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For Teachers: Completing Recommendations

Students use Scoir to request teacher recommendation letters to support their college applications. Your letter gives colleges a deeper understanding of who the student is—beyond just grades and test scores.

When a student sends you a request in Scoir, you’ll get an email notification. You can follow the link in that email to go straight to the request, or log into Scoir to view and manage all of your requests on your teacher dashboard.

May 2025: Updates to the Teacher Recommendation Process

We’ve made changes to help schools strengthen teacher recommendations and get ready for the Scoir + Common App integration.

What’s new for teachers:

  • Teachers will now complete new required fields and optional student ratings.
  • Teachers will be asked to review and enter required profile information when they log in. This only needs to be done once.
  • Any submitted Class of 2026 recommendations will return to Outstanding Requests so you can add the new required fields. Your original letter will still be visible in the Short Recommendations section for reference. Just click Edit to update and resubmit the recommendation.

Schools planning to use the Scoir + Common App integration must include the new evaluation details in all teacher recommendations submitted for Common App applications.

While a setting is available for school administrators to disable these fields, it should only be turned off if your school does not plan to use the Common App integration and does not intend to include this information with teacher recommendations.

Keep in mind, many selective colleges and universities place high value on these additional details when reviewing recommendations.

Watch a quick walkthrough of the updates, then continue reading for step-by-step instructions on completing a teacher recommendation:

Complete a recommendation request

  1. New recommendation requests appear in the Outstanding Requests section of your teacher dashboard.
    If you see a banner stating "Your profile is missing some required info. Please update in order to complete recommendations," you’ll need to update your profile before the recommendation is considered complete. This is a one-time step and won’t be required again after your profile is updated.
  1. If your school has granted access, click the student’s name to view their college list, extracurriculars, and any shared surveys or forms—this can provide helpful context as you write your letter.
    1. Click View to see form or survey responses. If it isn’t available, the student has not completed the shared survey or form yet.
    You’ll only see student info if your school allows teacher access, the student requested a recommendation from you, and the counselor shared any forms.

    If you don’t have access but believe you should, contact your school’s Scoir Admin.
  2. When you’re ready to begin, click Add next to the student’s request.
  3. If your school has enabled evaluations, complete the required evaluation fields. You can choose whether or not to include the optional student ratings using the toggle. When ratings are enabled, all 16 fields become required.
  4. Choose how to provide your short recommendation based on your school's settings:
    1. Upload a PDF: Click Upload Recommendation, then select + Choose a file.
    2. Write in Scoir: Click Write Recommendation and compose your letter.
  5. As you complete the recommendation, you can save your progress at any time by clicking Save & Close. The request will remain in the Outstanding section until it’s fully completed. When you’re ready to continue, just click Edit next to the request.
  6. Once completed, the request will move to the Completed section of your dashboard, and the student will be notified in Scoir. A single PDF will be generated, which includes your profile info, evaluation details, student ratings (if added), and your letter. This document will be visible to counselors for review and will only be sent to colleges automatically if your school is configured to do so.
  7. You can click View next to the request to see or download the final PDF. Click Replace to upload or write a new version of your recommendation.

Write a recommendation without a request

To write a recommendation for a student who didn’t submit a request:

  1. From your dashboard, click + Add New.
  2. Use the search fields to find and select the student. If it’s a college-specific recommendation, use the college field to search for and select the college.
  3. If enabled by your school, complete the evaluation and optional student ratings, then choose whether to upload your recommendation or write it directly in Scoir.
  4. When you're ready, click Submit.

Decline a recommendation request

To decline a request, find the student’s outstanding request and click Decline.

You’ll have the option to send a message, which you can edit or remove before submitting. The student will be notified in Scoir once their request is declined.

The request will also be moved to the Declined section of your dashboard for future reference.

Set your availability for Requests

If you're unavailable or receiving too many requests, use the Accepting Requests toggle on your dashboard to manage your availability.

Turn it on to allow new requests or off to automatically decline them. You can update this setting anytime.

Providing Recommendations [Video Overview]

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For Teachers: Managing Your Account

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