When a student stops you in the hallway or a parent emails, you shouldn't have to remember which period they're in. Find a student searches every class you teach, including classes you co-teach, and takes you straight to that student's page.
Available on: every plan, for teachers.
Open Find a student
You can open it from any page in the Teacher Portal:
Click Find a student at the very top of the sidebar. If the sidebar is collapsed to icons, it's the magnifying glass.
Or press the shortcut: ⌘K on a Mac, Ctrl K on Windows and Chromebooks. The sidebar shows the right one for your computer. Press it again to close the window.
Search for a student
The Find a student window opens with the line "Across every class you teach" and a count such as "86 students across 4 classes."
Start typing a name. You can type part of a first name, part of a last name, or the full name in first-then-last order.
Up to eight matches appear, each with its class name underneath.
Click a match. That student's page opens inside their class, on the Students tab.
If nothing matches, you'll see "No student matches" followed by what you typed. Try fewer letters, or only the first or last name.
A student who is in more than one of your classes appears once for each class, with the class name under each result. Pick the class you want to look at, because each class keeps its own progress for that student. See Removing students and students in more than one class.
What you'll see next
The student's page shows their completion, quiz scores, recent activity, assignments, simulator results and integrity signals for that class, with the rest of the class listed beside it so you can move on to the next student. The Students tab: your roster and each student's page walks through the page.
Other ways to reach a student
Almost everywhere the Teacher Portal shows a student's name, the name is a link to that student's page:
The Students tab inside a class.
Students to check on on your Dashboard.
The Gradebook, Reteach and Integrity pages.
The class's Rankings tab. (Simulator rankings open the student's results inside that simulator instead.)
Because these are ordinary links, you can open a student in a new browser tab (Ctrl-click, or ⌘-click on a Mac), keep several students open side by side, or bookmark a student you check on often. You can also copy the page address and send it to a co-teacher on the same class; it opens the same student for them.
Tips
Search uses the names students have on their accounts. Students with teacher-created accounts are listed under their username (for example "Apple01 Student") until they put in their real name, so search for the username in that case.
Find a student searches names only, not usernames or email addresses.
The first search after you sign in can take a moment while your class lists load. You'll see "Loading your classes…" until they're ready.
Common questions
Can I search for students in other teachers' classes?
No. Find a student covers the classes on your Classrooms page: classes you created and classes where you're a co-instructor.
A student I know is in my class isn't showing up. Why?
Check how their name is spelled on their account, or whether they still have a placeholder name from a teacher-created account. If they joined in the last few minutes, refresh the page and search again. If they're still missing, open the class's Students tab to confirm they joined the class you expect.
The keyboard shortcut doesn't do anything. What should I try?
Click into the page first so the browser isn't focused on the address bar, then try again. If another app on your computer uses the same shortcut, click Find a student in the sidebar instead.