, customer service has helped me to quickly resolve it

Pros

The pros to the software all of the information that would typically be in multiple files and different places is found in this one system.

Cons

The cons as an administrator are some of the great features are not immediately presented to the user.

Pros

Extremely easy for putting in student documentation and grading for the teachers makes reports cards simple. Smart send made emailing all school documents very easy.

Cons

Very little issues but if there are issues then customer service is there to help guide you to an aswer

Pros

The ease for inputting the student information and grading for the teachers makes reports cards easy. Easy to email all school information with the smart send.

Cons

Sometimes implementing new or removing areas with the report cards are difficult. Do not like that smart send sends a blank email
for areas where there are no emails entered. Not all families have two emails and not all students have them. So it is frustrating sending emails and getting no address found.

A lot of functionality

Pros

The support team is always so willing to help and you can actually speak to a person not a machine. All in all the system is pretty user friendly.

Cons

There are some little quirks you have to learn about it but the big ? Customer rep helps to find almost all the answers. If you can't find the answer the support team is quick at helping you resolve it.

Pros

As a parent, I like the function of being able to have download forms from teachers for my son. Gradelink is a fantastic tool for teachers, students, and parents. It's user-friendly and valuable.