When I was in high school, each student was given a school calendar at the beginning of the year which laid out every sporting event, school play, teacher in-service day, and major festivity for that year. Some calendars made it home, while others were introduced to the trash bin.
Even if these calendars made it to the fridge, the problem with printing out calendars a year at a time is the uncertainty of what might happen months from the time they are created. Who could predict snow days, power outages, and (dare I say it) bomb threats which disrupt activities and change schedules.
Yes, my senior year of high school had more than one bomb threat, all of which turned out to be “pranks.”
Since then, my old high school has upgraded their calendar to the internet, making these adjustments much easier to implement and notify parents about.
Unfortunately, not all schools have made the transition from paper to the digital age (nor have they even implemented school administration software), but luckily there are plenty of tools out there make these changes. Whether you have money to burn or you are running your school on a tight budget, there are software options available to bring your calendar online either for free or at a cost.
(Software options were chosen based on the availability to be used by staff, students, and parents and their integration capabilities)
Best School Calendar Software Options
1. Tandem
While calendars are the main focus of Tandem, their scope extends far beyond simple dates and times. Their calendar acts as the backbone for all other operations on the software, including events planning, communication between team members (or in this case, teachers and administrators), scheduling updates, third-party calendar integration, and and member notifications (aka parents).
Tandem touts its software as the perfect tool for organizations, schools, nonprofits, sports teams, and enterprises.
Features:
(Free Edition)
Unlimited schedulers
Unlimited events
Unlimited groups and locations
Unlimited members
Unlimited notifications
Onboarding
Scheduling conflict checkers
(Enterprise Edition: $40/month)
Priority software support
Event archives for two years
Special access permissions
Equipment inventory
Outside software integration
Custom event reporting
Website integration
Data recovery and rollback
Facility rentals and scheduling
Transportation management
2. Pinwheel
Pinwheel was made entirely with schools in mind. This interactive calendar software brings administrators, teachers, students, and parents together so that no one is left out of the loop when important assignments, tasks, and major events are all around the corner. As a web-based software, it’s available to all users on any internet capable device.
Pricing: Varies based on user numbers and student count
Features:
Event planning and scheduling
Webpage customization
Facility rentals
Hall monitor management
Athletics scheduling
Student assignment planning and notifications
Parental notifications (assignments, events, and practices)
Website integration
Outside calendar integration
3. CalendarWiz
CalendarWiz tailors their calendars based on the industry purchasing their software, such as nonprofits, small-large businesses, clubs, and in this case, primary/higher education.
This software gives schools the option to either integrate their calendars on their own websites, leave their calendar up on the CalendarWiz website, or both depending on the needs of students, parents, teachers, and administrators. The one difference between this calendar software and others on this list is the emphasis on events and announcements rather than student assignments.
General Features (included in all pricing tiers):
Mobile app
Multi-user editing
Website calendar plugins
Branding and colors
Private and public calendars
Scheduling conflict prevention
Import/export data
RSVP invites
Social media integration
Calendar event categories
Locations and facilities
Email marketing
Basic ($9/month):
Ten users
Three event categories
Unlimited visitors
Free support
Standard ($15/month):
Twenty users
Eight event categories
Unlimited visitors
Free support
Professional ($25/month)
Forty users
Twenty event categories
Unlimited visitors
Free support
Enterprise ($45/month)
One hundred users
Forty event categories
Unlimited visitors
Free support
4. Google Calendar
Google Calendar is a tool that I constantly use, not only here at Capterra, but also to keep track of everything I need to do in my personal time. The great thing about Google Calendar is the ecosystem in which it is built, such as Google Docs, Sheets, Drive, and Gmail. In fact, these Google apps are all available in a school-based format for free under Google Apps for Education.
Google Calendar is the perfect tool for schools looking for a free software solution on a stable platform.
Features:
Calendar sharing
Event invitations
Public calendars
Mobile access and integration with iOS and Android calendar apps
Event searching
Gmail and Microsoft Outlook integration
5. Localendar
Localendar was not made specifically for academic institutions, but its versatility makes it useful for all types of organizations including schools. One cool feature of Localendar is the extent to which you can customize your own calendar, more so than other options in this list.
While the base calendar is not much to look at, the customization options allow for event photos in each day block, themes, banners, and text.
The basic Localendar software is free, but does include ads as well as limits on features. This makes Localendar a good choice for schools with a small operation budget.
General Features:
General calendar creation
Website integration
Mobile optimization
Custom HTML in event titles
Provided clipart
Custom event categories
Repeat event functionality
iFrame support
Webmaster ($49.95/year):
No ads
Upload your own clipart
Task editor
Calendar merging
Public printable view
Cobrander ($149.95/year):
No ads
Upload your own clipart
Task editor
Calendar merging
Public printable view
Premium sub-accounts
Bring the Rest of Your School’s Calendar Online
Now that you’ve made the first step towards bringing your school into the internet age, perhaps it’s time you looked at other ways you can upgrade your educational experiences.
Be sure to check out these other pieces I’ve written about new technologies in school:
The Top 4 Education Tech Trends to Watch Out For in 2017
The Top 6 Free and Open Source School Administration Software
The Top Free Digital Classroom Management Software and Classroom Collaboration Tools
Have you used any of these calendar software options in your school? If so, let me know in the comment section below what you thought of it, what you liked best, and what you didn’t care for. While you’re at it, if you feel particularly strong about a school calendar software listed here or otherwise, be sure to leave a review!