Set Up Pear Deck for Your District

IT admins control district-wide deployment: approving Pear Deck in Google Workspace or your identity provider, configuring your network allow list, and rostering students through Google Classroom, Clever, or ClassLink. Teachers control their own lessons, sessions, and class rosters within the access you grant.

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Choose Your Rostering Method

Pear Deck supports 3 rostering methods. The method you choose determines how teachers and students authenticate, and who manages class rosters. If your district uses Google Workspace but does not use Clever or ClassLink, follow the Google Workspace setup below. Clever and ClassLink provide district-level rostering with your SIS. Either can be used alongside Google Workspace for SSO.

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Configure Google Workspace

Google Workspace setup covers 3 areas:

• Installing the Pear Deck for Google Slides add-on across your domain
• Approving Pear Deck as a trusted third-party app for students under 18
• Enabling SSO for teacher and student sign-in

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Install the Add-on Domain-Wide

1. Sign in to admin.google.com with a Google Workspace super admin account.
2. Navigate to Apps > Google Workspace Marketplace apps > Apps list.
3. Click Add app to domain install list.
4. Search for “Pear Deck” and select Pear Deck for Google Slides.
5. Click Domain Install and follow the prompts to complete the installation.

Verify the result: Ask a teacher to open Google Slides. The Pear Deck for Google Slides add-on should appear in the Extensions menu without any additional install steps on their part.

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Approve Pear Deck for Students under 18

Google Workspace requires explicit approval for third-party apps accessed by users under 18. Without this, students cannot sign in to Pear Deck sessions. See Approve Pear Deck as a Third-Party App in Google Workspace for the full steps, including how to add Pear Deck by Client ID if it does not appear in your configured apps list.

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Enable SSO

Pear Deck uses Google OAuth for SSO. Pear Deck does not require additional SSO configuration once your teachers and students authenticate through Google Workspace. Teachers sign in at app.peardeck.com using their Google Workspace credentials. Students join sessions through joinpd.com and authenticate with their Google accounts.

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Connect Clever

Clever syncs your SIS roster data to Pear Deck and enables Clever SSO for teachers and students.

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Add Pear Deck to Your Clever Library

1. Sign in to clever.com/app/district as a district administrator.
2. Click Add Apps in the left navigation.
3. Search for “Pear Deck” and click Request Access.
4. Follow Clever’s prompts to complete the application request. Pear Deck’s Clever integration team will confirm activation.

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Configure Class Sync in Clever

Once Pear Deck is active in your Clever library:

1. Open your Clever district dashboard.
2. Navigate to Applications > Pear Deck > Configure.
3. Select the sections and grade levels to sync to Pear Deck.
4. Save your configuration.

Clever sends roster data to Pear Deck on a nightly schedule. Teachers will see their Clever-synced classes in Pear Deck after the first sync completes. Verify the result: Ask a teacher to sign in to app.peardeck.com using Clever SSO. Their classes should appear in the Pear Deck class list. For additional Clever-specific configuration, including troubleshooting sync errors and managing access by school or section, see the Clever sync guide in your Clever district dashboard under Applications > Pear Deck > Help.

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Provision with ClassLink

ClassLink provisioning creates Pear Deck accounts for teachers and students from your SIS and enables ClassLink SSO.

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Provision Pear Deck in ClassLink

1. Sign in to your ClassLink district dashboard as an IT admin.
2. Navigate to App Library and search for “Pear Deck.”
3. Click Add to Library and select Provisioning when prompted.
4. Configure the rostering scope: select the schools, grade levels, or sections to provision.
5. Enable SSO by setting the application’s authentication type to ClassLink SSO.
6. Contact Pear Deck Support to complete the ClassLink provisioning connection on Pear Deck’s side. See Contact Support below.

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How ClassLink Manages Accounts

Once ClassLink provisioning is active, ClassLink manages account creation, updates, and deactivation for all provisioned users. Do not create or edit Pear Deck accounts manually for ClassLink-provisioned users. Changes to rosters, names, or email addresses should be made in your SIS and will sync to Pear Deck through ClassLink on the configured schedule. Teachers and students sign in to Pear Deck using their ClassLink credentials. They do not need a separate Pear Deck password.

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Configure Your Network Allow List

Pear Deck requires outbound access to several domains. If your district network uses a firewall or content filter, add the following domains to your allow list before deployment. Run the Pear Deck Network Test to identify any blocked domains on your network before teachers begin using Pear Deck in class. For the full list of network requirements, cookie domains, and Client IDs, see Technical Requirements.

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Access the Pear Deck Admin Dashboard

The Pear Deck admin dashboard gives IT admins and district admins visibility into district-wide usage, subscription status, and teacher accounts.

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Find the Dashboard

1. Sign in to app.peardeck.com using your administrator credentials.
2. Click your account name in the top-right corner.
3. Select Admin Dashboard from the dropdown menu.

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What You Can Do in the Dashboard

• View all teacher accounts in your district
• Review active and inactive subscription seats
• Manage school-level subscriptions and seat assignments
• Export a list of teacher accounts and usage data
• Transfer or reassign Pear Deck content when a teacher leaves your district

The admin dashboard shows district-level data only. Individual teacher lessons and student response data remain with the teacher who created them. For subscription management, including adding seats and managing billing, see Manage Your School Subscription.

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After Setup: What Teachers Need to Know

Once you complete district setup, share these resources with teachers to help them get started.

• Get Started with Pear Deck Slides: first-use steps for creating and presenting a lesson
• Use the Google Classroom Add-On: how teachers connect their Google Classroom rosters in Pear Deck
• Technical Requirements: device, browser, and network requirements to share with teachers before they begin

If teachers encounter sign-in issues after you complete setup, ask them to clear their browser cookies and attempt to sign in again. Most sign-in issues resolve after the first successful authentication.

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Contact Support

Contact Pear Deck Support for:

• Activating Clever or ClassLink provisioning connections
• Resolving sync errors that persist after 24 hours
• Resetting admin dashboard permissions
• Any deployment issue that cannot be resolved through self-serve steps

Reach support at help.peardeck.com or by contacting your Pear Deck account representative.