We’re committed to giving parents clear, actionable school insights. Here’s what we’re actively working on and what’s coming next.
We’re Building
Know the moment your student actually turns in an assignment — no more "Did you really do it?" conversations. ClassAlerts compares submission timestamps between checks and notifies you: "✅ Riley submitted 'Narrative Rough Draft' (English) today at 2:15pm." Get daily/weekly tallies: "This week: 8 assignments submitted, 3 still missing." You trusted, but now you can verify.
Daily snapshots of your student's grades enable trend arrows in every notification: ↑ improving, ↓ declining, → stable. See "Algebra: D (66.8%) ↑ was F last week" instead of just a static grade. Built on daily database snapshots that track current score, final score, missing count, and late count for every course — giving you a true picture of momentum over time.
See what teachers are saying directly in your ClassAlerts notifications — no need to log into Canvas. When a teacher leaves a comment like "Please turn in for credit" on a missing assignment, you'll see it right in your daily alert. We pull comments from Canvas's submission system so you never miss a teacher reaching out about your student's work.
Every notification now includes how many school days are left in the semester, plus the critical "grade close date" — the deadline after which teachers can NO LONGER change grades. Most parents don't know this window exists. ClassAlerts surfaces it so you can advocate for make-up work before the gradebook locks permanently. Includes milestone alerts at 30 days, 2 weeks, and 5 days before close.
We’re Exploring
See updates for all your students in one place. If you observe multiple children in Canvas, ClassAlerts will pull data for each student with side-by-side views and combined or per-student notifications. Perfect for families with multiple kids at different grade levels.
Know exactly what your student needs to DO for each missing assignment. ClassAlerts translates Canvas's technical data into plain English: "Upload a file on Canvas", "Physical paper — ask teacher if late work accepted", "Take a quiz on Canvas". When a teacher hasn't provided instructions (which is ~95% of the time), we tell you upfront so you don't waste time logging into Canvas to find a blank page. Missing assignments are sorted by point value so you tackle the highest-impact ones first.
ClassAlerts analyzes when YOUR student's specific teachers actually grade and comment — then recommends the best time to send your alerts. See a live chart of teacher activity by hour built from real grading data. Example: "Your teachers grade most between 9-11am and 2pm. We recommend alerts at 4pm to catch everything." Every student's pattern is different because every set of teachers is different. This is personalized, data-driven scheduling that no other tool offers.
Send messages to your student's teachers right from ClassAlerts. Select a teacher from a dropdown (auto-populated from Canvas), write your message, and it arrives in their Canvas inbox just like any other parent message. Perfect for asking about make-up work, requesting meetings, or following up on missing assignments. The teacher never sees ClassAlerts — they just see a normal Canvas message from you.
Every SMS includes a unique, secure link to a full detail page — no login required. Tap the link and see your student's complete snapshot: every grade, every missing assignment with how-to-submit instructions, teacher comments, upcoming due dates, and the semester countdown. The page is pre-generated with a time-limited token so it's instant and private. Think of it as the "full report" behind every text notification. Beautiful, mobile-first design that makes Canvas data actually pleasant to read.
Choose your notification style: "Just the Headlines" (brief — grades + missing count only), "The Full Picture" (detailed — every course with context), or "Everything" (comprehensive — grades, missing work, teacher comments, upcoming assignments, submissions). Adjust frequency independently: daily, twice weekly, weekly, or real-time for critical alerts only. Parents are different — some want a quick pulse, others want every detail. ClassAlerts adapts to you.
Not all alerts are equal. A 100-point test due tomorrow matters more than a 5-point worksheet from last month. ClassAlerts will highlight the most impactful items — grade drops below a threshold, high-point assignments due soon, new teacher comments — so the critical stuff never gets lost in the noise. Set your own sensitivity levels.
See every upcoming assignment across all courses for the next 30 days. Know about that 100-point Algebra test two weeks out, not the night before. Includes both teacher-posted calendar events and assignments, with submission status so you can see what's already done vs. what's still coming. Some teachers post class agenda events too — we catch those as well.
Your Canvas inbox — mirrored in ClassAlerts. See every message from teachers, coaches, and school staff without logging into Canvas. Full threaded conversations, unread indicators you control (we never mark messages as read in Canvas without your permission), and the ability to reply directly to teachers. In testing, one parent had 20 unread Canvas messages including 3 from teachers about missing assignments they'd never seen. This feature alone could change the game.
Wish List
Answer the question every parent asks: "If my kid turns in all missing work and gets a B on each, what happens to the grade?" Uses Canvas's own What-If Grades API — Canvas does all the math (respecting assignment group weights, drop rules, etc.), we just display the result. Clearly labeled as a projection, never a ClassAlerts calculation. The rule: we NEVER self-calculate grades. Canvas is the grade engine, we are the messenger.
Text back to get instant answers. Reply "ENGLISH" to see just English class details. Reply "MISSING" for a full missing assignment list. Reply "MESSAGES" to see unread teacher messages. Reply "HELP" for available commands. Powered by Twilio webhooks — your SMS conversation becomes an interactive window into your student's academic life. No app needed, no login needed, just text.
Generate a dated, formatted PDF report of your student's complete academic standing — grades, missing work, teacher communications, and your alert history. Designed for co-parenting situations where documentation of parental engagement matters. Timestamped and comprehensive. This is a real market with established products serving it — parents in custody situations need documented proof of engagement with their child's education.
ClassAlerts texts the student directly before big assignments and tests: "Hi Riley, your Algebra test (100 pts) is Friday. Have you started studying?" Three outcomes, all actionable: "Riley says he's studied 2 hours" → parent taps to send encouragement. "Riley says he hasn't started" → tonight's conversation topic. No response → that IS the answer. Includes historical context: "Last test Riley logged 2 hours of prep and scored 75%." Future: AI-generated practice problems sent to the student to gauge preparation level. The full loop: student reports → parent sees data → parent encourages → student gets help.
Simplified alert visibility for grandparents, guardians, or caring parties who want to stay informed without full account access. A read-only view of alerts and grades — no settings to manage, no messages to send, just a clear window into how the student is doing.
ClassAlerts becomes a two-sided platform. Teachers receive anonymous engagement summaries: "3 parents follow your class via ClassAlerts." Gentle nudges surface gaps: "Tip: You have no late work policy published. Parents are asking about make-up work options." Teachers aren't pressured — they're informed that parents are paying attention and want to help. Positions ClassAlerts as something teachers welcome, not resist.
A neutral communication channel between split parents who can't or won't communicate directly — whether by law, court order, or personal choice. ClassAlerts acts as a third-party intermediary: share teacher emails, grade concerns, and action plans through a chatbot that reformulates messages into professional, neutral language. Example: "ClassAlerts Helper: Ryan expressed concern about Riley's Biology grade. He is open to suggestions and wants to share a recent teacher email." Includes a full parent engagement timeline showing who did what and when — invaluable for custody documentation. Both parents see the same student data, coordinated through a safe, documented channel.
A real-time feed inside ClassAlerts showing everything that changed since your last visit: new grades posted, due dates shifted, teacher comments added, missing assignments detected. Built from multiple Canvas data sources including the activity stream, submission changes, and grade deltas. Like a news feed, but for your student's academic life.
A companion mobile app for richer push notifications, quick grade checks, and instant teacher messaging. Reference: Canvas has open-source iOS (Swift) and Android (Kotlin/Flutter) parent apps on GitHub under AGPLv3. These can serve as architectural inspiration for API usage patterns, but ClassAlerts mobile should be purpose-built (PWA or React Native) to deliver our differentiators: smart alerts, grade gap analysis, submission tracking, semester countdown, co-parenting tools, and login-free detail pages. Our value isn't "Canvas on mobile" — it's "what Canvas doesn't tell you."