Instructure and Pearson Join Forces to Integrate Learning Management with Student Information System

SALT LAKE CITY, March 10, 2015 — Instructure, the creator of the Canvas learning management system (LMS) for K-12, today announced at SXSWedu that it has partnered with Pearson to integrate the Canvas LMS with PowerSchool, the largest student information system in the U.S. The independent software vendor (ISV) partnership agreement will enable two-way integration between the PowerSchool student information system and the Canvas LMS, allowing teachers to eliminate time-wasting duplicate data entry between the two systems.

PowerSchool, the most widely used Web-based student information system, supports more than 13 million students globally. PowerSchool enables today’s educators to make timely decisions that impact student performance while creating a collaborative environment for parents, teachers and students to work together in preparing 21st century learners for the future.

“This bi-directional integration with PowerSchool has been the most common feature request from Canvas K-12 customers,” said Mitch Benson, vice president of K-12 for Instructure. “We already have more than 30 school districts who’ve been working with us and successfully implemented the integration. By providing a more seamless Canvas experience for PowerSchool users, we’re giving educators the flexibility to choose the best tools for teaching, assessing and grading.”

More than 30 percent of U.S. school districts use PowerSchool, including more than 80 current Canvas customers. Starting immediately, any K-12 institution that uses the two systems can enable the passback feature, which allows teachers to automatically transfer assignments and grade data from Canvas directly into the SIS. Institutions can enable this feature through an implementation consultant. Following the implementation, teachers can simply click the “Post to SIS” button in their Canvas grades page.

The two-way integration between the systems also allows for schools to easily provision a Canvas account using the information they already have stored in PowerSchool. This new feature eliminates the usual struggle educators have when trying to make student information systems and learning management systems work together. Now any K-12 institution can get Canvas accounts and courses up and running instantly using their PowerSchool data.

VP of Product and Marketing for Pearson School Systems group, Oliver Wreford, stated, “Through our partnership with Instructure and our collaborative efforts to integrate PowerSchool with Canvas, we will enable teachers to more easily manage the instructional process, allowing them to spend more time working directly with their students.”

For more information about Instructure, visit instructure.com.

For more information on Pearson’s ISV program, visit www.pearsonschoolsystems.com/partners/current.

About Instructure

Instructure, Inc. developed the Canvas learning management system to make teaching and learning easier for everyone, everywhere. Canvas empowers learning in every context with open, usable SaaS technologies. And through Canvas Network, Instructure provides a cloud platform where teachers, learners and institutions worldwide can connect and chart their own course for personal growth, professional development and academic inquiry. Learn more at www.instructure.com.

About SXSWedu

The SXSWedu Conference & Festival fosters innovation in learning by hosting a diverse and energetic community of stakeholders across a variety of backgrounds in education. The four-day event affords registrants open access to engaging sessions, interactive workshops, hands on learning experiences, film screenings, early stage startups and a host of networking opportunities. By providing a platform for collaboration, SXSWedu works to promote creativity and social change. SXSWedu is a component of the South by Southwest family of conference and festivals that includes SXSW Music, Film and Interactive; SXSW Eco and SXSW V2V. Internationally recognized as the convergence gathering for the creative arts, SXSWedu extends SXSW’s support for the art of engagement beyond musicians, filmmakers and new media innovators to include society’s true rock stars: educators.

Join the passionate and innovative community at SXSWedu, March 9-12, 2015 in Austin, Texas. For more information, please visit: http://sxswedu.com.