ClassDojo

ClassDojo connects teachers, students and parents around a single classroom. Teachers post photos and updates, message families, and record behaviour points; parents see their own child’s stream.

Why the rating is so high

At 4.8 it sits well above almost everything in this list. Two reasons: the audience is self-selected — you install it because a teacher asked you to — and it is free to families with no advertising, which removes the usual sources of complaint.

What it does well

• Translation is built in, covering a large number of languages. For schools with families who do not share a common language with staff, this is the feature that justifies it.
• Messaging has quiet hours, so parents cannot reach teachers at midnight.
• Photos and updates stay within the class rather than going to a social network.

The part that deserves thought

The behaviour points system is the app’s most-discussed feature and the most contested. Awarding and deducting points publicly is a design choice that some educators consider effective and others consider a bad idea for reasons unrelated to the software. If you are a parent, that is a conversation with the school rather than a review of the app.

Privacy

ClassDojo is a US company handling children’s data and states compliance with COPPA and FERPA. Parent accounts see only their own child. Data retention and what happens at the end of a school year are covered in its policy, and are worth reading once if that is a concern.