LMS for schools

The LMS small schools actually get answered by

Canvas, Schoology, and Blackboard sell to districts. Google Classroom is free but pretends grading and parent reporting exist when they don't. Classentra is built for the small independent school that wants a real LMS (live + blended, gradebook, attendance, parent reports) without the six-month enterprise sales cycle.

Talk to salesSee pricing

K-12 pricing + parent/COPPA/FERPA notice

K-12 institutional pricing starts from $2,399/yr. Talk to us. Parent-observer accounts, COPPA mode, FERPA DPA, and Clever/ClassLink rostering are organization-plan conversations. Talk to us before rolling out below 13s or to a public district.

What small schools deal with

Built for districts; sold to nobody else

Most institutional LMS tools were designed for K-12 districts of thousands. The pricing, the onboarding, the integration list all assume a CIO, a procurement office, and a multi-year contract. A 120-student private school, a Montessori network, or an after-school academy doesn't fit. Sales asks 'how many districts?' and the call ends.

Google Classroom plugs that gap on paper. In practice it's an assignment dropbox glued to Drive. There's no real gradebook, no attendance trend, no parent-observer view, no certificate at year-end. Teachers stitch sheets, forms, and Calendly together and the head of school finds out something is broken when a parent emails.

Classentra fits the small-school operating shape. One workspace for live + blended classes, a real gradebook, auto-attendance from sessions, parent-readable reports, and a roster you can actually export. Sales picks up. Setup is in days, not quarters.

What you get

Six capabilities small schools actually need

Every feature below ships today. Parent-observer accounts, COPPA mode, FERPA DPA, and Clever/ClassLink rostering are organization-plan conversations. Talk to us before rolling out to under-13s or a public district.

Live + blended classes

Run the live half of the schedule on your own Zoom, Meet, or Teams. Classentra generates the meeting link per session; self-paced modules + assignments + reading for the rest. Attendance auto-captures per session. Native in-app sessions with auto-saved recording are coming soon.

Real gradebook

Rubrics, weighted categories, manual overrides, mastery view per standard. Term reports export to PDF or CSV. Half the grading time on written subjects with AI-drafted feedback you review and send.

Parent-readable reports

Generate a clean per-term progress + attendance + behavior summary per student. Share via signed link (no parent account needed) or send as PDF. Parent-observer login + read-only portal is an organization-plan conversation. Talk to us.

Course library + materials

Course-level reading lists, lesson plans, slide decks, and external links. Drip-schedule by week or unlock manually. Search across every course you teach without hunting through a shared Drive.

Certificates with public verification

Issue branded year-end or course-completion certificates with a public verification URL per student. Parents share the link with the next school or a tutoring program. No PDF authenticity questions.

Roster + per-class messaging

Each class has a dedicated channel separate from your personal inbox. Announcements hit dashboard + email + in-app. Bulk-invite students by CSV at the start of term; revoke seats in two clicks if a family leaves.

How we compare

Classentra vs Canvas, Google Classroom, Schoology

  • Sells to schools under 200 students

    Classentra
    ✅
    Canvas
    ❌
    Google Classroom
    N/A (free)
    Schoology
    ❌

  • Public pricing

    Classentra
    ✅
    Canvas
    ❌ (sales-gated)
    Google Classroom
    Free
    Schoology
    ❌

  • Setup in days, not quarters

    Classentra
    ✅
    Canvas
    ❌
    Google Classroom
    ✅
    Schoology
    ❌

  • Live video

    Classentra
    ✅ (add-on; Zoom/Meet on every plan)
    Canvas
    ❌ (Zoom embed)
    Google Classroom
    Meet handoff
    Schoology
    ❌

  • Real gradebook

    Classentra
    ✅
    Canvas
    ✅
    Google Classroom
    ⚠️ basic
    Schoology
    ✅

  • Auto-attendance from sessions

    Classentra
    ✅
    Canvas
    ⚠️
    Google Classroom
    ❌
    Schoology
    ⚠️

  • Parent-readable per-term reports

    Classentra
    ✅
    Canvas
    ✅
    Google Classroom
    ❌
    Schoology
    ✅

  • Certificate w/ public verify

    Classentra
    ✅
    Canvas
    ⚠️
    Google Classroom
    ❌
    Schoology
    ⚠️
FAQ

Common questions from small schools

Do you have parent-observer accounts and a parent portal?
Parent-readable per-term progress + attendance reports ship today. Generate a signed link per student and send by email; no parent account required. Dedicated parent-observer logins and a persistent parent portal are an organization-plan conversation (talk to us). For most independent schools the signed-link flow is what families actually use.
Are you COPPA / FERPA compliant for under-13 students?
Classentra runs under our standard DPA (PIPEDA-aligned, GDPR-aligned). A FERPA DPA and COPPA mode (no marketing emails to minors, parent-consent gating on signup, age-gated AI features) are organization-plan conversations. Talk to us. For schools enrolling under-13s, please request the K-12 packet before signup so we can stand up the right configuration.
Can we roster students from Clever or ClassLink?
Clever and ClassLink rostering is an organization-plan conversation. Talk to us; bulk CSV invite ships today. For most schools under 200 students, the CSV invite + per-term refresh flow is faster than an integration. We pull Clever/ClassLink in when the operational shape warrants it.
How is this different from Canvas or Schoology?
Canvas and Schoology are designed for districts. Public pricing is gated behind a sales call, setup runs a quarter, and the contract assumes a CIO. Classentra is designed for the small independent school: public pricing, setup in days, live + blended, and a real gradebook without a six-month rollout. If you are buying for thousands of students across multiple campuses, Canvas may still be the right call.
How is this different from Google Classroom?
Google Classroom is an assignment dropbox glued to Drive. It is excellent for a single teacher who already lives in Google Workspace. It is not an LMS. There is no real gradebook, no attendance trend, no parent-readable report, no certificate. If your school needs the LMS workflow without the district price tag, Classentra fits where Google Classroom stops.
Can we run this for a microschool or homeschool co-op?
Microschools and learning pods fit well. The Educator and Studio plans cover most micro-schools, with no student caps, and organizations start from $2,399/yr. Homeschool families running a co-op also work. We don't currently sell directly to individual homeschool parents (that's a future sister-product); for a co-op or micro-school selling enrollment to families, talk to sales.

Run your school on an LMS that picks up the phone

Organization plans start from $2,399/yr. Talk to us. Set up in days. Talk to sales for COPPA / FERPA / parent-portal configuration.

Talk to sales

Free to start · No credit card required · Your data exports in CSV.

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