PowerSchool is a cloud-based education technology platform that schools use to manage student records, grades, attendance, scheduling, and communication with families. It serves over 60 million students across more than 90 countries and is used by more than 18,000 school districts and organizations, including more than 90 of the top 100 largest districts by enrollment in the United States. If your child’s school uses PowerSchool, it’s the system behind the grade reports, attendance records, and parent portal you interact with throughout the year.
What PowerSchool Actually Does
At its core, PowerSchool is a Student Information System, or SIS. Think of it as the central database where a school stores everything about its students: demographic information, grades, attendance history, health records, behavior logs, graduation progress, and class schedules. Teachers, administrators, counselors, and office staff all pull from and contribute to this same system, which keeps everyone working from the same set of records.
Teachers use a built-in gradebook called PowerTeacher Pro to record assignments, enter grades, and take attendance. The system supports both traditional letter/number grading and standards-based grading, where students are evaluated on specific learning objectives rather than a single overall score. Administrators use a scheduling tool called Master Scheduler to build class rosters and assign students to periods, rooms, and teachers, automating much of what used to be a manual, paper-heavy process.
Schools can also customize the platform by adding data fields, pages, and tables to track information specific to their needs, whether that’s tracking student assets, meal balances, or enrollment documents.
How Parents and Students Use It
If you’re a parent or student, your main interaction with PowerSchool is through its mobile app or web portal. The app is available on Android and iOS devices (including Apple Watch) and puts real-time school information in one place. From the dashboard, you can see:
- GPA and class overviews, including current grades in each course
- Graded and outstanding assignments, so you know what’s been turned in and what’s still due
- Attendance records, showing absences, tardies, and any flags
- Meal balances and fees
- School bulletins and announcements
The app sends push notifications when grades or attendance records are updated, which means you don’t have to keep logging in to check for changes. You can also see teacher comments on assignments and respond directly via email. For tasks like enrollment paperwork, the app lets families fill out forms and upload documents digitally rather than sending physical copies to the school office.
The Learning Management System
Beyond student records, PowerSchool also offers a learning management system (LMS) called Schoology Learning. An LMS is the online platform where teachers post lessons, assignments, quizzes, and discussion boards. Students log in to access course materials, submit work, and check feedback. If you’ve used Google Classroom or Canvas, Schoology fills a similar role.
What makes the PowerSchool version distinctive is how tightly Schoology connects to the student information system. Grades entered in Schoology automatically flow back into the PowerTeacher Pro gradebook, so teachers don’t have to enter scores twice. Attendance taken inside Schoology passes back to PowerSchool SIS as well. When a teacher grades a standards-aligned assignment using a rubric in Schoology, those scores populate automatically in the gradebook. Student rosters sync between the two systems, and alerts from the SIS (like medical or parent alerts) appear inside Schoology so teachers see them while working in the LMS.
For families, this integration means the grades you see in the parent portal stay current without waiting for a teacher to manually transfer them from one system to another.
How Schools Handle Data Privacy
Because PowerSchool stores sensitive information about minors, data privacy is a reasonable concern. The platform complies with FERPA, the federal law that protects student education records, and COPPA, which governs online data collection for children under 13. It also adheres to applicable state and provincial privacy regulations.
On the technical side, PowerSchool holds an ISO 27001:2022 certification, an internationally recognized security management standard verified through annual third-party audits. It also undergoes annual SOC 2 Type 2 examinations, which evaluate controls around security, availability, and confidentiality. Access to customer data is protected by multi-factor authentication, role-based access controls, and VPN-secured portals. The company runs a security operations center around the clock and conducts more than 30 penetration tests per year. It also partners with CrowdStrike for dark web monitoring to detect potential data exposures.
All employees and contractors undergo annual background checks and security awareness training, and software development follows OWASP standards, a widely used framework for building secure applications.
Who Uses PowerSchool
PowerSchool is primarily a K-12 tool. Public school districts make up the bulk of its customer base in the United States, but private schools, charter schools, and international schools use it as well. With more than 18,000 customers spanning over 90 countries, it is one of the largest education technology platforms in the world. If your school district recently adopted PowerSchool or you’re seeing it for the first time after a move, you’re joining a system that most large U.S. districts already use.
Individual schools or districts purchase PowerSchool and configure it for their needs, which means the exact features available to you (and how the portal looks) can vary. Some districts use the full suite, including the LMS and mobile app, while others may only use the core student information system. Your school’s front office or IT department can tell you which tools are active and how to set up your parent or student account.