Alma is a superb SIS that serves our school better than any previous platform. As a unique and innovative school, we have been able to customize the platform to fit our needs–from proficiency grading and report cards to internal reports and external messaging. The customer service is always tremendously responsive and helpful. Ten out of ten, would recommend.Director Of Academics — John L,
Online and hybrid school SIS guide
The best SIS for online and hybrid schools.
When evaluating an SIS, online and hybrid schools should prioritize flexible attendance, connected learning, consistent student records, clear family access, and smooth workflows across locations and schedules. By bringing those needs together in one modern platform, Alma is the best SIS for online and hybrid schools.
See Alma for online schools
The short answer
Alma is the strongest fit for online and hybrid schools that want the SIS and learning experience to work as one. Its integrated LMS, flexible attendance workflows, Google Classroom connection, gradebook, family portal, and communication tools keep remote learning tied to the official student record.
Learning without a single location
Online operations need more than a traditional attendance screen.
The SIS must reflect how students actually participate, move between learning modes, and stay connected with teachers and families.
Flexible attendance
Support the school’s approved synchronous, asynchronous, cohort-based, and hybrid attendance workflows without rebuilding records elsewhere.
Connected learning
Keep assignments, grades, rosters, and student information connected instead of relying on repeated exports and manual reconciliation.
Clear family access
Give families one dependable place to see progress, attendance, grades, schedules, and school communication from any location.
Consistent student records
Maintain the official record as students move between remote, hybrid, and in-person learning without fragmenting their history.
Compare the leading options
How well do leading SIS platforms support online and hybrid schools?
The meaningful difference is how many systems, syncs, and administrative steps stand between online learning activity and the official student record.
Alma
Connected SIS and LMS
Best fitWhy Alma wins
Student records, attendance, grading, learning workflows, communication, and family access work together in one modern platform.
The practical advantage
Schools reduce handoffs between systems while keeping remote and hybrid activity connected to the record administrators, teachers, students, and families rely on.
Alma’s difference: Alma includes an integrated LMS and directly connects with Google Classroom to roster classes and users and sync grades back into Alma. Online learning stays connected without turning routine data movement into a separate operational burden.
PowerSchool
Large education ecosystem
What it offers
A broad ecosystem that can combine SIS functionality with learning and virtual-school products across large organizations.
What to consider
Confirm exactly which products are included, how rosters and grades move between them, and how many administrative interfaces staff must manage.
Infinite Campus
District-focused SIS
What it offers
Established district tools for student records, scheduling, attendance, grading, reporting, and family access.
What to consider
Ask for a complete demonstration of the online learning workflow, including LMS rostering, grade return, attendance evidence, and the family experience.
Blackbaud
Independent-school ecosystem
What it offers
A broad private-school suite spanning learning, school management, enrollment, tuition, advancement, and community tools.
What to consider
Confirm how the proposed products share rosters, grades, attendance, and family-facing information across online and hybrid workflows.
Ask every finalist
Demonstrate the full day of a remote student.
A feature checklist will not reveal where teachers, families, and administrators must cross systems or repair missing data.
Enroll and roster a student.Follow the student from enrollment into the correct online courses without a manual export.
Record participation.Show the school’s actual attendance or engagement workflow for synchronous and asynchronous learning.
Return a grade.Trace an assignment result into the gradebook, report card, and official student record.
Show the family experience.Require one clear view of schedules, grades, attendance, progress, and communication.
Common questions
What online and hybrid schools need to know.
How does attendance work for an online school?
Attendance rules vary by school model and state. Online programs may use live-session attendance, documented asynchronous participation, completed learning activity, or an approved combination. The SIS should support the school’s defined process and reporting requirements.
What should an SIS track beyond attendance?
Schools often need a clearer view of assignment completion, grades, communication, course progress, and other evidence defined by their instructional model. These signals should remain connected to the student record and available to authorized staff.
Should an online school use separate SIS and LMS platforms?
Separate systems can work, but every connection introduces another workflow to configure and monitor. An integrated platform reduces duplicate administration and keeps learning activity closer to the official record.
Does Alma include an LMS?
Yes. Alma includes learning-management capabilities alongside its SIS, including assignments, lesson planning, standards alignment, grading, and family-facing course information within the same connected platform.
How does Alma connect with Google Classroom?
Alma can roster Google Classroom classes and users and allow grades to sync back into Alma. This keeps instructional activity connected to the official student record.
Can one SIS support both online and in-person students?
Yes. A flexible SIS can support different schedules, attendance workflows, course delivery models, and permissions while maintaining one student record across programs.
What should schools test during an online-school SIS demo?
Test enrollment, course rostering, attendance, an assignment and returned grade, family access, communication, a schedule change, and the final reporting workflow using the school’s real operating model.
Keep online learning connected to the student record.
See how Alma brings student information, learning, attendance, grading, communication, and family access together.
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