Table of Contents

Requesting Apps and Chrome Extensions

Rhianon Gutierrez Updated by Rhianon Gutierrez

Our Commitment

The Boston Public Schools has pledged to use interoperable standards as much as possible when designing our technical specifications. These standards are designed for safety & security with a goal of maximizing learning time for our students & teachers. Each standard is designed to minimize the onboarding and adoption time for new applications so that our teachers and students can utilize every minute of the day for safe & secure learning.

We recommend partnering with BPSTechnology early on to ensure the app that you want to use meets our technology standards or that there is a pathway to meeting them in the near future.
Technology Standards
Any apps that will be considered for student or staff use must meet our technology standards. Please review our document for more information.
Approved Apps
Click here to review the list of approved apps. This list is constantly evolving.

If you do not see an app listed, please follow the Requesting Apps process on this page to get your app considered for approval.

Vendor Submission

All vendors must submit requests for their apps to be approved using the App Approval Form.

In addition, if the application is: (1) a districtwide application or in use by multiple schools AND (2) involves the sharing of student data, the vendor will need to fill out the NDA Request Form to request to sign the MA Data Privacy Agreement (DPA). The request will be reviewed by BPSTechnology (OIIT) and the Office of Data and Accountability (ODA). Once reviewed, a representative at the company will receive an email to sign the MA DPA via DocuSign.

Requesting Apps

  1. The vendor fills out the App Approval Form. Apps are reviewed by a member of BPSTechnology within 48 hours to see if they meet our technology standards, then added to our apps list at the bottom of this page with the status of "Approved," "Under Review," or "Not Approved."
  2. If the application is: (1) a districtwide application or in use by multiple schools AND (2) involves the sharing of student data, the vendor will need to fill out the NDA Request Form to request to sign the MA Data Privacy Agreement (DPA). The request will be reviewed by BPSTechnology (OIIT) and the Office of Data and Accountability (ODA). Once reviewed, a representative at the company will receive an email to sign the MA DPA via DocuSign.
  3. If this is a paid app, the vendor works with a representative at the school or district level to get a quote and submits it to the BPS Business Office. This office hands all purchases done at the school and district level. See the list of procurement partners. 
    Please note: Schools/Departments should not be signing any document(s) from vendors/partners. Any questions and all such documents should be routed through your procurement partner.
  4. If the application supports a Clever integration, a BPS representative (at the school or district level) fills out the Clever Request Form to request for the app to be added to a school's Clever portal. The app will then be added by the BPS Clever Admin once the purchase is confirmed.

Requesting Chrome Extensions

Extensions in the Chrome Web Store can be installed by single users (staff and/or students) once approved.

If you come across an application that you would like to use with your BPS Gmail, please follow the steps below.

  1. Go to bostonpublicschools.org/techhelp and sign in. Open a ticket.
  2. Subject Line: Chrome Extension Request: [Name of Extension].
  3. In the body of your ticket:
  • Paste the link to the Chrome extension
  • Specify the audience: staff only, or staff and students
  • Specify the purpose of why you want to access the Chrome extension
Please note that all Chrome extensions will be reviewed for safety and security prior to being granted access.

Requesting iOS Apps

All BPS iPads come with a set of Apple's native apps like Safari, Messages, Reminders, Calendar, and more. These apps are pre-installed and cannot be removed. For anything that is not native, start by exploring Self Service on your iPad.

If an app isn’t in Self Service, find it in the App Store and share the link through the iOS App Request Form. Once approved, it’ll show up in Self Service and you’ll get an email when it’s ready to download.

Requesting AI Apps

Click here for a list of BPS approved AI tools. If you would like to request an app that is not on this list, please follow the App Request Process.

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