Get started with Student Information System (SIS) roster import

This article is for administrators and teachers.

You can import class rosters from your student information system (SIS) into Google Classroom. Classes are automatically created in Google Classroom based on your SIS data.

You can also let teachers import SIS rosters and export grades to eligible SIS by connecting Classroom to your SIS.

Eligibility

You can access the SIS roster import through:

Clever: Available to K-12 districts in the US that have a Google Workspace for Education Plus or G Suite Enterprise for Education subscription. Learn how to set up SIS roster import through Clever.

Requirements:

To complete a SIS roster import into Google Classroom:

All students and teachers in a district must have Google Workspace for Education Plus or G Suite Enterprise for Education licenses.
- If your district only covers staff licenses, you must purchase licenses for your students as well.
Admins must use Google email addresses for teachers and students. SIS roster import matches users based on Google email addresses. To import your roster into Google Classroom, you must sync students and teacher email addresses to your SIS roster import provider.

FAQs

How does SIS roster sync work?

The SIS roster sync feature:

Creates Google Classroom classes.
Manages teacher and student associations in classes based on their section assignments from the SIS.
Adds co-teachers to classes.
Updates primary teacher information

In addition:

Teachers can accept or decline the SIS-synced classes.
Teachers can change the name of the class without an impact on the sync.
The sync won’t override changes a teacher makes manually.

Important: The app doesn’t:

Modify or delete current classes in Google Classroom
Provision Google Accounts for students or teachers

If teachers already created classes in Google Classroom, can they continue to use them?

Yes. When rosters are imported, manually-created classes in Classroom aren't modified. Teachers can accept or decline any SIS-imported classes.

What are classes created in Google Classroom called?

Classes created by roster import are determined by the "Section Name" field in the SIS. This field is usually a combination of class name, teacher, and period.

If teachers update their class names, the rosters remain synced.

How do you match students and teachers between Google Classroom and the SIS?

Admins must use Google email addresses for teachers and students. SIS roster import matches users based on their Google email addresses.

What happens when teachers modify SIS-synced class rosters in Google Classroom?

In Google Classroom, teachers can manually add or remove students and co-teachers from SIS-synced class rosters. The manual changes remain in Google Classroom, but won't be written back to the SIS.

If a student transfers from one class to another, is their work lost?

No. Student work remains in the class folder in Google Drive.

Student grades are recovered when the student is added back to the class.

How are students and teachers matched in Classroom with SIS provider?

Google Classroom rostering matches users between the SIS roster provider, Clever, and Google-based accounts on Google emails.

The application requires all Classroom users to fill in the email fields in the SIS roster with their Google email addresses.