Understand Account Types and Master Types in Ellevation

🔐 Account type(s) with default permissions to manage this: Administrator

💻 Tier(s) this is available for: Foundation, Essential, Pro

Ellevation's Account Types let you control what each staff member can see and do in the platform, keeping data access aligned with district roles and FERPA requirements. This article explains how the five default Account Types work, how they relate to Master Types, and what access each Master Type carries by default.

ℹ️ Note

The ability to create new custom Account Types is available in the Essential and Pro tiers only. In the Foundation tier, you can rename and adjust permissions on the five default Account Types, but you cannot create additional custom types. If you don't see the option to create a new Account Type, check with your Ellevation Administrator.

In this article:

• Ellevation's Five Default Account Types
• Master Types vs. Account Types
• Understanding the Different Master Types

To learn how to create, edit, and manage Account Types, see Manage Account Types and Permissions.

Ellevation's Five Default Account Types

Ellevation includes five default Account Types designed to reflect the most common roles in a district. Each default Account Type shares its name with one of the five Ellevation Master Types:

• Administrator
• Specialist
• Principal
• Teacher
• View-Only

📝 The five default Account Types as they appear on the Manage Account Types page.

You cannot delete these five default Account Types. However, you have the flexibility to:

• Change the name and description of any default Account Type
• Edit the feature permissions associated with a default type
• Create new custom Account Types based on any existing type

Account Types are assigned to staff automatically based on your district's SIS data: staff roles and titles are mapped to a specific Account Type during integration setup. If the five default types already match your district's needs, no additional configuration is required. You can customize some, all, or none of the defaults, and you can manually reassign an individual user's Account Type at any time.

💡 Quick Tip

Before creating custom Account Types, review the five defaults to see how close they are to your needs. Often, a small permission edit to an existing type is faster than building a new one from scratch.

For step-by-step instructions, see Manage Account Types and Permissions.

Master Types vs. Account Types

Ellevation has five fixed Master Types, Administrator, Principal, Specialist, Teacher, and View-Only, that serve as the underlying framework for all Account Types. Every Account Type in your district is aligned to exactly one Master Type, and that alignment determines baseline data access and platform behavior.

Account Types are the customizable layer: you can rename them, adjust feature permissions, and create as many custom types as your district needs. Master Types are fixed and cannot be edited, but multiple custom Account Types can point to the same Master Type. This lets you fine-tune permissions for distinct roles while keeping their core access level consistent.

Here is an example of how one district built out many custom Account Types and aligned them to Master Types:

📝 Example: A district with many custom Account Types, each aligned to one of the five Master Types.

Here is another district's setup, mixing default and custom Account Types:

📝 Example: A district using a combination of default and custom Account Types.

Understanding the Different Master Types

Each Master Type carries a default set of access rules that govern what users can see and do in Ellevation. The Administrator Master Type has the broadest default access to student data and features; access narrows as you move down the hierarchy. These rules apply regardless of what you name the Account Type. What matters is the Master Type it is aligned to.

📝 Student data access levels by Master Type. These levels are set by your SIS and are not editable.

You can customize names, descriptions, and feature permissions for any Account Type. However, three specific behaviors are determined by the Master Type and work as follows:

• View As: Some Master Types can view Ellevation as another Account Type or as a specific staff member, which is useful for troubleshooting. This permission is not editable. For more details, see View Ellevation as Another Account Type or User.
• Student Data Access: To support FERPA compliance, each Master Type has a defined scope of student data access. This is not editable. For example, users aligned to the Administrator Master Type can see all students across the district, while users aligned to the Teacher Master Type can only see students on their current class rosters.
• Navigation Bar and Menu Items (default permissions): What users see in Ellevation's top navigation defaults to their Master Type's settings. Unlike the two items above, this is editable at the Account Type level, meaning you can adjust feature visibility for custom Account Types even when they share a Master Type.
  • This is one of the key advantages of creating custom Account Types: two roles can share the same Master Type but have slightly different navigation access. See Manage Account Types and Permissions to learn how.

💡 Quick Tip

Custom Account Types aligned to the same Master Type can have different navigation permissions. For example, an ELA Teacher and a Gen Ed Teacher can both use the Teacher Master Type while having distinct access to specific Ellevation features. This lets you tailor the experience for EL specialists without changing their underlying data access.

The illustration below shows how ELA Teachers and Gen Ed Teachers can both align to the Teacher Master Type while operating as two separate, role-based custom Account Types with different feature permissions:

📝 ELA Teachers and Gen Ed Teachers share the Teacher Master Type but can have different feature-level permissions.

Master Type Access Reference Table

This table shows the non-editable access levels for each Master Type. School associations and course schedule data are determined by your SIS integration.

Master Type	Account Types That Typically Use This Master Type	Student Data Access Level (determined by your SIS)	View As Access Level
Administrator	Administrator, EL Admin, EL Coordinator, Program Director, etc.	Can see all student data at all schools in the district	Can View As... Users with a Master Type of Specialist, Principal, Teacher, or View-Only Account Types with a Master Type of Specialist, Principal, Teacher, or View-Only
Specialist	EL Specialist, EL Teacher, Instructional Coach, etc.	Can only see student data at their assigned school(s)	Can View As... Account Types with a Master Type of Principal, Teacher, or View-Only Cannot view as specific individual users
Principal	Principal, Assistant Principal, etc.	Can only see student data at their assigned school(s)	Can View As... Account Types with a Master Type of Teacher or View-Only Cannot view as specific individual users
Teacher	Teacher, Classroom Teacher, Math Teacher, Homeroom Teacher, etc.	Can only see student data for students on their current class rosters	None
View-Only	Superintendent, Testing Coordinator, etc.	Can only see student data at their assigned school(s)	None

ℹ️ Note

Student Data Access and View As permissions are determined entirely by Master Type and cannot be edited at the Account Type level. If a user's data access seems incorrect, confirm that their Account Type is aligned to the right Master Type and that their SIS data (school association or course schedule) is accurate.

View Your District's Master Type Assignments

To see which Master Type each of your district's Account Types is aligned to, navigate to the Manage Account Types page:

1. Select the Admin menu icon (⚙️) in the top-right corner of the navigation bar.
2. Click User Management.
3. Select Account Types.

The Master Type for each Account Type is displayed in the table on this page.