Using Clever or ClassLink with Google Classroom
In this article:
- Can my school integrate with Clever or ClassLink and Google Classroom at the same time?
- What should my team know before using multiple integrations?
Can my school integrate with Clever or ClassLink and Google Classroom at the same time?
CommonLit offers premium rostering integrations with Clever and ClassLink. These integrations automatically import teachers, their students, and classes to CommonLit, and they allow teachers and their students to access CommonLit through Clever or ClassLink SSO.
CommonLit’s Google Classroom integration also allows teachers to import their students and classes. CommonLit’s Google Classroom integration offers a full LMS integration, which allows for assignments to be posted directly to Google Classroom’s feed and facilitates automatic grade passback from CommonLit assignments to a teacher’s Google Classroom gradebook. In order to access these additional features, teachers must log into their existing CommonLit account, connect it to their Google account, and then import their classes from Google Classroom. Google Classroom grade passback is only available for CommonLit classes that have been imported from Google Classroom.
CommonLit accounts can be connected to Clever or ClassLink and Google Classroom at the same time, so it is possible to use both integrations simultaneously. However, there are important considerations for any team using multiple integrations at the same time.
What should I know before using multiple integrations?
Using both Clever or ClassLink and Google Classroom together is technically possible on the CommonLit platform, but it can also lead to some teacher and student confusion. Below are some considerations to review before using multiple integrations at the same time.
Districts that issue multiple email addresses to teachers and/or students
CommonLit only recommends using one of our rostering integrations (Clever or ClassLink) alongside Google Classroom if teachers and students have email addresses that match between the two systems. CommonLit relies on unique email addresses to differentiate between accounts. If teachers and/or students have multiple email addresses across systems within your school or district, using Google Classroom and a rostering integration (Clever or ClassLink) can result in duplicate accounts.
If users have different emails in Clever or ClassLink than in Google Classroom, teachers and students will have a CommonLit account associated with each unique email rather than a single account connected to both integrations. This can lead to student confusion and teacher frustration. CommonLit is unable to merge teacher accounts, so any assignment data will be unable to be transferred from one account to another if multiple accounts were in use throughout the school year.
Ensuring grade passback to Google Classroom
Grade passback from CommonLit to Google Classroom is only possible with assignments in classes that have been imported from Google Classroom. Teachers will not be able to pass grades from assignments in Clever or ClassLink imported classes to their Google Classroom gradebooks.
Any classes shared with CommonLit on Clever or ClassLink will be automatically imported for teachers, but they will have to import their Google Classroom classes themselves. This can lead to teachers using the classes that were created for them automatically without realizing that they won’t be able to take advantage of grade passback. Assignment data cannot be transferred to different classes.
If teachers intend to use Google Classroom, we recommend not sharing their classes with CommonLit on Clever or ClassLink. This way, teachers will not have existing rosters that offer duplicates of the rosters they need to import from Google Classroom.
If that is not possible, we strongly recommend teachers hide their ClassLink/Clever imported classes to ensure they are creating assignments in the correct classes. More information about hiding classes can be found in the following FAQS: