Add students (child accounts and independent students)

There are two kinds of student accounts in MarkTrack: a child student (no email, no login — their parent manages everything) and an independent student (has an email and their own login). This guide shows every way to add students: one at a time, many at once with a CSV file, and automatically from enrollment applications. It also explains exactly which emails go out, so nobody on your end is surprised.

The child/adult choice matters because it changes what the student can do. A child student can never log in — MarkTrack keeps their login switched off no matter what. An independent student gets a temporary password by email and can sign in right away.

Before you start: parent first, child second

A child student must be linked to a parent, and the parent has to exist before you can add the child. If the family is new, create the parent account first (the Add Student window has a Create parent shortcut for this), then add the child.

Adding a child to another school or seeing an email-already-used warning? Follow Add an existing family to another school to reuse the right accounts.

Step 1 — Open the Students page

In the left sidebar, open People and click Students.
On desktop, open Actions for Add Student, Import Students, Former Students, and credential tools. On a phone, use the bottom Add Student shortcut; open Actions for importing or opening Former Students.

The Students page with its Actions menu open, showing Add Student, Import Students, Former Students, and credential options above the roster. — The Students page. Everything in this guide starts here.

The Former Students page has separate Withdrawn and Archived tabs. Use withdrawal when a student has left; archive is for duplicate or mistaken records. See Withdraw and reinstate a student for the return path.

Step 2 — Add one student

Click Add Student. The Add New Student window opens.
Type the student's Full Name (required).
Optionally pick a Date of Birth — the student's age is calculated automatically from it.
Now decide the account type with the Student is a child (no email/login account) checkbox. It is checked by default.

The Add New Student modal in its default child-student mode: Full Name and Date of Birth fields, the checked 'Student is a child (no email/login account)' checkbox, the required Parent/Guardian dropdown with the 'Parent must be created first!' hint, and the 'Managed by Parent' notice. — The Add New Student window. "Student is a child" is checked by default.

Option A — Child student (checkbox checked)

The email and phone fields disappear — a child student doesn't need them.
Parent/Guardian becomes required. Pick the parent from the Choose a parent... dropdown.
If the parent isn't in the list yet, click the Create parent link, create them, then come back.
Click Create Student. No email is sent. The student has no password and can never log in — their parent sees their grades, attendance, and billing through the parent account.

A child does not need an email address

The child's parent signs in to see the child's information. Keep the parent's email on the Parent account; do not create a second Student login just to give a child access to the parent portal.

Option B — Independent student (checkbox unchecked)

Uncheck Student is a child. The form switches: Email Address becomes required, Phone Number is optional, and the parent dropdown becomes optional ("Optionally link this student to a parent/guardian").
Click Create Student. MarkTrack generates a temporary password and emails it to the student right away (subject: "Welcome to [your organization] - Your Login Credentials").
You can still link a parent — an independent student with a linked parent sees their own work, but the parent handles the billing. An independent student with no parent linked manages their own invoices and payments.

The Add New Student modal with the child checkbox unchecked: the required Email Address field with the note 'Login credentials will be created and emailed to this address', an optional Phone Number field, the now-optional parent dropdown, and the Login Credentials notice saying a temporary password will be generated and emailed. — Uncheck the box and the form switches to independent-student mode.

Either way, the new student is automatically added to the school you're currently viewing. If you opened the Add Student window from inside a class, the student is also enrolled into that class.

If the email is already connected

Email addresses must be unique within your organization, but a person may use the same address in another organization. If the address belongs to an existing person here, first check their role and profile: add an existing parent to the school and link the child to that parent; add an existing student to another school from the student's profile; do not try to create a second account with the same email. An address used by a Parent, Teacher, or Admin cannot be reused for a Student account in this organization. If the profile is archived, restore and reuse it when appropriate instead of creating a duplicate. For an address not found in this organization, check the spelling and confirm it is the family's intended sign-in address before creating the account. A person in another organization can keep their existing password when added here.

Step 3 — Import a family spreadsheet

For a roster, open Actions → Import Students. The Import Students window offers two modes:

Template Import is instant and free for a MarkTrack template CSV. Choose the Families template for parents and children, or Students only for independent student accounts. The column order may vary, but the headers must match the downloaded template.
AI Import accepts a family spreadsheet with a different layout or column names. It can take a few minutes while MarkTrack reads the file.
Choose the school or schools where the imported people should be added. Check the selections before continuing.
Upload a CSV for Template Import. AI Import accepts CSV or Excel files up to 25 MB.
Review the full import plan before anything is created. Confirm a suggested match only when the existing account is the same person; otherwise correct the spreadsheet and import again.
Choose whether to email login credentials right away or send them later, then create the accounts.

The Import Students dialog with Template Import selected, showing the Families and Students only template headers, download links, spreadsheet upload, and school selections. — Template Import lists the supported family and student layouts and the schools that will receive the records.

During review, MarkTrack separates the rows into these groups:

Accounts to create lists new parents and students. A student with their own email gets a login; a student without one is a child under a parent.
Matched existing accounts are reused and added to the selected school or schools. MarkTrack can link a parent to the family where the relationship is not already set.
Possible matches need your decision. Check the box only when the person in the file is the existing account holder; leaving it unchecked creates a new account.
Need attention and Skipped rows explain what must be corrected or cannot be imported, such as a duplicate address or an archived parent.

New accounts and reused accounts are handled separately

The review page lists new accounts, matched accounts, possible matches, and rows that need attention or will be skipped. Choose whether new login credentials should be emailed now or later. Existing-account matches keep their existing sign-in; they are not issued a new password. The import does not place students into classes. Review the completion page for created, reused, and skipped counts, and open the import details if you need the row-by-row results.

Students created from enrollment applications

If a family applied through one of your online enrollment forms, you don't need to retype anything — accepting the application can create the accounts for you. Four ways this happens:

The parent confirms by email: your acceptance email contains a confirmation link; when the parent clicks it, MarkTrack creates the parent account (if new), the student account(s), and the enrollment, then sends an "Enrollment Confirmed" email.
Auto-accept: if the form is set to auto-accept, all of that happens the moment the application is submitted.
The "Create Student" button on a single application's detail page — you create the accounts yourself, instantly. Family applications create every sibling in one go. It's safe to click only once; a second click just tells you "This application has already been converted to a student."
The bulk "Create accounts for N applicants" button on the Accepted tab of Enrollments → Applications — creates accounts and invoices for every eligible accepted applicant at once and emails the login details. Applicants on pay-on-the-form forms are skipped (they get accounts when they pay). You'll get an in-app notification when the batch finishes, with created/skipped/failed counts.

In all four cases: new parents get a "Your Parent Account Has Been Created" email with their password, children are created as child students (no login), and an adult who applied for themselves gets an independent account plus a "Your Student Account Has Been Created" email. Forms set to "no accounts" (interest forms) never create accounts.

One more path: self-signup with your organization code

If you share your organization code, people can register themselves on the public sign-up page. Self-registered accounts default to a Student account in your organization's first school.

Sending (and resending) login details

Two tools on the Students page handle passwords after the fact:

Send Credentials (per student, in the table row): generates a fresh temporary password and emails it to that student. After the first send the button reads Resend. It disappears once the student has actually logged in.
Send All Credentials (N) (in the Actions menu at the top of the page): does the same for every student in the current school who has an email and has never been given login details. Students who already have login details but have never signed in (from an earlier send, a welcome email, or a list you imported) are listed separately in the confirmation, under a Resend box, and are only included if you tick it. Students who have signed in are never included. Child students are skipped — they have no login.

Every send resets the password

Each click generates a new temporary password and the old one stops working. Send All Credentials leaves anyone who already has login details alone unless you tick Resend. If you do, the password they were given is dead and they'll need the newest email.

Want to add the adults too? See Add teachers, add admins, and add parents, or browse all guides in Users & Accounts.