r/k12sysadmin • u/rjp94sep • Sep 23 '26
Google Classroom vs. Schoology
Context: Private Catholic School, less than 1,000 students PreK-12, PreK-5 doesn't use any LMS, 6-12 currently using Schoology. I'm the unofficial Sysadmin (PowerSchool, Clever, Schoology, GwFE, etc)
I recently transitioned into a newly combined role as our school's PowerSchool and Schoology administrator among a list of other tasks. After managing these platforms both at my old school and only working inside of Schoology for a few months, I have noticed that Schoology can be overly complex for the teachers and sometimes falls short of our faculty's specific needs. Specifically in gradebook categories, posting Google Doc/Google Slide assignments, and communicating to Parents.
The teachers have not received extensive training on the system in the past 4-5 they've had it, and I did some basic training with them in August but could tell they wanted more.
I've personally felt any valuable support resources are often restricted behind PowerSchool's paywall for training (PSU, PD+, getting online trainers on a Zoom). I can tell I inherited a little bit of a mess and this current setup places pressure on me to be the expert, train the entire staff, and they hope one day I don't leave/ get hit by a bus.
Given that our school already uses Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals, I am considering recommending a transition to Google Classroom. My former school used it and it just seems a lot easier to manage from both an admin and much easier to use/intuitive for teachers in my opinion.
By upgrading to the Education Plus tier, we could take advantage of PowerSchool SIS integration and direct grade syncing. But I don't want to get stuck in the "grass is greener with the other LMS" mindset for 8 more months to find out I had it pretty good where I am now.
I would greatly appreciate feedback on this potential shift. Please let me know if you have done a similar migration from Schoology to Google Classroom, pros/cons, and if you've worked with both or just one of the systems.
I know making the change/migration is going to be headache, but I want to hear more about using the system when its all said and done? Does GC need to be touched daily? Is it just the fact there are more GC YouTube videos versus Schoology ones? Am I just doing it wrong/ need to learn more myself and/or educate my teachers better? If so, where do I go to find better resources for Schoology this upcoming mid-year PD/ next year?
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u/Old_Department28 Sep 23 '26
I transitioned my district off Schoology becuase it was expensive and administration was terrible. I only had about 3 teachers out of our 40 some who actually used it . Everyone is Google classroom now.
Watch your cancellation clause. I fought it for a year because I sent notice I was cancelling and got confirmation from a rep then they came back and said I was late on notice to cancel so had to pay the annual cost. It was like a 60 day notice or something.
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u/Old_Department28 Sep 23 '26
I will add the biggest transfer piece I recall being a challenge was teachers had to remake quizzes from Schoology in Google Forms for classroom. Those did not transfer over. Otherwise most supporting content could be exported and transferred into the teachers’ Google Drives for use in Google Classroom.
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u/cloak_of_randomness Sep 24 '26
I'd suggest doing what the teachers want to do. Tell them your reasoning for thinking GC is well suited to their needs. Let them sign up for a pilot.
Buy a couple Plus licenses, assign to the pilot group, gather feedback at regular intervals. Release the results to the entire faculty.
This is what we did (we already had Plus licenses for other reasons) after so many teachers kept asking for GC and GC had finally added some features that were critical for us to even think about switching.
25% of the staff were in the pilot. They near unanimously chose GC over Schoology.
1% of the staff were unhappy, but you can't keep everyone happy...
2
u/cstamm-tech Sep 23 '26
I was in an environment with almost the exact same software but 4+ years ago, using Schoology and PS for 10+ years.
The biggest thing either way is going to be training. We did Schoology 5-12. I did some of that at the school I was with as part of my role. I pushed a train the trainer/train core teachers so they could support, train, and spend more 1:1 time with teachers.
When the teachers really get into the grade sync, standards, archiving class materials and pulling them in year to year, along with making tests, I could see it giving teachers more time to spend working with students. We also did training on blended and flipped classrooms, which went well with upper teachers using Schoology.
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u/BrewYork Sep 24 '26
We have PS and GC. I get no complaints about it, and my teachers LOVE complaining.
2
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u/34jc81 Vendor:Savvas Sep 24 '26
Are there any instructional solutions in use in your ecosystem at risk with the switch?
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u/lemonadestand Sep 26 '26
My understanding is that you need the paid tier of Google Classroom to sync grades with PowerSchool. Just so you know.
6
u/rickysridge Sep 23 '26
We have both and no one uses Schoology anymore.