As of the 2024-2025 school year, PGCPS has mandated the switch from Schoolmax, the previous student grading application, to Synergy, the newest platform for teachers to submit grades.
The reason behind why PGCPS has made the switch is because they want “ to support our needs in Synergy rather than having to rely on third-party systems.”
This change has been a bit controversial as some students did not see the switch as necessary and others argue that they prefer the new system. Some teachers and instructors are also on the fence between the transitioning, as they were already accommodated with the previous platform.
“Personally I prefer Schoolmax because, for all my school life, Ive been used to Schoolmax,” said senior Promise Anabaraonye. “I would prefer to go back to Schoolmax.”
Synergy is stated to be a better alternative to grading and recording students’ academics compared to the 15 year old system of SchoolMax, stating that Synergy is a full ecosystem that integrates student information management, MTSS, analytics, special education, and other features into a single platform.
“Synergy just feels too inconvenient for me,” said senior Namarr Borrelli. “Schoolmax was just better for me personally.”
Synergy was not the first choice to replace SchoolMax, there were two other candidates that were selected by an IT team and that went under supposed deep investigation and testing. More importantly, parents, students, teachers, and more attended a “demo day” and rated all the applications on their user-friendliness, accessibility, UI, etc. Synergy reigned on top as the favorite.
An anonymous source stated, “The switch to Schoolmax just didn’t feel necessary, I was fine with using Schoolmax but I’m not sure if parents approve either.”
We are not the first school to adopt Synergy as our grading system. Counties such as Montgomery have been using Synergy as far back as 2019. Their switch from Schoolmax to Synergy went rough at first but they became accustomed to the platform. Synergy is presented as a powerhouse of an education platform, shown as a comprehensive education platform designed to enhance the learning experience for students, educators, and administrators alike.
Student Information System (SIS), Learning Management System (LMS) and parent and student portals have all been taken into account for Synergy. It’s clear to say that synergy is here to stay and PGCPS will not be reverting the switch anytime soon. Let this be known as a testing phase and see weather tests run successful or not.
The transition from Schoolmax to Synergy has felt unexpected and infuriating to say the least for some. Only time will tell if opinions change and how the reception to the transition will look like a few months from now. All we can do now is try to feel more accosomted to our new system.
