Seesaw for Learning: Reviews on What Teachers Use

Seesaw is a digital tool designed to help teachers organize student work, facilitate high-quality instruction, and create digital portfolios that document the learning process. Embraced by nearly a third of elementary schools, it is supported by extensive educational research, science research, and reputable sources. Seesaw holds an ISTE Seal of Alignment, ensuring it meets ISTE Standards, and qualifies as a Tier IV ESSA federal funding option—signifying its role as a designated evidence-based intervention.

It stands as the only educational platform widely adopted by m teachers worldwide, reflecting its significant global impact.

Step into my series as I unveil an array of cutting-edge educational technology tools suitable for the classroom. This collection features tools that bring you a mix of the classics you love and some cool hidden gems – because we all know the best tools aren’t always the ones in the spotlight.

Teacher Setup and Implementation

Educators can easily begin their journey with Seesaw by signing up through an appropriate location, typically the official Seesaw website. The registration process is streamlined, guiding teachers through each step so they can quickly set up their virtual classroom environment. Once an account is created, educators can follow intuitive prompts to establish their classes—naming them, selecting grade levels, and customizing settings to best fit their instructional context.

They then add their students to each class roster, either by sharing a unique class code or by syncing with existing student information systems. This efficiency reduces administrative burdens and enables teachers to transition smoothly from setup to instruction.

Beyond simply enrolling students, Seesaw empowers educators to build a connected school community. Teachers can invite family members to engage directly with the platform, ensuring parents and guardians stay informed about the learning process. This inclusive approach fosters a supportive network around each student, bridging the home-school gap and encouraging family involvement.

Once the foundational structure is in place, teachers gain access to Seesaw’s curriculum experts and an extensive library of vetted, standards-aligned activities. Educators can browse, select, and assign activities designed to meet academic benchmarks and support skill mastery. To further enhance instruction, Seesaw’s tools allow for front of class modeling—teachers can demonstrate concepts, model strategies, or walk through problem-solving steps before the entire group.

Incorporating whole group instruction videos, such as pre-recorded mini-lessons or guided demonstrations, helps teachers maintain a consistent teaching presence even when students are learning asynchronously.

Differentiation and targeted support are integral to effective teaching, and Seesaw addresses this need through student groups. Educators can easily create small clusters of learners within their class to provide small group practice activities focused on particular skills or content areas. For students needing additional support, teachers can implement designated evidence-based intervention tasks. This precise tailoring of instruction ensures that every student receives the right level of challenge, encouragement, and intervention at the right time.

To streamline assessment and feedback, Seesaw integrates auto-graded questions into its activities. Rather than spending valuable time manually scoring multiple-choice or short-answer items, teachers benefit from immediate data on student responses. This frees educators to focus on higher-order feedback and more nuanced student needs. In addition, Seesaw’s platform supports robust formative assessments, enabling teachers to analyze learning trends over time.

With real-time student progress data at their fingertips, educators can adapt their teaching strategies and provide responsive support that keeps all learners moving toward their goals.

Taken together, these features transform the classroom into a dynamic, flexible learning environment. Educators retain full control over their instruction—setting the stage for a balanced mix of whole group modeling, small group collaboration, independent practice, and personalized interventions—all while maintaining a close connection with families and leveraging valuable assessment insights.

Benefits for Students

Seesaw’s commitment to authentic assessments is evident in its support of robust lesson formats and a wide range of expressive tools. Instead of traditional, paper-based tasks that may not fully capture a student’s thought process, learners can use screen recording to demonstrate the steps they took to solve a math problem or navigate a research-based project. They can add voice notes to elaborate on their reasoning, clarify misunderstandings, or articulate the rationale behind their choices.

With tools for creating drawings, labeling diagrams, and embedding multimedia elements—such as photos, videos, and clickable links—students gain multiple pathways to convey their learning.

This variety of formats not only encourages creativity and critical thinking, but also honors student voice, ensuring that learners can represent their knowledge and understanding in ways that feel natural and meaningful to them.

By empowering students to choose how they present their work, Seesaw nurtures a more inclusive learning environment. For instance, a student who excels at oral explanation but struggles with written expression can use voice notes to shine. Another student who thinks visually may prefer to illustrate concepts through drawings or annotated diagrams. This approach breaks away from one-size-fits-all assessments and embraces the unique needs of elementary classrooms, where every child brings different strengths, interests, and learning styles to the table.

Moreover, Seesaw allows students to experience both independent work and whole-class instruction, creating a balanced ecosystem of engagement. When working independently, students can pause, review, and refine their submissions, developing a sense of ownership over their work. During whole class instruction, teachers can model techniques, highlight exemplars, and facilitate discussions around class-produced content. This combination ensures that all students, regardless of their starting points, have equitable opportunities to grow academically and socially.

Perhaps most importantly, Seesaw’s flexible assessment environment fosters deep learning insights—the kind of reflective thinking that leads to profound understanding rather than surface-level memorization. When students can review their own submissions, listen back to their recorded explanations, or revisit their drawings and multimedia projects, they engage in a cycle of reflection and iteration. They identify misconceptions, celebrate progress, and set new goals. Over time, this cyclical process encourages learners to become more metacognitive, more self-directed, and ultimately more confident in their ability to construct and communicate their knowledge.

In this way, Seesaw goes beyond merely recording what students know; it illuminates how they learn, enabling teachers, students, and families to see growth from a richer, more holistic perspective.

Engagement with Families

With the Seesaw Family app, parents, guardians, and other caregivers can engage in genuine inclusive two-way communication with teachers and students, transcending potential language or cultural barriers. Seesaw’s built-in translation tools are a critical component of this accessibility, ensuring that families from diverse linguistic backgrounds can comfortably follow classroom updates, participate in discussions, and respond to teachers’ messages in their preferred language. This inclusivity expands the school-home relationship, as all family members, regardless of where they live or what language they speak, can stay informed about their child’s daily academic life.

The transparency provided by Seesaw allows parents to see their children’s assignments, projects, and assessments unfold in near real-time. Instead of waiting for occasional report cards or scheduled conferences, families experience the frequent sharing of student posts, enabling them to observe their child’s developing skills, problem-solving strategies, and areas of growth. This consistent window into classroom experiences helps families understand the context of their children’s learning.

For instance, they can see how a student’s math understanding has evolved over several assignments or watch the progression of a research project through multiple drafts, multimedia notes, and reflections.

As parents witness this evolution of learning, they not only gain meaningful insights into their child’s academic strengths and areas in need of support, but they also better appreciate the methods and approaches teachers use in the classroom. Armed with this understanding, families can more confidently engage in supportive, informed conversations with their children about their schoolwork, celebrate achievements in real time, and offer encouragement when challenges arise. Rather than feeling disconnected or uncertain, parents become key collaborators in the educational journey.

This level of openness and continuous dialogue is a powerful motivator for family involvement. When parents see tangible evidence of their children’s efforts, accomplishments, and improvements, they are more likely to participate actively—asking questions, offering help with homework, providing enrichment activities at home, or reaching out to teachers for clarification and guidance. Ultimately, this two-way communication fosters a sense of shared purpose among educators, students, and families, ensuring that the entire support network works in harmony to advance each child’s academic success and overall well-being.

Research, Standards, and Funding Support

Seesaw’s strong foundation in extensive educational research and science research underscores its role as a well-vetted platform that educators and administrators can trust. Rather than relying on anecdotal praise, its effectiveness has been rigorously examined by multiple stakeholders, including academic researchers, education specialists, and instructional technologists. This scholarly backing ensures that the platform’s features, pedagogical strategies, and integration models align with best practices identified through careful study and ongoing practitioner experience.

Beyond the academic literature, Seesaw’s value is recognized by prominent and credible media outlets, such as the Washington Post, which highlights tools that significantly impact teaching and learning. When a widely respected source draws attention to Seesaw, it signals to school decision-makers, teachers, and families that the platform is not just another digital product, but one that has meaningful traction and positive results in real-world classrooms.

Seesaw’s ISTE Seal of Alignment offers further reassurance. The ISTE Standards serve as a widely respected benchmark for quality educational technology, advocating for the thoughtful integration of digital tools that enhance learning, teaching, and leadership. By meeting these standards, Seesaw demonstrates that it does more than provide trendy features—it actively supports high-quality instruction, encourages critical thinking, fosters creativity, and aligns with a vision of how technology can best serve learners and educators.

Moreover, Seesaw’s classification as a Tier IV solution under ESSA federal funding requirements is a significant advantage for school districts. ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) emphasizes the use of evidence-based interventions to support student achievement, and Tier IV indicates that Seesaw meets the criteria for strategies that demonstrate a rationale grounded in research. For districts and schools seeking federal funding to support instructional improvement, choosing a designated evidence-based intervention like Seesaw can simplify compliance with funding guidelines and ensure that any allotted resources are invested in a solution known to be beneficial to student learning.

In essence, Seesaw’s credibility and alignment with ISTE Standards, combined with its qualification for ESSA-aligned funding, provide a solid framework of trustworthiness. School leaders can have confidence that adopting Seesaw is not only a sound pedagogical choice, but also a strategic investment, backed by research, recognized expertise, and reputable industry standards.

Equitable and Inclusive Communication

Seesaw’s approach to inclusive communication ensures that every participant in a child’s education—whether teacher, parent, guardian, or school leader—can stay engaged and informed. Recognizing that classrooms and their surrounding communities are often linguistically and culturally diverse, the platform’s built-in translation features are a cornerstone of its accessibility. This functionality means that families who speak different languages can effortlessly read classroom announcements, student updates, and teacher feedback in their preferred language.

As a result, conversations about academic progress, behavior, or upcoming events become clearer and more productive, eliminating misunderstandings that can arise from language barriers.

By seamlessly accommodating multiple languages and communication needs, Seesaw cultivates an environment of trust and accessibility. Parents feel valued and respected, knowing that their voices are heard and their questions addressed. Teachers, for their part, gain confidence that their messages are received as intended. This mutual understanding reduces the “seesaw battle” that can sometimes emerge when traditional paper-based methods and modern digital tools compete or conflict. Instead of one approach overshadowing the other, Seesaw smooths the path to a harmonious integration of technology in the classroom.

This balanced blend of traditional educational values—such as clear communication and family involvement—with the dynamic capabilities of a digital platform ensures that technology does not become a barrier or a wedge. Instead, it serves as a bridge. The result is a unified community of stakeholders working together toward shared goals: fostering student growth, improving academic achievement, and building a positive, collaborative educational ecosystem that celebrates every learner’s potential.

Authentic Assessments and Student Growth

Seesaw’s dedication to authentic assessments empowers educators to craft assignments that measure real understanding rather than superficial recollection. With a strong emphasis on standards-aligned instruction, teachers can ensure that each task, project, or activity corresponds directly to the skills and knowledge students are expected to master. Instead of relying solely on rote memorization or quick recall, students are encouraged to engage deeply—exploring concepts, applying their knowledge in novel contexts, and reflecting on their learning process.

One of the most powerful tools in this framework is the creation of digital portfolios. As students complete work over days, weeks, or even semesters, Seesaw collects their artifacts in a dynamic, multimedia-rich record of their growth. Teachers can highlight a student’s progress from an early exploration of a concept to a more refined understanding demonstrated in later projects.

These portfolios go beyond test scores and grades; they help educators, parents, and students themselves visualize the trajectory of learning. Instead of a snapshot, the portfolio offers a vivid timeline—illuminating how a student’s thinking has evolved, where they’ve struggled, and how they’ve ultimately succeeded.

This approach resonates deeply within the classroom. Rather than fixating on isolated, high-stakes tests, students participate in activities designed to foster critical thinking, creativity, and conceptual mastery. Projects may involve research, multimedia presentations, experiments, or reflective journals—tasks that require curiosity, problem-solving, and adaptability. The outcome is a more meaningful gauge of student understanding: Are they able to connect ideas across domains? Can they apply their knowledge in real-world scenarios? Have they internalized the content well enough to use it flexibly rather than just repeating it back?

As a result, teachers gain meaningful insights into student progress that inform next steps—where to offer additional support, how to challenge learners further, or when to celebrate a student’s new level of achievement. These informed instructional choices create a classroom culture that values growth, encourages continuous improvement, and empowers students to become thoughtful, engaged, and autonomous learners.

Collaboration and Community of Educators

Within Seesaw’s community of educators, teachers collaborate, share best practices, and exchange resources through features like the class blog. Educators can select and assign activities from an industry-leading third-party learnplatform, ensuring robust quality and adherence to accepted educational standards. Guided by practitioner experience and Seesaw’s curriculum experts, teachers enhance their instructional approaches to deliver high-quality instruction consistently.

Conclusion: A Platform That Enhances the Learning Process

Seesaw ultimately simplifies classroom workflows, ensures easy progress monitoring, and encourages frequent sharing of student posts for continuous feedback. With tools like the exit button to conclude activities and clear front-of-class modeling, Seesaw elevates both whole-class instruction and individualized learning opportunities.

Anchored in extensive educational research, Seesaw is more than a digital tool—it is a catalyst for deep learning insights, equitable learning experiences, and enduring student progress.