School placement resources
Choose the path that matches the decision in front of you: build the lists, improve balance, justify a better process, or plan the school year around placement.
These guides explain the planning and review work whether you use paper, spreadsheets, or software. Shibutz can generate drafts from your roster and rules; staff make the final decisions.
New to some of the terms here? The class placement glossary defines the placement vocabulary behind these guides, like heterogeneous grouping and cluster grouping.
Make the lists
Start here when placement season is in front of you and the task is simply to build fair, defensible class lists without drowning in spreadsheets.
Work through the full process using 72 fictional students, three unequal rooms, a move log, and before-and-after balance checks.
Four editable Word templates for teacher input, staff review, family communication, and final sign-off.
The actual product workflow, including import review, classroom limits, saved results, and staff approval before export.
A practical checklist for creating balanced class lists that support students and reduce administrative stress.
Improve balance
Use this path when the lists technically work, but teacher workload, student support needs, friendships, or parent input still feel uneven.
Techniques for creating classroom environments where every student has a fairer chance to thrive.
Avoid common class list mistakes with concrete fixes that support students and teachers.
Handle parent requests without letting individual preferences override balanced class placement.
Prove the cost
Use this path when your team knows manual placement is painful, but needs sharper language and numbers to explain why the process should change.
Use a labeled planning example to compare staff effort, elapsed working time, and calendar lead time without unsupported savings claims.
A cost worksheet that counts each hour once and includes the costs of changing the process.
Five warning signs that your school needs a better class assignment system, with practical ways to respond.
Use Shibutz
Short product and procurement notes for administrators evaluating how Shibutz imports roster data, catches issues, reuses setup work, and protects privacy review time before generation.
Review student rosters with practical filters, queue students by cleanup or staff-review needs, and clear selected notes, friend requests, or roster rows in bulk.
A practical privacy due-diligence guide for principals reviewing student placement software, with GDPR boundaries and source-to-claim notes.
Keep external SIS IDs on imported students and choose update, skip, or add-new for every possible duplicate before it is saved.
Save SIS column mappings for repeat student imports and follow quick export guides before uploading CSV or Excel rosters.
Review blocking errors and warnings before generation, and understand why passing local checks is not final staff approval.
Reuse a workspace as a separate planning scenario, then check the copied roster and rules before generating a new result.
Plan the year
Use this path when class lists are one part of a larger launch plan: staffing, communication, capacity limits, and the first weeks of school.
Checklist covering the big pieces of school-year preparation, from class lists to staff coordination.
Set individual max-student limits on each class, catch capacity problems before you generate, and add notes for your team.
The guides above explain the decisions and checks. In Shibutz, enter your roster, approved placement rules, and capacity limits to generate a draft. Review the result with staff before approving and exporting a class list.
See How Shibutz Builds Them →