---
title: Importing students
category: student-management
order: 2
lastUpdated: 2026-06-08
featureAvailability: GA
roles: [admin]
navigationPath: Administration → Imports → Students
relatedArticles: [administration/teachers, integrations/canvas-lms, integrations/sis, integrations/csv-imports, administration/import-history]
---

## At a glance

- **Who uses it:** Admins rostering students at the start of each school year (or mid-year for new arrivals).
- **When to use it:** Once at year start, plus periodic deltas — or skip if you use Canvas / SIS sync.
- **Permissions required:** Administrator.
- **Navigation path:** Administration → Imports → Students.

## Purpose

Bulk-create or update student records and (optionally) attach them to teachers and facilitators in one CSV.

## CSV columns

Two import shapes are supported:

### Students (identity only)

| Column | Required | Notes |
|---|:---:|---|
| `student_id` | ✓ | Your district's stable ID. Used as the alias for future imports. |
| `first_name` | ✓ | |
| `last_name` | ✓ | |
| `grade` | ✓ | e.g. `5`, `K`, `9`. |
| `preferred_name` |  | If different from first name. |
| `homeroom` |  | |
| `email` |  | Only set if the student will use a portal feature. |

### Student assignments (link to teachers / facilitators)

| Column | Required | Notes |
|---|:---:|---|
| `student_id` | ✓ | Must match an existing student. |
| `teacher_email` |  | Existing teacher in AmplifyED. |
| `facilitator_email` |  | Existing facilitator. |

## Before you begin

- Confirm your plan's student capacity. Imports that would exceed it are blocked before any rows are created.
- For assignments, the teacher and facilitator emails must already exist in AmplifyED — import them first (see [Managing teachers](/help/administration/teachers)).
- Keep a backup copy of your source CSV.

## Step-by-step

1. **Administration → Imports → Students → Upload CSV**.
2. Upload the file. AmplifyED parses the headers and shows a preview.
3. Review the preview: new rows, updates, and any errors are listed separately.
4. Click **Confirm import**. Progress is shown live.
5. When complete, the batch appears in [Import history](/help/administration/import-history).

[SCREENSHOT: admin-imports-students-preview]
_Administration → Imports → Students preview screen showing 200 new, 35 updated, 2 errors._

## Tips & best practices

- Run a small test file (10 students) on a fresh school year before doing the full roster.
- For assignments, build a single combined CSV instead of separate per-teacher files.
- Re-importing the same CSV is safe — existing rows update rather than duplicate.

## Common mistakes

- Missing `student_id` — every row is rejected.
- Importing assignments before the matching teachers exist — assignment rows fail.
- Changing `student_id` between imports — creates duplicates. Use aliases instead.

## Related articles

- [Managing teachers](/help/administration/teachers)
- [Canvas LMS](/help/integrations/canvas-lms)
- [SIS integrations](/help/integrations/sis)
- [CSV imports](/help/integrations/csv-imports)
- [Import history](/help/administration/import-history)

## FAQ

**Can I import via Google Sheets?**
Export the sheet to CSV first.

**What encoding should the CSV use?**
UTF-8. Apostrophes and accented characters in student names will display incorrectly with other encodings.