Pearspark for schools with early learners and graded classes
Early learning and grade school. One app.
Your pre-K room lives in a childcare app; your graded classes live somewhere else. Families with a kid in each get two logins, two invoices, and two versions of the school. Pearspark runs both on one roster.
Two systems, two logins, two invoices
A childcare app for the little ones, an SIS or spreadsheets for the graded classes. Families with children in both juggle two portals, and the office reconciles two billing systems every month.
The record dies at kindergarten
Childcare apps track milestones from birth to kindergarten entry — then stop. The child moves up, the history stays behind, and first grade starts from a blank page in a different system.
Each side's software ignores the other
Childcare platforms don't do report cards, gradebooks, or transcripts. School systems assume every student gets letter grades. A program that runs both ends is nobody's customer — so it runs two tools.
In short
Pearspark runs a preschool room and graded classes on one roster: pre-K is a grade level like any other, observations and milestone checklists carry the early years, the gradebook becomes report cards and transcripts for the graded ones, and a family with a preschooler and a third-grader gets one invoice, one app, and one school — with records that follow the child from the first observation to the first transcript.
One roster, pre-K through the grades
Pre-K is a real grade level in Pearspark, not a workaround — enroll a three-year-old and a fifth-grader the same way, on the same family. Siblings link to the same guardians, and every record that follows starts from one enrollment.
More on admissions & enrollmentObservations for the early years
The preschool room runs on observations: quick timestamped notes on each child, tagged by curriculum area, shareable with the family. A coverage view shows which children you haven't observed lately, so no one slips through a busy week.
Milestones on a checklist, not a letter grade
Import your early-learning milestones as standards and rate them on bands you name — Emerging, Developing, Secure. Pre-K report cards print as milestone checklists; the same system carries letter grades for the older grades, even on the same family's cards.
More on standards-based grading & masteryKindergarten is a promotion, not a migration
At year end, the rollover wizard promotes every child one step — pre-K to kindergarten to first grade — with observations, health records, and attendance history intact. The move that used to mean a new system is now a click in a wizard.
The graded classes get a full school system
From kindergarten up: a gradebook that autosaves, report cards that assemble themselves at term end, attendance that feeds the transcript, and printable transcripts with GPA the day a receiving school asks.
More on gradebook, report cards & transcriptsHealth records built for small children
Immunization tracking with state-schedule suggestions, severe-allergy badges every adult sees, and medication logs with dose-by-dose records — the paperwork a preschool room generates most, in the same system the elementary side already uses.
More on health & safetyOne invoice per family, both programs
A preschooler and a third-grader land on one combined invoice with sibling discounts applied, on whatever cadence the family needs — monthly, weekly, or by term. Families pay online through the school's own Stripe account.
More on tuition & billingOne app for the whole family
The installable parent app shows the preschooler's observations and the third-grader's grades side by side — plus attendance, invoices, and messages, with push notifications. One login, however many kids.
More on parent mobile appWatch it work — 60 seconds a task
All how-to videosReal screen recordings of a real school — the tasks schools with early learners and graded classes run every day.
Weighing it against something else?
All comparisonsIf one of these is on your list too, the comparison is an honest one: every claim is sourced, pricing was last checked in July 2026, and each page says plainly when the other system is the better choice.
Pearspark vs Procare
The category leader in child care management — check-in, subsidy billing, daily activity feeds and early-learning milestones, from birth to kindergarten entry.
Read the comparisonPearspark vs SchoolCues
An all-in-one system for small schools with a wide module list and a published monthly floor rather than a rate card.
Read the comparisonPearspark vs spreadsheets
Google Sheets + Forms + a shared drive + group texts — how most micro schools actually start.
Read the comparisonCommon questions
We run our preschool room on a childcare app today. What does Pearspark replace — and what doesn't it?
Pearspark replaces the records, milestone tracking, family communication, and billing: observations, checklist report cards, immunizations, one invoice per family, one parent app. What it doesn't do is childcare operations — state subsidy and Head Start billing, staff-ratio dashboards, meal programs, and daily photo feeds. If subsidy revenue is central to your preschool side, keep the childcare app for that room and run Pearspark for the graded classes; plenty of growing programs do exactly that.
Can a pre-K checklist and a fifth-grade letter grade live in the same system?
Yes — grade scales are set per class. The pre-K class uses a standards scale with bands you name and prints milestone-checklist report cards; the fifth-grade class uses letter grades, GPA, and transcripts. A family with children in both sees each child's record in its own language, in the same portal.
What actually happens when a preschooler moves up to kindergarten?
The year-rollover wizard promotes every student one grade step — pre-K to kindergarten, kindergarten to first — carrying observations, health records, attendance history, and family links with them. Nothing is re-entered and no export/import happens, because it was one system all along.
How does pricing work with preschoolers in the mix?
A student is a student: $50/month includes your first 20, then $2.50 per additional student, stepping down at volume. A program with 12 preschoolers and 15 graded students pays $67.50/month — one bill, no per-module fees, and the preschool room isn't a paid add-on.
See it with your own eyes
Poke around a real school — admin, teacher, and parent views, no sales call. Then start yours at $50/month including 20 students.