Gradelink

Pros

Gradelink is a very simple School information System (SIS). As such, the setup time is very fast. The Gradelink support team is very helpful in getting the support that is necessary.

Cons

Because the SIS is a simple, there are not many additional features. The basic features- gradebook, lesson plans, etc. are accessible. However, the more complex features are not available.

Pros

I needed a program that would be easy to implement, easy to use, and affordable. After reviewing a number of SIS programs, Gradelink met the needs of the school. Having the program for five years I have found new staff members are able to jump in quickly, parents love the ease of communication and availability of attendance, grades, and comments concerning their children. We also use the "news" page to keep parents up to date with reminders and current events. I use the program for snow cancellation and delays, as well as blast informational emails to our community, including alumni.

Cons

There are still a couple of pieces of information that take me time to access, including a quick attendance report on an individual student or a readable transcript that is inclusive of attendance, but a part of that might be my lack of knowledge. Customer service has been excellent in helping us customize report cards, something we could not do independently. Some of the staff is still reluctant to use the planning program to its full capacity, I'm not sure if there is an overarching reason or merely a comfortability learning curve.

Pros

Accessibility and user friendly led by a competent group of people.

Cons

I love everything about this system! I have yet to encounter a problem that wasn't solved immediatly.

Pros

I like the shared family information, that parents can look at all of their children's grades in all of their classes under one login. I like the ease of communicating with one class or one grade level without having to create my own email groups. I like being able to change and manipulate the reports to our school's needs. I love the helpfulness of customer support and totally appreciate the fact that they stand with us in trying to understand how to make it work for us instead of being short on patience or frustrated with my inexperience.

Cons

I still haven't figured out how to end up with one English Literatue and Composition grade that incapsulates literature, writing, vocabulary and spelling classes with their different teachers into one final grade for the report card. As our school grows it would be helpful to have that as part of the program instead of the round about way I am doing it currently.

Pros

I like that there are a lot of functions, and it can be used for many things... for teachers, administration, lunch staff... everyone is working form the same place. We only have to have one program and it works.

Cons

There are a lot of functions, and a lot of things can be done with one program. :) This program takes some time to get used to. You have to watch ALL the training videos (the videos are good). But there are little things like having to type in the same contact person over and over for different children. There should be an option to add a new person or add an existing person to a pickup list. Also, I don't understand why the online payments don't get posted to the Ledger. If they pay with a credit card online I still have to manually add it to the Ledger so they can see that they paid for tuition. In the program we used last year it showed up automatically. One more thing, when a child is checked in/out or signed in/out for attendance, is there a way for the name of that child to be a different color or something when they are in or out. Sometimes teachers can't remember if a student was checked in or not, so they do it again, but this signs the student out. Then they have to do it again to sign them in again. If there was a way for the students' names to look different (like a different color) when they are signed in then it would be very helpful. Thank you.