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Records, roles & compliance

Role-based access control, an audit trail of every record view, and student records that survive even the school.
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Activity log
Every record view, logged — who, what, when
TimeWhoAction9:02 AMJordan LeeViewed health record — Ava Johnson9:14 AMMaria SantosPosted Q2 grades — Math 59:31 AMJordan LeeGenerated records packet — Liam Martinez
Records escrow: transcripts and attendance stay retrievable — even if the school closes.

In short

Pearspark treats student records like the legal documents they are: role-based access with per-user overrides and caseload scoping, an audit log of every record view (who, what, when, IP), one-click transfer records packets, no lock-in (every report downloads as CSV, and a complete JSON export of everything is one click in Settings) — and records escrow, so transcripts stay retrievable even if the school closes.

Who can see what, decided by you

Built-in roles cover the usual cases; custom roles and per-user overrides cover the rest. Caseload scoping lets a counselor see exactly the students they serve and no one else. Teachers see their classes; families see their children; the activity log sees everything.

Sample data
The roles page: a custom Librarian role listing exactly what it may do — view the library, check books out and in, manage the catalog, view the calendar and the activity log — above the built-in School Admin and Teacher roles and their permission counts. Names are sample data.
A custom Librarian role and exactly what it can do, beside the built-in roles.

An audit trail that answers questions

Every view of a student record is logged — who opened it, what they saw, when, from where. When a parent or a board member asks "who accessed this," you answer from a log, not a guess.

One click builds the records packet

When a student leaves, one click builds the records packet a receiving school expects: cover sheet, immunization record, attendance by school year, and the full transcript. Withdrawal reasons stay internal — they never print. Every packet generation is logged as a records release.

Records that outlive the school

Small schools sometimes close — and student records must not vanish when they do. Pearspark holds an escrow copy of every student's permanent records (transcript and attendance history) that survives even account deletion, releasable to families and receiving schools afterward. It's included with every school, and of the fifteen systems we reviewed in August 2026, none publishes an equivalent. Most publish export-then-delete — you get a window to download your data, then it is destroyed. The closest, Gradelink, retains records about three years after service ends, but publishes no way for families or receiving schools to request them.

What's included

  • Role-based permissions with custom roles
  • Per-user permission overrides
  • Caseload scoping (per-student or per-grade access)
  • Audit log of every record view, with IP
  • One-click transfer records packet
  • Withdrawal reasons kept internal-only
  • Records escrow: permanent records survive school closure
  • Full JSON export anytime — no lock-in

All of it is part of the one price: $50 a month including 20 students, then $2.50 a student, stepping down as you grow (see the bands). Nothing on this page is a paid add-on.

See it done in 60 seconds

All 15 videos

Real screen recordings, one task a minute.

Add a student and their guardianAdmins
Import students from CSVAdmins
Import past academic history from CSVAdmins
Print a report card, transcript, or records packetAdmins
Withdraw a student (and reactivate them later)Admins
Review the activity logAdmins

Common questions

How does Pearspark support FERPA-covered schools?
FERPA applies to schools, not to their software vendors. Pearspark is built for FERPA-covered record keeping — role-based access, per-student scoping, and a full audit trail of record views — and acts as a school official under the school's direction; how is written out in the FERPA section of the privacy policy at /legal/privacy. Formal compliance rests on your school's own policies and agreements: your annual FERPA notice to families, your directory-information policy, and who at the school holds which permission. Write support@pearspark.com to talk through data-processing terms for your board.
What happens to student records if our school closes?
They survive. Pearspark keeps an escrow copy of each student's permanent records — transcript and attendance summary — that persists even if the school's account is deleted. Families and receiving schools can request them afterward: free for as long as the school is a customer, and $15 a packet once the account has closed.
Can we get our data out?
Always. Rosters, grades, and the library export to CSV from the app, and a complete JSON export of everything is available — your data is yours, no exit fees.

Comparing this with what you use now

Records, roles & compliance is part of the argument in these comparisons. Each one is sourced, last reviewed September 2026, and says plainly where the other system is the better choice.

Guides that cover this

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