All Skyward Student Management Suite Reviews
1-25 of 148 Reviews
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Natalie
E-Learning, 11 - 50 employees
Used more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
Reviewed January 2022
Excellent Education Management Tool
Leslie
Verified reviewer
Higher Education, 1,001-5,000 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed March 2018
Awesome tool for teachers, students and parents
Up-to-date information about my child's progress in school, missing assignments, grades on tests and projects. Especially my for high school student, this info can be hard to get from them and so many times you do not know about issues until it is too late. I open Skyward every night at the dinner table and we talk about grades, upcoming exams and papers. She knows I am looking and it helps her to stay on task.
PROSThere are so many functions in one place. Check grades, missing assignments, email teachers, lunch calendar, etc. Multiple children in a family can be easily accessed together.
CONSWhen emailing a parent/teacher, they cannot respond back directly. I wish they could. It would make the line of communication more direct. But, at least they can read the message and respond back by another means.
Vendor Response
Thanks so much for the kind words, Leslie! Regarding the con, there is an option in the message center to enable direct replies. You may want to talk to your Skyward administrator about turning that on if it would be beneficial.
Replied March 2018
Carlos
Education Management, 1,001-5,000 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed February 2020
Skyward School Management Review
Skyward is a fantastic program and quite simply I cannot imagine doing my job without it. It helps with decision making both at the school and admin level, giving decision-makers the data they need to get the job done.
PROS*Skyward has an excellent report making system and it's practically limited by the creativity of the user. I have not experienced a case where there was not a report created for something I needed. Best of all reports can be shared by other users and you can learn a lot by how others use their reports. *Improve business process agility. *Enhanced decision making. *Surprisingly easy to teach.
CONSSkyward has a very high learning curve. I would not recommend someone start using it without at least a couple of hours of training. I received 10 before starting it on the job and that was just scratching the surface. It's a complex program and users should be adequately trained for it. Managers need to know that it's not something can be self-taught. There are training manuals for it but it's best learned when trained by experience users.
Reason for choosing Skyward Student Management Suite
Skyward is used by many school districts in the area, meaning that teachers and staff members that transfer into our district are familiar with it and do not have to receive so much training on it.
Vendor Response
Thank you for the great comments Carlos. We hear from a lot of customers who share your views on the value of our reports. As for the learning curve, we agree that training is critical to getting the most from Skyward and many customers tell us the investment they made in PD made their move to Skyward much smoother.
Replied February 2020
Kevin
Education Management, 51-200 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
2
EASE OF USE
1
VALUE FOR MONEY
3
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
1
FUNCTIONALITY
2
Reviewed May 2021
Stuck in 2003; Avoid.
Terrible. Wasn't even interested in looking at their newer option.
PROS-It is a more reasonably priced option than the bigger players like Campus or PowerSchool. -It is still better than JMC (which is sad). - IF you can figure out how to do things in it and IF you don't mind an ugly program that visually is stuck in 2003, it may work for you.
CONS- Probably the least user-friendly software I've ever used. It has tons of random settings that are sprinkled all over the software and requires a super-user on your team to accomplish even some of the more regular day to day functions. - Reports are terrible. You have to set the fields and ranges and then waste time running a report to see if it works. I can't tell you how many times I've done this and had the system return a blank report because one tiny parameter was off OR the report doesn't do what I thought it did from the title (with no explanation). - Teachers hate it. It's so limited, it forces your district into changing its grading procedures to fit the limitations of the product - Customer service is dismissive and unhelpful.
Vendor Response
Thanks for your brutally honest feedback Mr. Furst. As difficult as this review was for us to read, we welcome all feedback--good and bad--and our goal is to deliver a user-centric experience for everyone. One of the reasons we launched our Qmlativ platform a few years ago was because we recognized we needed to upgrade the design and navigation to help create a better experience for users. We hope you reconsider taking a look at Qmlativ and we are confident you will be pleasantly surprised at what you see. Thank you.
Replied June 2021
Whitney
Verified reviewer
Education Management, 1 employee
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed December 2019
AMAZING!!!!!!!
I HAVE REALIZED THAT TIMES HAVE CHANGED FOR CHILDREN IN SCHOOL NOW BECAUSE THEY CAN'T TRICK THEIR PARENTS INTO THINKING THAT THEY HAVEN'T RECEIVED THEIR REPORT CARDS BECAUSE OF THE SKYWARD SCHOOL MANAGEMENT APP.
PROSI LOVE THAT SCHOOLS OFFER SKYWARD TO PARENT SO THAT THEY CAN KEEP UP WITH THEIR CHILDREN'S HOMEWORK AND CLASS WORK AS WELL AS ALLOWING PARENTS TO ADD MONEY TO THEIR KIDS LUNCH ACCOUNTS. YOU CAN SEE YOUR CHILD/CHILDREN'S GRADES AS WELL AS WHICH ASSIGNMENTS THEY ARE MISSING. YOU CAN ALSO SEE HOW MANY QUESTIONS THEY MISSED ON A QUIZ OR TEST. IT ALSO ALLOWS YOU TO HAVE MORE THAN ONE CHILD LISTED AND THEY ALL CAN BE AT DIFFERENT SCHOOLS. AMAZING!!!!!
CONSThere isn't anything that I don't like about this software. It is the best thing that they have created.
Vendor Response
Thank you so much for the great comments Whitney. We're so glad that you are enjoying a positive experience with Skyward's Family Access.
Replied December 2019
Amanda
Verified reviewer
Food & Beverages, 51-200 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed September 2018
The Sky is the limit with Skyward
Skyward School Management has been a very positive change for our district. We switched a couple of years ago and since then it is easier for us to manage debt on lunch accounts and easier for me as a parent to stay on top of things like this.
PROSI like how easily accessible Skyward is for parents to keep track of student expenses. Not only can parents easily add money to and watch student's lunch accounts, they can also easily pay fees online and very quickly. In a matter of seconds, I am able to add lunch money to my child's lunch account.
CONSThere is nothing I dislike about this software.
Vendor Response
Thanks for the kind words, Amanda! We're more than happy to help.
Replied September 2018
Noel
Education Management, 201-500 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
1
EASE OF USE
1
VALUE FOR MONEY
2
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
3
Reviewed December 2023
Skyward dog water
It has lots of features and ships with a mobile app and website. It also has a domain and total control of all data.
CONSHorrible UI, bad graphics and design, slow and clunky, features that just don’t work, overpriced
Vendor Response
We’re sorry to hear you are not enjoying Skyward. Many people find using our resources, like the Family and Employee Access Toolkits and Professional Development Center, to be a helpful way to learn the system and get more value from it.
Replied February 2024
Chad
Verified reviewer
Education Management, 201-500 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed February 2018
Generally good software to manage student information.
It has a comprehensive set of features that allow student management. From the teacher side the data is fairly easy to view and input of the gradebook and attendance is relatively easy.
CONSIt is somewhat difficult to learn. There are many variables that can confuse teachers in creating gradebooks and in accessing information. The reports are not particularly intuitive to use.
Vendor Response
Thanks for the kind words, Chad! If you ever find yourself helping new teachers learn the system, we have some resources available at https://www.skyward.com/support/quick-hits/teacher and https://www.skyward.com/teachers.
Replied February 2018
Anonymous
1 employee
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed September 2019
Convenient student report access!
Very good. I'm up to date on my child's progress on a daily basis.
PROSThis is a fantastic way to keep abreast of your child's grades with individual test breakups and overall grade average with the allowance for teachers to add notes for the parents if needed. Also provides a way to email and contact the teacher.
CONSThere's nothing I don't like about the software. Overall great communication tool between a teacher and student's parents.
Laura
Verified reviewer
Education Management, 11-50 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed January 2022
Skyward for Student Management
Skyward is a "one stop shop" for teachers. Student information can be quickly accessed through Skyward. Teachers use Skyward for attendance, grades, and student information.
CONSSome of the grade book setting can be a learning curve, but not very difficult to figure out.
Vendor Response
We appreciate your feedback Laura. It's always great to receive comments from the teachers who are using Skyward to make their lives a little easier.
Replied January 2022
Anonymous
51-200 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed February 2020
Skyward
Overall, I have had a great experience. I am able to easily modify the grading program to fit my needs.
PROSThis is a really easy program to use for grading students. I also use the program to create online tests.
CONSI can make seating charts with this program, but it does not allow me to print them off as a full page. I have had out IT guy look at this, but we cannot figure out how to do it.
Karee
Education Management, 201-500 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
FUNCTIONALITY
3
Reviewed June 2021
Skyward - great for attendance, everything else is just ok.
Overall, it works for what we need it at our school (an attendance management system and to keep track of class rosters). However, I think it is unfortunate we can't use more of it's capabilities and that we use so many different systems instead of it all being streamlined into one. I wish being able to toggle how to print and see attendance and class data was easier and more intuitive.
PROSOur school mostly uses this for class rosters and tracking attendance. For those purposes, it works really quite well. Tracking attendance is quick and easy, you can go in and mark students as absent or present or tardy. You can also click "all here". You can add in health notes about students and other important things we need to know as teachers.
CONSThe other features we don't use because they aren't good (e.g. the grade book) and we use it with schoology instead as it links with assignments that can be turned in. However, I really wish we could streamline it and use all one program for everything (learning management system, grade book, attendance, etc.) or that they all connected. Also, while the class rosters and schedules work and can be printed, it is not intuitive how to do so. They are not displayed well or functional for how I'd like to use them. While I like I can go in and see student notes and data, you have to click on students individually which sometimes is difficult.
Vendor Response
Karee, There are so many things schools can do with Skyward that it can seem overwhelming at times. We recently wrote this article (https://www.skyward.com/discover/insider/november-2019/10-things-every-teacher-should-know-in-skyward) to help teachers get comfortable with some of the basics. In addition, we recommend checking out the Skyward Academy free webinars or attending a user group to increase your knowledge of Skyward. Thanks for your feedback and have a great summer.
Replied June 2021
Amee
Education Management, 1,001-5,000 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
3
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed May 2021
Skyward requires Skills
Everytime we feel as though we need a retraining between the quarters to use it - to find the button or link that we need to report. It is easy to keep grades, but difficult to find the report, build a template or transfer grades between quarters/semesters. There is lots of keying in on the teachers side. There have been other report managing systems that I have used that have been a lot nicer for data keeping.
PROSWe use this software daily and I like the idea of a gradebook that is on-line to report grades virtually, especially with the changes in our world.
CONSDifficult to use, not really user friendly (or teacher friendly rather) for the lower grades. I found that many upper elementary, middle school or high school enjoyed it and used it in so many other ways. We currently only use it to report attendance, grades and scan school entry documents. I am sure there are many other features that this platform offers.
Vendor Response
Thanks for your comments Amee. Getting the most from Skyward involves some training and experience. We hope you will check out this article to see the training options you have at your disposal with Skyward. thttps://www.skyward.com/discover/insider/july-2015/know-your-skyward-training-options
Replied May 2021
Dawn
Education Management, 501-1,000 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
3
EASE OF USE
2
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed March 2021
Train your staff in Skyward
Skyward I am sure has many functions that I have not been trained to used. I feel good software should be user friendly and somewhat intuitive; Skyward is not.
PROSI like that I can mark all students present with one click. You can set up seating chart attendance with or without pictures. It can average grades for you. You can see if parents have accessed their child's profiles.
CONSThis is not user friendly and requires training. If staff is not trained (I was not) it leads to a great deal of frustration.
Reasons for switching to Skyward Student Management Suite
District decision
Vendor Response
Dawn, the timing of your review couldn't have come at a better time. We are hosting a free remote User Group on April 26-30 with all kinds of sessions available to maximize your Skyward knowledge. If you go to our website and click on the Events tap you should be able to find it. There are also resources available at www.skyward.com/learnskyward that should help you. Thanks for your feedback.
Replied March 2021
Nathan
Education Management, 11-50 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
3
EASE OF USE
2
FUNCTIONALITY
3
Reviewed November 2019
Not ideal
This help keep grades, lunch accounts, and attendance
PROSThe grade calculation and attendance parts work well. The custom reports are nice to save for the future.
CONSThe system isn't as user friendly as I hoped. Many connectivity issues with Canvas, this causes true have issues importing and exporting grade.
Glennda
E-Learning, 1,001-5,000 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed December 2020
I miss Skyward!
Skyward makes things easier: reports, emailing parent, emailing other teachers, emailing classes en mass, putting in grades, adding extra credit, tracking in general, and adding notes. It's just all easier in Skyward. I think this is one of the best LMS systems that I have used.
PROSI loved how easy, once you learned the ropes, Skyward was to operate. It was literally my one stop shop. And now, I have 4 LMS systems that I use and this makes me miss the simplicity of Skyward.
CONSThe learning curve is steep, but once you learn, as a teacher, Skyward can make your life easier than doing everything on your own.
Vendor Response
Glennda, thank you so much for the sparkling review. It's not often that we receive reviews from former customers. If and when you are ready to rejoin the Skyward family, we'll be waiting.
Replied December 2020
Damon
Writing and Editing, 1 employee
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed September 2022
My review of skyward
Overall, my experience with Skyward is pretty good. I don’t have any other complaints. Other than that annoying password reset thing that it does. Fix that and I would say you are completely perfect.
PROSThe user interfaces designed very well, and the ease of use is not notch. I was able to learn skyward within one day when I started working for the school district. So I would say that ease-of-use is by far my favorite part of the software.
CONSHaving to reset my password every couple of weeks is rather annoying. If we could fix that, I would really appreciate it. I don’t like having to call tech-support to reset my password every two weeks to one month.
Vendor Response
We appreciate your feedback, Damon. The password reset issue is something that your administrator should be able to adjust in the settings, however some customers prefer to have people reset them more often for security reasons.
Replied October 2022
Fadi
Education Management, 201-500 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed November 2022
Nice but need enhancements
It is a very good software, full of features and options, to some extent easy to use specially for the daily basis tasks. Very good support.
CONSNot very opened to customizations, and being an international customer our requests are not heard or taken into consideration.
Reasons for switching to Skyward Student Management Suite
Blackbaud was not evolved since a long time ago, and there was a degradation of services and features. We moved to Skyward for a better sfotware for both Student & business suits, but the business part didn't work for us as international customer.
Vendor Response
Thanks for the positive review Fadi.
Replied November 2022
Mary
Education Management, 201-500 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
3
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed May 2022
Using Skyward as both a teacher and a parent
It is self-explanatory in most cases. I can figure out on my own how to create a report, post a grade........
CONSIt is date driven. So if school is canceled, IT has to change the dates in the programming.
Reasons for switching to Skyward Student Management Suite
It was not my decision and it was a long time ago but I think it was because the state reports at the time were easier to deal with through Skyward.
Vendor Response
Thanks for your feedback Mary. It's always great to hear from Skyward users that are both educators and parents. We hope the rest of your school year goes well and enjoy your summer.
Replied May 2022
Michael
Education Management, 1,001-5,000 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed September 2019
Makes life easy
Skyward has made all educational logistics easy. The mobile app included.
PROSI like most that Skyward is a developed system that anticipates common classroom scenarios. I like that I can pull up photo class charts and click on pictures to access student information. I like that I can send messages to multiple classes at once and schedule the send time.
CONSI like least that there is a proposed and an actual due date options. I don't understand why I need to fill out both for assignment due dates.
Vendor Response
Thanks for sharing your comments Michael. We appreciate your feedback.
Replied September 2019
Megan
Education Management, 51-200 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed December 2018
Skyward in the Classroom
I have used Skyward for three years and I think it's unexpectedly been unavailable less than five times and it is restored quickly. It syncs with our online platform which helps with grading.
PROSSkyward is organized and user friendly. I also like how there is an app available that allows teachers to enter grades on their cell phone (I am an Apple user). Skyward has been dependable and my middle school students and their parents can navigate it.
CONSSkyward will open a new window when taking attendance and entering grades which can be frustrating at times.
Nolan
Education Management, 1,001-5,000 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed February 2019
A Teacher's Review of Student Management by Skyward
Overall, the experience that I have had has been very positive. I was able to figure out most issues within a matter of a minute or two and, when I had a bigger issue, customer support was able to fix it fairly quick.
PROSBeing able to easily manage assignments and attendance is extremely valuable to any teacher. Being able to easily pick up on the software that your school corporation is using is even better.
CONSThere are some confusing aspects at first but, with a little use, the average person will figure out most details with ease.
Stacey
Education Management, 501-1,000 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed June 2019
Skyward is the backbone of many school districts
I have used this program as a parent and as a teacher. As a teacher it is fabulous. As a parent I have struggled with the program going back to the log in screen. Other than that I know my child's information is safe and secure on this site.
PROSThis program is very safe and secure. Many large school districts trust this program for student and parent information.
CONSI have struggled some as a parent when I try to scroll down to view more information about my child's grades I will be sent back to the log in screen.
AMANDA
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed January 2018
I can keep track of children and how they are doing in school.
Keeping up with my children school progress.
PROSI love being able to log in and see how my child is doing in high school by each class. You can see missing assignments, test scores and quizzes. The teachers and the school can also contact me through skyward.
CONSIt can be confusing to use when you first start using it, but it gets easier and easier the more you use it.
Vendor Response
Thanks so much for the kind review, Amanda. We're happy to see you're getting the most out of Family Access!
Replied January 2018
Yulonda
Education Management, 1,001-5,000 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed June 2021
Skwyard Teacher
I use skyward for entering grades and communicating with parents.
PROSSkyward has the ability to send mass messages to parents without having to send individual emails , which would otherwise be time consuming
CONSSkyward should be set up so that it integrates seamlessly from Google classroom or other LMS to export grades
Vendor Response
We appreciate your positive comments about Skyward Yulonda. Have a great summer.
Replied June 2021