This article contains the following:
1. Overview
2. Setting up Clever Passwords
3. District Details and Login Hints
4. Resetting Passwords
Overview
In addition to other Clever-supported Identity Providers (IDPs) like Google and Active Directory, districts can also choose to utilize Clever Passwords for Clever single sign-on (SSO). With Clever Passwords, district admins determine what login credentials should be used for students, teachers and staff.
When district users navigate to your district's Clever login page, they will enter their username and password. In cases where a district uses multiple IDPs, users will select 'Log in with Clever' to enter their credentials.
Please note: Clever Passwords are provisioned once and are not dynamically updated to match newly synced data from your student information system (SIS). District Admins must manage passwords after the first-time provision. Please see Static Credentials and Resetting Passwords for more on this!
Setting up Clever Passwords
To setup Clever Passwords for your district, navigate to your district dashboard > Portal > SSO Settings page, and select 'Add Login Method'. Then, select 'Clever Passwords Authentication'.
Configuring credentials for students, teachers, and staff
There are a variety of usernames and passwords available based on the data that is synced to Clever from your student information system (SIS).
Username options:
- student number / teacher number / staff ID
- email address
- SIS ID
- or the district username uploaded in your sync
- For this option, you'll need to make sure your district has usernames populated in your student information system (SIS) that are syncing to Clever. If you're syncing data to Clever via SFTP, please see the Clever SFTP Specifications for instructions on adding usernames. If you're using an Auto Sync, please contact Clever support so we can assist with adding this information into the Clever sync.
Password options:
- student number / teacher number / staff ID
- district password uploaded in your sync
- SIS ID
- Birthday in the following formats: MM/DD/YYYY; MMDDYYYY; M/D/YYYY
- custom password (these can be an individual word(s), or a custom formula
- Contact Clever support for information on custom formulas!
Configuring password reset options
If your district prefers to prevent users from resetting their own passwords, uncheck the 'Allow XXXX to change their passwords' and 'Force XXXX to change their password on first login' boxes.
This means users of the selected user type (student, teacher or staff) will not be able to reset their own passwords. Each user type can be set up with different password reset permissions.
If your district would like to provide teachers with the ability to reset student passwords in their behalf, check the box for 'Allow teachers to change student passwords' in Step 1 of 3.
District admins also have the ability to reset student or teacher passwords individually or by user type. Please see Resetting Passwords for more on this!
Static Credentials
It is important to note that, after the initial setup of Clever Passwords for your district, user passwords will not be dynamically updated as new or updated data is synced to Clever from your SIS.
- For example: If your district has set up student passwords to be their birthdates, and then you update a student's birthdate in your SIS, their password will not automatically be updated in Clever to reflect the new birthdate.
To resolve this, it is sometimes necessary to manually update a student or teacher's password in Clever, or run a password reset for all students, teachers or staff. Please see Resetting Passwords for more on this!
District Details and Login Hints
Login Hints
As a way to help district users, you can add login hints for Clever Passwords that will appear on your district's Clever login page (e.g. Student Password = 10-digit Student Number, Teacher Username = Teacher ID).
To add login hints, click on the Customize tab from your SSO Settings page. In the example below, hints have been provided for Login with Clever, but not for Login with Google.
Customize Login Options
The Clever login page be further customized by:
- Editing selection option text (e.g. Log in with Google or Google Login)
- Editing login method order
Please note: These options are only available if you have multiple IDP SSO methods set up in Clever. If Clever Passwords is your only SSO method, users will simply see a username and password box when accessing your district portal, and will not be provided with a selection option.
Tech Support Contact
We also highly recommend you enter a 'Tech Support Contact' for your district. This information will be available to users experiencing various login issues who select the 'Get help logging in!' option from your district's Clever login page.
Clever Tip: The Tech Support Contact field can contain an individual or multiple email addresses, a URL for a website, or a directional sentence letting users know what to do in the event of login issues.
Resetting Passwords
It is important to note that, after the initial setup of Clever Passwords for your district, user passwords will not be dynamically updated as new or updated data is synced to Clever from your SIS.
- For example: If your district has set up student passwords to be their birthdates, and then you update a student's birthdate in your SIS, their password will not automatically be updated in Clever to reflect the new birthdate.
To resolve this, it is sometimes necessary to manually update a student or teacher's password in Clever, or run a password reset for all students, teachers or staff.
Depending on your current SSO Settings for each user type, the password reset option might be available for some users to reset their own passwords, or for teachers to reset student passwords. Users who reset their own passwords must have an email address in Clever for the password reset to work.
Please note: District admins are able to reset student or teacher passwords in Clever, but do not have the ability to reset staff passwords.
Students, teachers and staff resetting their own passwords
- From the district's login page, they will select the ‘Get help logging in!’ option.
- Then, they'll select 'Reset your password' to have a password reset link sent to their email address in Clever.
Please note: If your district has enabled this feature, teachers can reset student passwords by following the instructions in this article: For Teachers: Troubleshooting student login issues
District Admins Resetting Passwords
To reset individual user passwords:
- View the username and reset the password for any student or teacher in your district by following these steps:
- Navigate to your Support Tools > Data Browser to locate the user.
- Click on the user's name to view their details card.
- From there, you can view their username or reset their password. The user will then be able to use the updated password the next time they log in to Clever.
Clever Tip: District admins can also reset student and teacher passwords by using the Clever district dashboard search bar to locate the user, and then clicking on the arrow icon to the far right of the user's profile page.
To reset all credentials back to the default setting by user type (student, teacher or staff):
- Navigate to your Portal > SSO Settings page.
- Select the 'Edit settings' option for Clever Passwords.
- Check the box for 'Reset all student usernames and passwords now.' if you would like to reset all student passwords back to the default. Leave the box unchecked if you do not want student passwords updated.
- Select 'Next'.
- You can also choose to reset teacher and staff credentials in steps 2 and 3 if desired.
- Select 'Next' until you get to the option to 'Save'.
- It will take about 15 minutes to complete, and then your users should be able to log in with their default credentials.
- For additional information, please visit: Clever Passwords: Troubleshooting User Login Issues
If you have any questions about setting up Clever Passwords, please reach out to Clever support! We are happy to help!