Managing Students

Students are the core data in Shibutz. Each student has a name, gender, behavioral scales, optional flags, free-text notes, and friend requests. The more accurate your student data, the better the algorithm can balance your classrooms.

Adding Students Manually

To add a student, open your placement workspace from the dashboard and click Add Student. If the roster is empty, the student list also shows Add Student and Import Students actions so you can start from the empty state without searching the page header.

You'll need to provide:

Name— The student's full name.
Gender — Male or female. This is used for gender balance calculations across classrooms.

After creating the student, you can fill in the remaining attributes described below.

Free workspaces include up to 25 students. When the roster reaches that limit, Shibutz keeps the existing students editable and shows an upgrade prompt before you add or import more students.

Reviewing and Filtering the Roster

The student list includes a Roster review panel above the table. Use it to search by name, school, notes, or friend request, then narrow the roster by gender or sending school before you generate a placement.

Review queues group students by the work they need next:

Cleanup needed — duplicate names, unknown scales, or broken friend links.
Support context — students with support needs or notes that staff should read before final placement.
Friend requests — students with requested peers to double-check before running the algorithm.
Scale review — any student with High need, Watch, or Needs review scale values.

You can select visible rows from any filtered view and use bulk cleanup actions to clear selected notes, clear selected friend requests, or delete selected students. Deleting students also cleans up their related preferences, restrictions, required placements, and friend links so the roster stays internally consistent.

Student Attributes

Each student can be rated on four scales. The app displays these as placement-planning labels:

Low need — No concerns. The student is performing well in this area.
Watch — Some concerns. The student may need moderate support.
High need — Significant concerns. The student needs substantial support.

The Four Scales

Social — How the student interacts with peers. Consider cooperation, conflict resolution, and social skills.
Emotional — Emotional regulation and wellbeing. Consider anxiety levels, resilience, and self-confidence.
Behavioral — Classroom behavior. Consider attentiveness, rule-following, and impulse control.
Learning — Academic performance. Consider reading level, math skills, and overall academic engagement.

The algorithm distributes Low need, Watch, and High need ratings evenly so each classroom has a comparable support profile. See How the Algorithm Works for details on scale balancing.

Support Needs

You can flag a student as having support needs (such as ADHD or other specialist considerations). This flag is factored into the balancing algorithm so that classrooms receive a fair distribution of students who may require additional attention or accommodations.

Notes

Each student has an optional free-text Notes field where you can record any additional context — for example, medical considerations, family circumstances, or teacher observations. Notes are for your reference only and are not used by the placement algorithm. They appear as a sticky-note icon in the student list and in placement results so the information stays visible throughout the workflow.

Friend Requests

Each student can request up to three friends. A friend request means the student would like to be placed in the same classroom as the selected peer.

Friend requests are one-directional — if Student A requests Student B, it does not automatically mean Student B requested Student A.
The algorithm tries to honor as many friend requests as possible, but hard constraints (restrictions, gender balance, scale balance) take priority.
Friend requests are different from teacher-set preferences. Friend requests are typically gathered from student surveys, while preferences are set by teachers or administrators.

Importing Students from CSV or Excel

If you already have a student roster in a spreadsheet, you can import it directly instead of entering each student manually. Shibutz accepts both .xlsx and .csv files.

Template Format

Download the import template from the student list page. The same columns should be used whether you upload the Excel template or save it as CSV:

Full Name— Student's full name (required).
Gender — male, female, or other. M and F are also accepted, as are boy and girl. Rows with blank or unsupported gender values are flagged in the preview and must be fixed before import.
Behavior — green, yellow, or red (optional). Green maps to Low need, yellow maps to Watch, and red maps to High need. Blank values default to green; unsupported values are flagged in the preview before import.
Emotion — green, yellow, or red (optional). Blank values default to green; unsupported values are flagged in the preview before import.
Social — green, yellow, or red (optional). Blank values default to green; unsupported values are flagged in the preview before import.
Learning — green, yellow, or red (optional). Blank values default to green; unsupported values are flagged in the preview before import.
ADHD — yes or no (optional, defaults to no). This maps to the support needs flag.
Friend 1, Friend 2, and Friend 3— Optional friend request names. Use the same spelling as the student's full name.
School— The student's current or sending school (optional).
Notes — Free text for any additional context about the student (optional).

You can also import the Students sheet from a Shibutz placement export. Shibutz reads the student fields by column header, so export-only columns such as Class and Friends Count are ignored when you reimport the roster into a new workspace.

If your school exports the same roster layout every time, save the column mapping as a preset during import. You can adjust any field in the preview first, then save the preset with your teacher account and load it later so student name, gender, school, support needs, notes, and friend requests land in the same Shibutz fields again.

SIS export guides

Shibutz does not connect directly to your SIS. Export a spreadsheet from your SIS first, then upload that CSV or Excel file from the Import Students dialog. Extra SIS columns are fine; Shibutz imports the columns you map to student fields and ignores the rest.

PowerSchool

Export a student demographics roster from Data Export Manager or your reports area, then save it as CSV or XLSX.

Open Data Export Manager or the student reports area.
Choose a student demographics or current enrollment roster.
Include student name, gender or sex, school, and student number if your school uses one.
Export as CSV or Excel before uploading the file to Shibutz.

Useful columns: Student name, Gender or sex, School, Student number.

Infinite Campus

Use Ad Hoc Reporting or a student roster export with one row per student.

Open Ad Hoc Reporting or the roster export your office already uses.
Select active students for the grade or school you are placing.
Export student names, gender, current school, and any local ID column you need for review.
Save the report as CSV or XLSX.

Useful columns: Student name, Gender, Current school, Local student ID.

Skyward

Start from Student Management roster reports and export a simple spreadsheet.

Open Student Management and choose the student roster or demographics report.
Filter to the students included in the placement cycle.
Keep one row per student with name, gender, school, and optional notes fields.
Export the report as CSV or Excel.

Useful columns: Student name, Gender, School, Notes.

Alma

Use the student list export and choose the demographics columns staff already review.

Open the Students area and filter to the roster you are placing.
Choose Export and include demographics columns.
Keep names, gender, school, and any support flag your team wants to translate into Shibutz fields.
Download the spreadsheet as CSV or XLSX.

Useful columns: Student name, Gender, School, Support flag.

Aeries

Export student data from the report area or a saved query that returns one row per student.

Open the student data report or saved query used by your office.
Filter to active students in the grade or program being placed.
Export names, gender, school, and student number if it helps your review.
Save the result as CSV or Excel.

Useful columns: Student name, Gender, School, Student number.

Gradelink

Use the student export from the Students area and upload the downloaded spreadsheet.

Open Students and choose the export option for the roster.
Include active students only, unless your office wants withdrawn students in a separate review file.
Keep names, gender, grade or school, and notes if those notes are safe to use in placement planning.
Download as CSV or Excel.

Useful columns: Student name, Gender, Grade or school, Notes.

Other SIS or spreadsheet

Any roster export can work if it has one row per student and clear column headers.

Export a roster with one row per student.
Keep the student name and gender columns, then add school, support needs, friend request, or notes columns if your team uses them.
Use clear headers so Shibutz can recognize the fields or let you save the mapping for next time.
Save the file as CSV or XLSX.

Useful columns: Student name, Gender, School, Support needs, Notes.

Imports follow the same plan limit as manual entry: Free users can import only up to the remaining slots in a 25-student roster, while Pro users can import larger rosters.

After choosing a file, review the preview inside the Import Students dialog before saving it. If something looks wrong, choose a different file, load a saved mapping preset, or upload the corrected spreadsheet.

After import, review the four assessment scales and support notes on the Students page, add friend requests in Student Preferences, check your classroom structure, and then move to Generating Placements.

Import Tips

Make sure names are spelled consistently — duplicates will be created if names don't match exactly.
The file must be in .xlsx or .csv format. CSV files can include quoted values, commas inside names, and multi-line notes.
Existing students will not be overwritten. The import only adds new entries.

Editing and Deleting Students

Click on any student in the list to open their detail view. From there you can:

Update their name, gender, or scales.
Add or remove friend requests.
Toggle the support needs flag.
Add or edit notes for the student.
Delete the student entirely. This also removes them from any friend requests, preferences, or restrictions they were part of.

Tips for Accurate Data

Involve the teaching team — Teachers who know the students best should rate the four scales. Counselors and specialists can help with support needs flags.
Gather friend requests early— Run a simple survey asking each student to name up to three friends they'd like to be with next year.
Review before generating— Double-check that all students are accounted for and scales look reasonable. It's much easier to fix data before generating than after.
Keep it honest — The algorithm only works as well as the data it receives. Inflating or deflating scales undermines the balancing process.

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