Does Little SIS Premium work with my SIS?
So far, we've not come across any SIS that can't work with Little SIS Premium. We designed the app to be easy to set up and very flexible in its requirements.
As long as the following is true, you can set up Little SIS to run fully-automated roster syncs:
- Your SIS offers a way for you to build or request CSV exports that contain student class enrollments. Learn more about Little SIS Premium setup and data requirements.
Does Little SIS Premium impact Classroom classes used for PD, clubs, or other special purposes that are not a part of our SIS?
No. Little SIS Premium will only impact classes which are part of sync jobs you create from SIS data.
Does Little SIS Premium update Classroom classes that teachers have already created?
Yes, but optional. During sync analysis and staging, you can identify and link to pre-existing teacher classes or allow teachers to approve their classes with Teacher Review. When you link a pre-existing teacher class, the teacher receives a notification. The notification lets teachers know they will see automated Classroom roster updates in all future syncs. Alternatively, you can exclude pre-existing classes from syncs. You can also provision a new class instead of linking to an existing one. In general, it's a best practice to allow teachers to approve, link, or merge their classes using Teacher Review.
We don't want teachers to know which students are in their classes until we finalize the master schedule. Can I create classes for teachers without populating the students?
Yes, Little SIS Premium can create classes without adding or updating student enrollments.
- From Roster Sync Jobs, find your job card.
- Click the ellipsis menu and edit the job.
- Navigate to Update Preferences then the Roster Updates tab.
- Uncheck the boxes on this page:
- Add any newly-SIS-enrolled students to classes
- Remove non-SIS-enrolled students from classes
When you are ready to update student enrollment in Classroom, come back and select these options.
Typically teachers add additional teachers as co-teachers. There are times our teachers manually add resource teachers, paraprofessionals, or independent-study students to their Classroom classes as unofficially enrolled students. Will Little SIS Premium remove these manually added teachers during sync?
Little SIS Premium works off of the roster data in your SIS. Because of this, you must take additional steps to prevent the removal of unofficial, teacher-enrolled, or paraprofessionals. You need to add the person's email address to the Roster Exceptions list. Once identified as an exception, a person is not identified for removal during sync. If staff and students are on different domains or subdomains, you can add a wildcard exception. Example: (*@domainname.org)
What happens if we change our primary domain after we set up Little SIS Premium?
As far as we know, a primary domain name does not affect Classroom classes.
Does Little SIS Premium update automatically when a new version is released?
Yes, because it is a web app, when an update is available, Little SIS Premium automatically updates. When launched, Little SIS Premium lets users know there is an update. Little SIS Premium admins also receive an email when there is a new update.
Are teachers able to change the name of their Classroom classes if we use Little SIS Premium?
Yes, teachers can change the name of their Classroom classes within Classroom. You may opt to ignore or override these changes within the Job Update preferences screen.
Currently, Little SIS Premium does not support class-specific roster exceptions. Roster Exceptions are global. They apply across all classes in all sync jobs.
Can Little SIS Premium add co-teachers to Classroom classes?
It depends on the scenario. Little SIS Premium does not add SIS-listed co-teachers to Classroom classes. These are co-teachers added by a teacher within Classroom. But if the SIS primary teacher changes, Little SIS retains them as a co-teacher. Added co-teachers are different than teachers who move to a co-teacher position during a teacher change. Let's take a closer look at what happens during a teacher change.
When a primary teacher changes in an active Little SIS Premium Classroom, the original owner is retained as a co-teacher. Ownership of the Classroom and all related resources transfer to the new teacher. The new teacher can then remove the original teacher in the Classroom settings.
Leaving all checkboxes unchecked lets your teacher's class name changes persist. Changes persist even when classes sync automatically with Little SIS Premium.
Does Little SIS Premium automatically add teachers to the Classroom Teachers Group on my Google Workspace domain?
Not yet, but it's on our roadmap. Teachers are not added to the Classroom Teachers group on your domain when Little SIS Premium creates their classes. The class is still created and updated with Little SIS syncing. Teachers then need to be manually added to the Classroom Teachers group. Once added, teachers can turn on parent notifications.
Can I search for or bulk archive classes based on the class term?
Yes. You can use the Class Alias filter in the Classroom Explorer to select classes based on the term. For the filter to work, you must use Term ID as a part of the Class Alias during job creation.
What happens to student's work and grades when they change classes?
The way Google Classroom handles student roster changes ensures that the student's work in Drive is not lost. But the work may need to be shared with the new teacher.
The grades in Classroom are also not lost. Grades are only accessible if the student is re-added to the class at a later date. Grades are not available to the new teacher when a student changes classes.
Is there a way to merge classes that have been created?
You can't merge the classes after they have been created, unfortunately. If teachers want to merge classes, it's best to use Teacher Review when you run your sync jobs.
What if I do not want to use Teacher Review because I want teachers to use classes I provision?
Teacher Review is on by default. However, it can be adjusted for any sync job. When adding or editing a roster sync job, you can turn off Teacher Review in (step 5) Update Preferences. Go to the Teacher Review / Class Links tab and choose either Provision Classes or Analyze Class Links instead of Teacher Review.
Is there a free trial for Little SIS Premium?
No. You can do a free trial of Little SIS for Classroom, but there is not a free trial for the Sync and Teacher Review features within Little SIS Premium.
Little SIS is not creating classes as expected
See this article for full troubleshooting steps.
| Document Version | Date | Description of Change |
| 1.0 | 3/13/2024 | Removed blank line |