TABLE OF CONTENTS

What does the Gradelink to Clever Sync do?



Sync 500+  apps with Gradelink using the Clever Secure FTP (SFTP). Sync with apps like Kiddom, ParentSquare, McGraw Hill and more. Rosters from Gradelink are pushed to Clever, on a nightly basis, which are then pushed to the apps you use most. Say goodbye to manually syncing rosters using spreadsheets. 


Clever Rostering is provided. Clever provides Rostering, Single Sign-On and Analytics. Gradelink and Clever are partnered around the Rostering service only. This means you can sync rosters from Gradelink to Clever and from Clever to apps found in the Clever app-gallery. 



Apps that Sync with Gradelink using Clever

You can sync Rosters from Gradelink to Clever and from Clever to apps found in the Clever app-gallery. 



PRICING

Gradelink charges $1/student/year (min. $199/year) to use the API that connects Gradelink with Clever Rostering. Contact your Gradelink rep. or email billing@gradelink.com to get started. 



How to sync Gradelink and Clever

CLEVER SUPPORT

Clever's general onboarding guide.

Contact Clever at support.clever.com.



IF YOU HAVE AN EXISTING CLEVER ACCOUNT:

First contact Clever or else the sync will create problems with your data. If you have a existing Clever account and want to change anything with your SIS connection, please contact Clever at support.clever.com. Clever does not allow a school/district to remove an SIS sync via the user interface to prevent someone from accidentally deleting all their student and teacher accounts by chains the ID fields. Instead, Clever requires the school/district reach out to Clever to work through the process of switching SIS connections. This article talks about the process: Secure Sync: Changing Student Information Systems. 



IF YOU DON'T HAVE A CLEVER ACCOUNT 

  1. Sign up for Clever at https://go.clever.com/districtsignup.  Both individual schools and districts whether private/public can sign up using the link. Clever typically provides access within 24 hours if you have provided a school email (not a personal email). 
  2. Login
  3. Click Select SIS
  4. Select Gradelink SIS from the dropdown
     


  5. Check the box to accept the terms of service
  6. Click Continue
  7. On the next screen, are the SFTP settings. Please forward these settings your support rep at Gradelink who will enter them into Gradelink. Once entered into Gradelink, the sync portion of the setup is complete and your Clever and Gradelink accounts will begin syncing within 24 hours.


            8. Lastly, Gradelink staff will move your credentials correctly into Gradelink. 
                a. sftp.clever.com = SFTP Server address. Even though Clever's UI shows sftp:credentials-sftp.clever.com.
                b. /home/[username]/oneroster11/  = Directory. In General, the directory will follow the pattern: 

                "/home/[username]/oneroster11/" where [username] is replaced by the actual username field.





Data Errors and Warnings in Clever after you Sync


These are actually data errors for specific apps. Each app has its own requirements. This article explains the issues and how to correct them: For District Admins: Apps - Data Warnings and Errors. 


If you use pure SSO (Single Sign-On) apps, you may see SSO errors. For these apps Clever provides a login via Oauth Token exchange, so once you are logged into Clever you can access these other apps with no need for usernames or passwords. See a more detailed explanation here: Single Sign-On (SSO): What is SSO?

Some apps use Clever's Saved Passwords technology which actually does use usernames and passwords to power the app logins. You can set these usernames and passwords in Clever in a variety of ways covered in this article: SSO (Saved Passwords) Apps: Managing Credentials on a per app basis.


The answers can get pretty nuanced pretty quickly so be sure to reach out to Clever's support team at support.clever.com. 


Usernames and Passwords

Usernames from Gradelink are sent to Clever. Passwords are not. Gradelink supports Google SSO (Single Sign-on). You are able to set The passwords your students and teachers use to log into Clever. The passwords will not be overwritten by the nightly sync. Once the passwords are set once, they have to be manually changed from that point forward. So there's no concern that your passwords will be gone after a new sync. See this section of the Help Center for more details. Within Clever, there are numerous ways to set passwords including a default password for all users, app specific passwords, SSO and, SMAL. Contact Clever support for help with  


How periods Sync

Gradelink supports Basic, Weekly and Bi-weekly schedules. Each have the option of having a period but they sync a little differently.

Simple Schedule
This is when the class meets M-F at the same time and same location
Result: The period syncs. 

Weekly and Bi-weekly schedule
This is when the class could meet at different times/locations in the week. Like MWF classes.
Result: The earliest period syncs. The other periods do not.  For instance, if you have a MWF class such as Mon 9am, Wed 10am, Fri 11am: The period would be 9am because 9am is the earliest of the three periods. 


The relevant OneRoster fields are:

One Roster 1.1 Field NameClever FieldOne Roster 1.1 File
titleCourse_namecourses.csv
courseCodeCourse_numbercourses.csv
periodsPeriodclasses.csv
subjectsSubjectclasses.csv


Students That Don't Appear In Clever

If you have recently added students to Gradelink and they don't appear in Clever, check the Sync Hold Approval" in Clever.  After Clever receives your new data, if there are large percentage changes, Clever will put your sync "on hold". This is to give you a chance to check these changes before approval. You can approve the hold by clicking Approve Changes on the Sync Settings page. Your sync will process through in about 10 minutes after being approved. Learn more about sync holds here: For District Admins: Sync Holds.  Clever strongly recommends making sure that your email preferences are updated so that you receive email notifications about important account events like sync holds.



Data is sync'd using the OneRoster data format. OneRoster is a description of fields shared tech companies for the purchase of being able to exchange student data. Download a sample below.



How Gradelink Sync with Other Apps via Clever

You can sync rosters from Gradelink to over 500+ apps available in the Clever App gallery.  This is a roster sync not a grade sync. The sync is available via the clever.com network and there are two options for making it work. 

 

  • Sync via spreadsheet. You can download a spreadsheet of your roster from Gradelink and upload to Clever.com. This will sync your rosters with the apps of your choice as often as you upload the roster. There is no cost for this. To begin visit clever.com to create an account.
  • Sync rosters automatically on a nightly basis. With this option, rosters from Gradelink will be sent to Clever on a nightly basis automatically. The rosters from Clever will populate the apps on Clever you choose to sync with. There is a minimal cost for this for the automation. Please see gradelink.com/pricing for details. If you want to use this option, please visit clever.com to create an account and let your support rep. know so they can send you an invoice  let me know so we can send you an invoice for the automation. 
  • It is okay if two terms in Gradelink are currently active. All the data from the active terms will be sent to Clever and Clever will accept the data. 


If I sync with Clever, can I have two terms open at the same time?

As of Nov 2024, we have confirmed with Clever that having multiple terms in Gradelink does not prevent or hinder the sync with Clever. However, other apps that Clever connects with may not be able to sync with multiple active terms so be sure to contact your Clever support to confirm. can be active at the same time.