Instructure Mastery vs. PowerSchool Unified Classroom

I love that MasteryConnect already has hundreds of standards built-in, like the ACT readiness and socioemotional learning standards my after-school program uses. I think MasteryConnect would be harder to implement for an educational institution using learning standards not already in MasteryConnect. Also, MasteryConnect does not function as a grade book for someone looking for that kind of solution.

Incentivized

We use PowerSchool Unified Classroom with our Teacher/Student work. Teachers can hand out assignments and have them edited and returned to the teacher in an organized folder, in which the teacher can review, grade, and send back to the student. Papers are never lost this way. Another way that PowerSchool Unified Classroom is used is to deliver assessments for district tests.

Incentivized

• Learning standards are already included in the software.
• Allows educators to track students who are near-mastery and at-mastery
• Color-coding system is easy to understand.

Incentivized

• It easily makes calculations for you to come up with a mark easily.
• It allows me to put my comments on assignments into the grade so that students get feedback quickly and easily.
• It is easy to use.

Incentivized

• I don't like that we have to make separate trackers for each sub-strand of math on the ACT.
• Sometimes it is difficult to find the assessments I am trying to score within trackers.
• I wish I had more support on how to use the data in MasteryConnect.

Incentivized

• I teach 15 different sections of classes and it is hard to view sections all at once to enter grades in
• Navigating through all of the tabs to know how to view grades is hard- whether it is Assignments view, or by students, etc.

Incentivized

On-boarding was fine and sufficient, but we haven't really heard from MasteryConnect since then. I haven't reached out to them, either, though.

Incentivized

They are very responsive to the issues that we have and follow through with their assistance. Having a live assist that is available when our teachers need it is essential too. They also seem to listen to suggestions on making improvements and have been transparent with us when renovations are done.

Incentivized

MasteryConnect is a more affordable option for our medium-sized nonprofit. MasteryConnect fits our needs without being "too much" software. Illuminate and PowerSchool are more built for large school systems while we are a standalone organization with only about 250 students.

Incentivized

PowerSchool is similar to Schoology but actually has one less component: assignment uploads. Schoology is very helpful because it also students to upload their assignments on dropbox, which syncs automatically to the grade book, which allows me to view who has submitted things on time and who hasn't. I'm able to create Rubrics in Schoology itself which also helps the grading process because it ties in directly to their overall grade after I submit their rubric scores. Powerschool is helpful because it allows for attendance and access across the board with all parties.

Incentivized

• MasteryConnect has allowed our organization to track student learning data weekly for the first time.
• We spend less than 10 minutes per week inputting student achievement data.
• We are able to more quickly decide which skills to reteach because of MasteryConnect.

Incentivized

• PowerSchool has successfully helped us create a database on our students and allow staff to quickly access student information.
• We have been able to coordinate the arrival of new students to multiple teams for student support.

Incentivized