# Page 2 | Skyward Student Management Suite Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra > Page 2 - Is Skyward Student Management Suite the right K-12 solution for you? Explore 153 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/2185/Skyward-School-Management/reviews --- Skyward Student Management Suite 4.2 (153) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/2185/Skyward-School-Management/alternatives/) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated March 13th, 2026 # Page 2 - Reviews of Skyward Student Management Suite ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 26-50 of 153 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use JB James B. Student Accounting Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Best app! Easy to mess with!" January 24, 2025 5.0 If your looking for a app that shows grades! THIS IS THE ONE YOU NEED! 10/10 Pros I love how the layout of it is. It makes it easy and I love the app itself it tells my grades. Cons The Charts are a little confusing but other wise great Switched from [GRADEpro](https://www.capterra.com/p/10014603/GRADEpro/) It's does not to as good with layout! 10/10 Review Source Response from Skyward January 27, 2025 Thank you for your review, James! We hope you have a great rest of your school year! KS Karee S. Innovation Lab Specialist (grades 3-5) Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Skyward - great for attendance, everything else is just ok. " June 24, 2021 4.0 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. Pros Our 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. Cons The 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. Review Source Response from Skyward June 28, 2021 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. BR Barb R. Administrative Assistant Pupil Services Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "One stop shop for your student educational needs" February 28, 2022 5.0 The best feature to me is that everything is in one place! Having multiple systems to manage makes data tracking much more difficult. One system, Skyward, allows our district the ability to have our student data more readily available. Pros I have been using Skyward Student Information System for the past 25 years. We have slowly added other features to our portfolio. The Student Services system has worked well for assistance with IEPs for our special education students. Having the ability to track information for due dates, form status, etc. has been wonderful. The ability to have it tied to the student database is terrific because if a family moves, the addresses are automatically reflected in the special education areas. We have use the Enrollment feature for the past 5 years now and it has saved countless hours for staff by allowing them to verify information, instead of having to decipher information and enter it into the system. Parents are able to enroll at any time of the day because it is completed through our website, and doesn't require the family having to find the time to come to the school to enroll. Food Service allows a wanding message to be added for those that have allergies or other health issues, which assists the workers when the students come through the line. With Fee Management and Food Service, parents are able to pay fees or add money to their food service account through Family Access. There are many great features about this product and we are very pleased with the product. Cons The 504 Accommodation Plan area is a little cumbersome and doesn't flow quite as nicely as the special education model does, but there are not as clear cut state requirements so product development does not work the same. Review Source Response from Skyward March 2, 2022 Thanks for the positive review Barb, and for being such a strong advocate for Skyward. We love hearing from all of our customers, but it's especially great when comments come from long-time customers like you! DF Damon F. Blogger Writing and Editing Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "My review of skyward" September 24, 2022 5.0 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. Pros The 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. Cons Having 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. Review Source Response from Skyward October 4, 2022 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. MR Mary R. Teacher Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Using Skyward as both a teacher and a parent" May 19, 2022 5.0 Pros It is self-explanatory in most cases. I can figure out on my own how to create a report, post a grade........ Cons It is date driven. So if school is canceled, IT has to change the dates in the programming. Review Source Response from Skyward May 20, 2022 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. KM Keith M. Director of Technology Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "East Allen County Schools, Indiana Skyward Qmlative Review" October 19, 2022 5.0 Excellent 2.5 years in. Good training, good support, great tool, and it does everything we need the SIS to do. Pros Skyward does a good job of meeting teachers needs, making grading and attendance easy, and simply making teachers' jobs easier. Cons Adding columns or data within a screen is easy to do (2 clicks to start), but the process of choosing the correct data you want is a rabbit hole. There is SO MUCH data in the database, that you need to know an exact pathway in order to add the correct data to a screen. Reason for choosing Skyward Student Management Suite A committee of 26 admins and teachers sat through demos, and the committee chose Skyward. The teachers on the committee unanimously chose Skyward. Review Source Response from Skyward October 27, 2022 We appreciate you taking the time to send us your comments Keith. It's great to hear that we are meeting the needs of the teachers at East Allen County Schools and we appreciate your continued partnership with us. KF Kevin F. Technology Director Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Stuck in 2003; Avoid." May 28, 2021 2.0 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. Review Source Response from Skyward June 2, 2021 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. GM Gjanden M. PARENT OF STUDENTS Human Resources Used the software for: 2+ years ### "An Awful Experience for Two Household Families" February 3, 2022 1.0 As a parent of children in a two household family, Skyward has been nothing short of a frustrating experience. The system designates the categories of Family 1 and Family 2. Being listed as Family 2 means that I get excluded from important communications, am restricted from scheduling parent teacher conferences, and at one point was told I could not check out my own child from school to go to a dentist's appointment. I have voiced these concerns multiple times in my district only to be informed that the frustrations I have voiced are voiced several times over by other parents and that Skyward has done nothing to address these complaints. It appears that NO consideration was given in the design, or implementation of two household families who share the responsibility of raising their kids. For context, my ex and I share 50/50 joint physical and legal custody which means I am equally responsible for their financial, physical, and educational wellbeing. Pros Being listed as Family 2 means I don't get much of any benefit out of Skyward other than seeing my kids' grades and progress. Cons The software is clunky, not user friendly, not family friendly, and serves only as a repository of data that is very uneasily accessed. Review Source Response from Skyward February 4, 2022 Obviously, we are disappointed about your experience with Skyward. We can't tell from this review if you are using our SMS 2.0 or Qmlativ platform. In either case we definitely have options for F2 to see and receive information, but the solutions differ. The software definitely does not make staff deny direct access to their kids. We recommend working with your children's district on this issue and visiting our Family Access Resource Toolkits on our website to help you get more from Skyward. AZ Alexis Z. Teacher Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Skyward for School" December 11, 2023 5.0 Pros I like the ease of functions Skyward offers. My current school uses a program called TAC and compared to Skyward, it's very difficult. Skyward made it very easy to find student information, input grades, and copy assignments. The attendance was also easy to input. I also like how different schools can change the layout of Skyward to suit their needs. Cons One thing I do not like about Skyward is the rostering system. Because it goes by period, if a school has A and B days, this causes Skyward to have multiple rosters for each class. This makes it difficult because it takes time to choose the correct roster for the date/period. It's not done with a glance in which I can just click on the period number. It takes much too long to decipher which roster to pick for that date/time attendance. Review Source Response from Skyward February 2, 2024 Thank your review, Alexis! We appreciate you sharing your feedback. AD Anthony D. Parent Think Tanks Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Piece of Crap" February 10, 2021 1.0 I am so glad that my child is a senior this year and I will never have to deal with this substandard software package again! Pros That I can check my childs grades when I can get into the system Cons Every other month I am being told on the app that my password expired and to use a desktop to reset my password. I go to my desktop and it tells me my password is no good to the point where I get locked out. Then I have to contact my school and have them send me a new password reset link. I never saw a software package that didn't give the users the option of selecting "Forgot Password" or "Reset Password" feature. The company says this is for security while they don't even have an option for two factor authentication. How about bringing your code out of the 1900's and creating an option where a school doesn't need 2500 parents contacting them every time they need to change the password! Review Source Response from Skyward February 12, 2021 Anthony, we can certainly understand your frustration regarding the password issues. Skyward allows a district to configure security options including several for resetting a user's password and the duration before a password expires. If you're experiencing issues with your account, we encourage you to reach out to your district. If they need assistance, they can reach out to Skyward Customer Care and Support, and we'd be glad to help. We are working on adding multi-factor authentication to an upcoming update. This will be configurable at each district. Leslie L. Graduate Medical Education Resident Coordinator Higher Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Awesome tool for teachers, students and parents" March 20, 2018 5.0 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. Pros There 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. Cons When 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. Review Source Response from Skyward March 23, 2018 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. SJ Signe J. Owner Writing and Editing Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Easy to track students' grades" May 7, 2021 5.0 Skyward makes it very easy for parents to oversee their children's attendance and grades, access their schedules, receive announcements from the school, etc. It's a wonderful portal that helps parents to monitor their kids' education and take proactive steps to stay involved. Pros Skyward makes it easy for parents to track their kids' attendance and grades. This has been especially important during the pandemic because the kids have been learning from home for more than a year. When my stepdaughter started slacking off and not logging in to her synchronous classes, we found out very quickly by tracking her attendance through Skyward. This allowed us to address the issue right away, before she missed tons of class and fell really far behind. Similarly, it is easy to see the kids' grades. I know right away if assignments are missing, if they turn in incomplete work, or if they don't do well on a project/test/homework. That way, we can work with them to improve their grades right away rather than waiting until they've fallen so far behind that they can't bring their grades up. Cons It isn't always intuitive to use. When you click on "Gradebook," you get an error message that says "Not available when viewing all students." The first time I logged in, I had a hard time figuring out how to view the kids' grades. The menu to select a specific student is hidden at the top of the screen, whereas all the other menus are on the left. It took me forever to find it. Once you figure it out, it's easy -- but the first time, I struggled when trying to access grades. Review Source Response from Skyward May 11, 2021 Thank you for your feedback on how Skyward is helping you navigate your stepdaughter's academic progress throughout the pandemic. JL Jessica L. Teacher Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Skyward is amazing for grading." July 21, 2021 5.0 I love using Skyward to manage my students grades and to print off report cards. Pros I love how easily I can input grades for all of my students in multiple courses. The attendance function is easy and I can enter attendance quickly every morning. I also love that I can pull reports for all of my students at once and print them for viewing. Cons Finding a specific report is difficult. You have to go through several different hyperlinks to get to the one you want and sometimes it's not the correct one and you have to start over. The reports are a little bit confusing but once you find the correct one it is helpful. Review Source Response from Skyward July 22, 2021 We appreciate your feedback Jessica. Our grading and attendance features are hugely popular with teachers, and we are always looking for ways to make our reporting more intuitive for all users. We'll be sure to share your comments with our product team. Whitney B. Business Office Assistant Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "AMAZING!!!!!!!" December 5, 2019 5.0 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. Pros I 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!!!!! Cons There isn't anything that I don't like about this software. It is the best thing that they have created. Review Source Response from Skyward December 9, 2019 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. WM William M. Teacher Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Skyward Review" December 11, 2020 5.0 My overall experience with Skyward has been positive. It is a great tool to enter the students's grades. It is also an easy form to communicate with mass amounts of students and their parents (group emails, etc.). Also the academic feedback it provides is very helpful. Pros I love the ease in being able to create categories and assignments with this software. Cons There are some glitches in the software. For example, in regards to attendance, it is hard for us teachers to adjust the attendance after they have been entered as absent in first period, but they show up later in third period. If they are at school during second period, but are "tardy" to third period, I can't enter their tardy to that particular period because initially they were counted as absent by their first period teacher. This can be problematic at times. The only person at our school that can adjust this would be the secretary. Although this does not happen often, it is a glitch that should be looked into. Review Source Response from Skyward December 16, 2020 Thanks for the review William. So good to see Skyward is helping to make your life easier. I'll be sure to pass along your comment regarding attendance to our product management team. Woody L. Self Computer Software Used the software for: 2+ years ### "From a parents point of view, it's extremely frustrating" March 10, 2023 2.0 Speaking strictly as a parent of a middle schooler, every time I log on to Skyward, I feel like I'm stepping back to the 1970s. The interface is completely unintuitive. The prompts confusing. The mobile app is even less forgiving than the online app, and the online app has me tied up in knots. Even the windows don't resize properly, fer heaven's sake. I honestly wonder if the product design is frozen at a pre-online point in time. Pros Nice to have everything in one place, but.... Cons ... it's very difficult to use. Unnecessarily so. Review Source Response from Skyward March 20, 2023 In reading your review, Woody, we are pretty sure your school is not using the latest version of Skyward (Qmlativ). Our newest platform was introduced a couple years ago and we are in the process of getting customers moved over as quickly as possible, however with 2500+ customers it's a large undertaking. Feedback from customers on Qmlativ has been overwhelmingly positive so far. AM Amee M. 2nd Grade Teacher Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Skyward requires Skills" May 22, 2021 4.0 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. Pros We 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. Cons Difficult 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. Review Source Response from Skyward May 26, 2021 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 VS Victoria S. Business Manager Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "for K12 Skyward is what you want" April 26, 2022 5.0 It's the best software i have ever used that does it all Pros it does everything in one location. you can't go wrong Cons payroll deals in percentages not dollars and that can be a challenge sometimes but nothing that can't be handled Review Source Response from Skyward April 28, 2022 Thanks Victoria. We love a review that gets straight to the point. Hope your school year is going great. FE Fadi E. Administrative Systems Coordinator Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Nice but need enhancements" November 22, 2022 4.0 Pros 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. Cons Not very opened to customizations, and being an international customer our requests are not heard or taken into consideration. Review Source Response from Skyward November 28, 2022 Thanks for the positive review Fadi. SN Sarah N. teacher Primary/Secondary Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Skyward-Great for Grades and Absences" July 4, 2019 4.0 Pros I like the quick score button on this software. When you click it, it opens up the grade sheet for every assignment in that class. This makes it easier to grade multiple assignments and update them easily and in a timely manner. If I didn't have this tool/button, it would take much longer for me to update grades. Cons I wish that I could see the entire title of each assignment when looking at my class for my grades. Currently, I can see the beginning of the assignment title and the total amount of points it is worth. For example, if the title of my assignment is Science World News Page 5, it may show up on the grade sheet as simply Sci W. This is to save space, but I would rather it shows the entire name. I have some assignments that have the same name, but specify parts by stating page numbers. This would make it easier for me to grade. Review Source Response from Skyward December 12, 2019 Thank you so much for sharing your comments Sarah. It's always great to hear from teachers about the ways Skyward saves time and makes your life a little easier. VR Verified Reviewer Technology Integration Specialist Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "A Decent SIS For The Money" February 17, 2019 4.0 Overall the Skyward system lets us do the things we need to do with student data. This information is very invaluable to our district so the system is used heavily. It does what it advertises. Pros The Skyward system allows our corporation to enroll and schedule students with ease. The reporting feature has been invaluable to my own job. There are so many facets to this software that you can do just about anything. Cons The user interface is somewhat outdated. They released a more web friendly version a while back but it had the same problems. In a world of student information systems though, it is on par with most other ones. Review Source DH DENA H. ACCOUNTING CLERK Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "EXCELLENT SCHOOL SOFTWARE" October 7, 2019 5.0 We have to keep detailed records on everything from students to the financial. This software does it all. It allows multiple people to see the same data and manipulate it, all while having secure separate log-ins. It keeps all the data, runs all reports and keeps logs of who has done what and when. Pros Skyward keeps all of the records and any information that you can possibly want to report, accessible at your fingertips. Cons The annual cost is a little much, not sure how it compares to other school softwares. It takes some training to use. If you know computers and how they work, it will be a snap. I did not find it very intuitive. Review Source Response from Skyward October 10, 2019 Thanks for the review Dena. We are always looking for ways to make our software more intuitive. If you haven't already done so, we encourage you to sign up for our User Research Panel so you can have more input on the future development of our products. If interested, check out the Support area of our website for more details. Thanks again! VR Verified Reviewer Student Medical Practice Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Useful and encompassing" August 1, 2022 5.0 Pros It was easy to use for kids and not too complicated for parents. Cons It was fairly basic and couldn't be continued beyond a grade school curriculum. Review Source Chad M. Teacher Education Management Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Generally good software to manage student information." February 1, 2018 5.0 Pros 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. Cons It 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. Review Source Response from Skyward February 2, 2018 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. JD Jacque D. Data Management Coordinator Primary/Secondary Education Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Long-Time User" January 16, 2017 5.0 I have used Skyward for many years, so I have seen it evolve. I will tell you this; you get what you pay for. Skyward is top-of-the-line! It will not always be the least expensive software, but it is more than worth the cost!! The software definitely helps customers work smarter not harder. With many of us wearing different hats, we need to find all of the time-saving opportunities we can; Skyward makes that happen! Skyward has many ways to get to the same information, so the ease of use is really in the end-user's hands. There is a plethora of shortcuts that Skyward has provided for the end-user, so no need to get bogged down trying to find programs/areas. Their Customer Service is top-notch. I have never had an issue that was not solved in a timely manner. They are wonderful! I could go on and on where Skyward is concerned. I not only love the software, but I like that the fact that Cliff King and the entire company has a focus on nothing but schools. They are truly concerned about the customer feedback, and they use that to make the software better (although I think it's pretty close to perfect now)! Pros The flexibility and multiple ways to achieve the end results we are looking for. Cons None! Review Source Response from Skyward January 16, 2017 Thanks so much for the kind words, Jacque, and congratulations on your well-deserved recognition as a Leader in Excellence for 2017! Similar Products Featured