TOP PICKS | 23 TOOLS

Classroom-Management Apps and Websites

Keeping your students' attention, guiding them through lessons, and making sure the classroom environment is respectful, supportive, and productive takes constant effort and sucks a lot of time and energy out of your day. These great classroom-management tools can be your time-saving and energy-freeing sidekicks, helping you instantly deliver and assess learning, create seating charts, improve students' behavior, and set timed tasks to make your classroom run like a well-oiled machine.

Once you've found a few great classroom-management tools, head over to our Teaching Strategies page dedicated to helping you Set Up Your Digital Classroom for Success.

Top Picks

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Class Charts

Seating chart system makes managing classroom behavior simple

Bottom line: It's an easy-to-use, engaging tool for managing and tracking student behavior and participation, but does employ carrot-and-stick-style rewards.

Grades: K–6 Price: Free to try, Paid Pricing is highly variable and depends on volume. For example: 1-100 students is $300 per year, 200 students is $200 per year, $300 students is $900 per year.

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ClassDojo

Handy management and portfolio tool can promote student growth

Bottom line: With thoughtful implementation, it can help teachers and parents support students' growth through goal-setting, feedback, and celebration.

Grades: K–6 Price: Free

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Bloomz

Full-featured parent-teacher communication platform

Bottom line: One-stop multi-tool for parents, teachers, and students.

Grades: K–6 Price: Free

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Classkick

Easy-to-use, real-time monitoring, feedback, and assessment for 1-to-1

Bottom line: It's a great option for teachers who want to go paperless, provide specific feedback, and encourage collaboration among students in 1-to-1 classrooms.

Grades: K–12 Price: Free, Free to try, Paid The free version offers unlimited assignments and feedback options. After a free trial, the Pro version is $9.99 per month; users can access grade automation, chatting options, extra editing tools, and more. A school plan is also available via quote.

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ClassMax

Affordable classroom management system tracks student data

Bottom line: If teachers invest some time in setting up the system, they can save time, paper, and hassles.

Grades: K–12 Price: Free to try, Paid After a free trial, single teacher accounts are $5 per month or $25 per year. Annual school accounts are $15 per teacher and $3,000 for storage and maintenance fees (up to 99 teachers), and $12 per teacher with $5,000 in fees (for 100 teachers and over).

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Equity Maps - Chart Dialogue

See who's doing the talking with real-time participation tracker

Bottom line: Used consistently, Equity Maps can be an eye-opening tool for supporting targeted, equitable speaking and listening instruction.

Grades: K–12 Price: Paid Standard version costs $2.99 and lets teachers map up to 20 participants at one time. Premium version costs $6.99 (in-app purchase) and allows for 40 participants and the Checknotes feature to track what group members share.

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Nearpod

Interactive slideshow tool engages students, promotes collaboration

Bottom line: This effective tool leverages the capabilities of 1-to-1 environments and offers both teacher- and student-paced learning.

Grades: K–12 Price: Free, Paid The Silver edition is free for up to 30 students, the Gold edition is $120 per teacher per year for up to 50 students, and the Platinum edition is $349 per year for up to 75 students. In-app purchases are available for additional content, and schools and districts can receive volume discounts.

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Otus

Free LMS feels rich in offering data-driven differentiated instruction

Bottom line: This teacher-created site solves more problems than it causes, but it will take some up-front professional development to take full advantage.

Grades: K–12 Price: Free, Paid Otus is free for teachers and students and includes data management and progress monitoring features. The district plan ranges from $3 to $12 per student up to a certain number and then decreases with increased enrollment.

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Seesaw: The Learning Journal

Versatile digital portfolio appeals to teachers, students, and parents

Bottom line: A powerful multimedia learning and communication tool that demonstrates student progress over time.

Grades: K–12 Price: Free, Paid Seesaw Plus is $120 per year, and gives teachers more privacy options and other features. Seesaw for Schools, which includes school-wide reporting, is priced per student.

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Stick Pick

Differentiate, engage with assessment app aimed at higher-order skills

Bottom line: Useful reinvention of a classic means of encouraging student attention with the added bonus of support for higher-order thinking and response tracking.

Grades: K–12 Price: $2.99-3.99

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Time Timer

Easily conceptualize, manage, and visualize time

Bottom line: Goes above and beyond standard timers to include handy customization and visual cues.

Grades: 1–12 Price: $2.99-$4.99 The mobile app is $2.99 and the iPad app is $4.99.

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Handouts

Targeted tool helps teachers manage worksheets digitally

Bottom line: A useful tool for teachers, especially elementary teachers, looking to make worksheet workflow digital, but those looking for more comprehensive paperless solutions will need to look elsewhere.

Grades: 2–6 Price: Free, Paid Free version supports one class and 10 assignments per month with limited feature set. Pro version is $7.99 per month and supports unlimited classes and assignments and adds full and robust feature set.

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Google Classroom

Simplify communication, collaboration, and document sharing

Bottom line: Google Classroom is a great way to manage and organize learning, though teachers who need more features may need to look elsewhere.

Grades: 2–12 Price: Free

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ClassroomQ

Minimize classroom distractions with virtual hand-raising tool

Bottom line: An easy way to gauge understanding, adjust instruction, and provide student support in real time.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free, Free to try, Paid Basic version is free and allows up to five students in the queue at a time. Pro version is $19.99 per year for an unlimited number of students in the queue and lets teachers collect student data. Pricing for the School version is available by contacting the developer.

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Spiral

Provide instant feedback with collaborative, multimedia assessment tool

Bottom line: Engaging, easy-to-use tool that supports both formative and summative assessment while allowing for student collaboration.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free, Paid Spiral Teacher is free and covers up to five classrooms. The Pro Teacher subscription is $39 per teacher per year and offers unlimited classrooms, student accounts for home use, and progress reports. The Pro School subscription is estimated at $3 per student and offers Pro Teacher features plus additional ones, including full integration with the school's LMS.

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FreshGrade

A fresh way to capture, document, and share student learning

Bottom line: Multimedia documentation tools help communicate learning and expand assessment, and the addition of a gradebook sets this tool apart; still, student experience could use some polish.

Grades: 3–9 Price: Free Free for teachers, district pricing is available.

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LessonUp

Flexible interactive presentation tool engages kids at school and home

Bottom line: LessonUp is for teachers who like designing unique lessons to reach every learner.

Grades: 3–12 Price: Free, Free to try, Paid Free basic subscription and a free 30-day trial of the teacher license; contact for the annual subscription cost.

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Classcraft

Track behavior, motivate students with clever, cooperative game

Bottom line: Classcraft is a fantastic game for encouraging positive behavior while students build knowledge and develop communication and collaboration skills.

Grades: 4–12 Price: Free, Paid The free version allows for unlimited students and classes with the base game experience. The paid version is $8 per month (billed annually) and adds LMS features, customizable avatars, and more. There's a discount of $6 per month if three teachers sign up together.

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ClassFlow

Robust lesson-creation, presentation tool offers built-in assessment

Bottom line: This powerful tool supports connected and blended learning from instruction to assessment, though it's best used to enhance already great instruction.

Grades: 4–12 Price: Free

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Schoology

Top-tier LMS for digital classrooms

Bottom line: To make the most of Schoology, you'll need some ramp-up time and great tasks and assessments, but it can offer rich learning and collaboration experiences.

Grades: 5–12 Price: Free The Basic version is free to instructors. There's a paid Enterprise version that adds administration features attractive to districts. Call for pricing.

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Showbie

Flexible desktop, mobile assignment tool works best with pro features

Bottom line: A flexible way to collect student assignments and offer written and verbal feedback, especially with the premium features.

Grades: 5–12 Price: Free to try The free Basic version has limits of 25MB per file, 10 assignments (which expire after one year), 1-minute voice note length, and 1-minute video clip length. The paid Pro version has a 500MB per file limit, unlimited assignments with no expiration, 30-minute voice note length, and 10-minute video clip length. It also adds a student portfolio, gradebook, class discussion, and parent support, among other special features.

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Peergrade

Feedback tool with great rubrics might work best for older students

Bottom line: With appropriate teacher support, this could be a powerful way to help teach your students about giving and receiving critical feedback.

Grades: 6–12 Price: Free, Paid Peergrade is free for students to use, and institutions can purchase a subscription with more custom integrations and personal support.

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