PowerSchool SIS 2026: Benefits, Features & Pricing

Powerschool streamlines all of the students information in one place to make it convenient to contact home, look at demographics data, attendance, and more.

The only con is it can be difficult to get information updated as if parents/students do not know their account info they must go through the site admin which can delay information updates.

I love PowerSchool! I use it for attendance, grades, and to access information about my students. I love that I can get everything I need in one place.

Really, there isn't anything I don't like about PowerSchool. I've used other systems and this is the one I prefer.

I like that it updates the students every time I input a grade (after I hit "save"). That is motivational for students.

Please note that the cons that exist here are features that exist in almost every other SIS that I have used in my experience and prevent me from using this efficiently. Not in order: 1) I cannot toggle between the first quarter, second quarter, and semester exam. The semester exam is not even there. 2) If I want to input the same grade for an assignment for all students, there isn't a code where I can fill down or copy a score from one student to the rest. 3) The assignments automatically default to percent-based, so if I put a 10 out of 10, it comes out as 10%, and I have to remember to select "points" instead of percent. 4) If multiple classes have the exact same assignment but a different point-amount or dates, I cannot change particular features of that assignment for that class, once the assignment is created. 5) There is no symbol that calculates as a 0 but is a notification for absentees. Instead, they see the 0 (even if I have the green absentee symbol next to it), and automatically think, "That's it." It demotivates students, even if I repeatedly remind them they can make it up if they were absent. Other programs use "Z" for this feature. 6) I cannot press tab between columns. 7) The bar on the right with the number pad, student information, etc., that appears when inputting grades, takes up too much room, especially if I am splitting my screen between PowerSchool and a spreadsheet. Those are the top cons, but there are more.

Love the use of PowerSchool, love being able to make seating charts, sync grades, etc.

I don’t like having to click 15 different areas just to see the students demographics or other information.

The program is easy to use and works across many different platforms and plugins. Overall, works for our school's specific need.

PowerSchool has been promising that they will have a version of their gradebook that works on chromebooks, which has not been delivered as of yet.

From a teacher's point of view, it does exactly what I need. It allows me to easily take attendance, and allows my supply teachers to do the same.

This isn't necessarily a knock on the software, but I wish I had more control over reporting. This is probably something that is locked at the administrative level, and not a developer issue.

I enjoy the ease of use and how I can access every student immediately using the software. It gives me all of the pertinent information at my fingertips.

Sometimes the interface feels a little dated, but that seems to be because we are slower to roll out in NC.

I like that I can see my current and past grades. I also like that I can see my attendances and most information related to my school.

I cannot find my class ranking anywhere! I also do not know how to find my unweighted GPA. It can also be a pain to log into it.

Powerschool SIS and the hosted version are very powerful SIS systems. They have extensive reporting capabilities and features including their new Powerteacher Pro in place of gradebook. Teachers can easily enter grades and admin can generate state and locally needed reports. Tech support is very good and it has a large user base which is great for forum help.

It has a steep learning curve and the training courses are rather pricey. The self hosted feature is cheaper but you run a higher risk of outages.

-Really helpful database -Had the ability to hold a lot of different data points for a ton of different facets of student data.

-Learning curve in figuring out how to navigate -A decent amount of room for human error (in not updating things). I know this is user error and I'm not sure what the solution is, but it wasn't uncommon for people to decide to not take the time to update contact information.