Frequently Asked Questions
General
MeritBoard builds certified proof of what students can actually do — a consistent, rubric-based record of student merit, verified by the teacher and certified by MeritBoard, scored by a multi-model computer panel. Unlike a self-asserted résumé, every contest result is reviewed and verified by a teacher before it is published. In practice, K-12 teachers create photography, art, and writing contests in the classroom, invite other teachers to compete head-to-head in Challenges, or run multi-teacher Group Contests. The computer scores student submissions, the teacher verifies the results, and MeritBoard certifies them — they become rankings, certificates, share cards, and animated results reels.
MeritBoard supports nine contest types:
- Photography — photo submissions
- Physical Art — paintings, drawings, sculptures, etc.
- Digital Art — digital illustrations and designs
- Poetry — poems — default limit 3,000 characters, adjustable per contest
- Persuasive Writing — essays — default limit 10,000 characters, adjustable per contest
- Creative Writing — stories — default limit 15,000 characters, adjustable per contest
- Speech — a speech or performance delivered on camera (video)
- Questions — a proctored question sitting, ranked by score
- Mixed / Other — any format you choose
We use a computer panel — two independent models that score the same work separately, plus a third that settles close results — to score student submissions against clear rubric criteria like composition, creativity, technical quality, and originality. You can also add custom scoring criteria for each contest. The panel produces scores, constructive feedback, and a draft ranking — but a teacher reviews and must Confirm & Publish every result before anything is shared.
Yes! Teachers have full control. After computer scoring, you can adjust rankings, modify recognition tiers (medals, ranks, honorable mentions), and customize how results are displayed. The computer is a tool to assist you, not replace your judgment.
Image contests (Photography, Physical Art, Digital Art): JPG, PNG, GIF, WebP, and HEIC — up to 10 MB per file.
Writing contests (Poetry, Persuasive Writing, Creative Writing): Type or paste text directly. Teachers can also upload PDF, DOC, DOCX, and TXT files; students submitting through their upload link type or paste their piece.
Video contests (Speech, or any writing contest set to “performed on camera”): MP4, MOV, and WebM — up to 150 MB per file.
Families
When a teacher who uses MeritBoard publishes results, they can send you a family link, by email or on a printed sheet with a QR code. Open it, create a free family account, and your child’s awards are already there.
No. Create a free family account, add up to 2 children and start the portfolio yourself. Contest results and a MeritScore come from a teacher who uses MeritBoard, through the family link they send you.
Free: up to 2 children, the full portfolio, results, certificates, the Opportunity Board, 10 College Counselor messages and 5 Tutor sessions a month. Premium ($12/month or $99/year) adds unlimited children, Standings, the Merit Record book, Portfolio Studio, no monthly limit on the Counselor and the Tutor, saved Opportunity Board searches and member pricing on Mementos.
You decide. In your family account you choose what is visible, who can see it and whether your child’s profile appears anywhere public. Results a teacher publishes show a first name and last initial, or a display name the teacher chose.
Written feedback is for the teacher, who uses it to review the ranking before publishing. Families see the placement, the work and the certificate.
MeritScore
A score from short tests a teacher gives in class: 5 questions in 5 minutes, answered in the student’s own words. There is a score for each of 5 categories (math, science, history and social studies, language arts, and general knowledge) and, once there is enough evidence, an Overall.
200 is the average MeritBoard student. Above 200 is above that average. It is not a grade level, a state standard or a percent correct. The percent shown under a score compares the student only with MeritBoard students in the same grade.
Only when a teacher gives a proctored test in class. Practice at home helps a child learn, but it never creates or moves a MeritScore, and a parent cannot give that test.
Scores update as more tests come in, so they move, especially early on. A score is marked provisional until 10 proctored tests this school year. After that it is steadier, but it can still move as new results come in.
A letter from A to D that rates how much weight the score can bear: how many answers are behind it, how recent they are, how many months they span, how much of the portfolio is filled in, and whether any integrity flags were raised. It rates the record, never your child’s performance.
You, in your family account, and the teachers who gave the tests. If you share your child’s profile, it shows at most a “Top 10%, 25% or 50%” band among MeritBoard students in the same grade, never the score itself. Verified colleges, scholarships, employers and programs on MeritBoard can find your child only if you opt in, and they never contact students directly.
Challenges & Groups
A Challenge is a head-to-head contest between two teachers. You invite another teacher by email, and each of you uploads submissions from your students. The computer scores all submissions together and crowns a winner. It’s a fun way to spark friendly competition between classrooms!
When creating a new contest, select Challenge as the scope. Then:
- Enter your opponent’s email address
- Set the number of submissions per teacher (1–10)
- Optionally set a submission deadline and custom scoring criteria
- Choose whether you want host override (the ability to adjust results before publishing)
Your opponent will receive an email invitation. If they don’t have a MeritBoard account yet, they’ll be invited to sign up. They can review the contest details before accepting or declining.
A Group contest lets multiple teachers in a MeritBoard Group compete together. All group members can upload submissions from their students, and the computer scores everything in a single pool. It’s great for grade-level, department-wide, or school-wide competitions.
Groups are collections of teachers that you create or join. From the Groups page on your dashboard, you can:
- Create a new group and invite teachers by email
- Accept or decline group invitations
- Run Group contests that all members participate in
To run a Group contest, select Group when creating a contest, then choose which group to use.
Challenges and Group Contests only count towards the creator’s subscription limit, and only once the contest is completed. If another teacher invites you to a Challenge or runs a Group Contest, it does not use any of your contest slots. You need a Pro plan or higher to create Challenges and Group Contests.
Pricing & Plans
Yes! Our Free plan includes:
- Up to 30 students
- 2 completed contests every month — free forever
- Computer-assisted scoring, certificates, and sharing
Pro — $12/month or $98/year
- Up to 150 students
- Unlimited contests (fair-use)
- Challenge and Group contests
- Up to 20 open or draft contests at a time
School — seat-banded for schools: 10 seats $99/mo ($990/yr), 30 seats $199/mo ($1,990/yr), 50 seats $299/mo ($2,990/yr)
- Everything in Pro, for every teacher on the plan
- Admin dashboard, org billing & invoicing
- School-wide contests, and a list of your school’s recent contests on the admin dashboard
District — custom pricing for 50+ seats and multi-school rollups
- Everything in School, at district scale
- Dedicated onboarding, purchase orders & invoicing
- Contact support@mymeritboard.com
Only contests that have been scored by the computer count toward your limit. Open and draft contests don’t count — you can have up to 20 of them at a time — and the limit only applies when you run computer scoring.
Yes! Cancel anytime with no penalties. You’ll retain access through the end of your current billing period. All past contests and results remain accessible even after cancellation.
Yes! If your school requires a purchase order or check payment, you can generate a pre-payment invoice from your Invoice page. You’ll need to be signed in — a free account is enough.
Using MeritBoard
- Sign up with your school email
- Add your students
- Create a contest
- Upload student submissions
- Run computer scoring
- Share results, certificates, and the animated results reel!
Usually 1–3 minutes depending on the number of submissions. You’ll see a progress indicator while the computer analyzes each entry.
Yes. You can have up to 20 open or draft contests at a time. Only completed (scored) contests count toward your monthly limit.
Yes. From a contest’s page, generate a private upload link for each student — they submit their own work through it with no account, and the link expires. Teachers can also upload on a student’s behalf. Students never get MeritBoard accounts, which is how we keep COPPA simple.
All past contests remain accessible in your dashboard. You can still view results, certificates, and share cards. You just won’t be able to create new contests beyond your plan’s limit.
Privacy & Security
Yes. MeritBoard is FERPA- and COPPA-conscious. Student data is encrypted in transit and at rest, stored securely, and never sold to third parties. A student’s private records are visible only to their teacher and to a parent who has linked that child to their family account; contest results a teacher chooses to publish can be seen by anyone with the link. Read our full Privacy Policy.
Yes. Under our Privacy Policy, teachers are responsible for obtaining parental consent before uploading student work — and it matters most if you plan to share results publicly. Follow your school’s policies on student privacy and photo releases.
Yes. Results stay private until you publish them. Publishing makes the results page and student work visible to anyone with the link and lists it in the public MeritBoard directory — you can make it private again at any time.
Yes. Teachers can delete students, submissions, and entire contests at any time. Deleted items leave your dashboard immediately and are permanently purged from our systems after a 30-day grace period.
Support
Contact us and we’ll help you out! We typically respond within 24 hours.
Absolutely! We build based on teacher feedback. Use our contact form to share your ideas.
MeritBoard is designed to be intuitive, but we’re happy to provide onboarding sessions for schools and districts. Contact us to schedule.