Clever is a service that makes it easier for schools to use many popular education technology products. It works by providing a simple developer interface (API) for third-party education technology software to access important data from Student Information Systems (SIS) used by schools. This data can then be used by third-party products to deliver services with less hassle. For instance, a software grade book could automatically populate itself with the student roster instead of having a teacher manually entering that data in.
Clever gives schools control over what student data is shared with software developers so that only products approved by the school gain access to sensitive data. Similar to the example above, by using Clever school leaders do not have to make individual updates when students change classes. It can also enable schools to run realistic tests of education technology products to assess whether they will be effective for their students.
Clever makes its software freely available to schools. Instead, it charges a fee when other software developers use its software to connect to schools.
As of August 2015, Clever claims its technology was being used by some 44,000 schools.
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