Frequently asked questions about external authentication for K-12 schools


Zoom's authentication profiles allows K-12, primary, and secondary school students to join Zoom meetings safely and securely without needing to create a Zoom account, while also preventing unauthorized access from users outside of the school or school district. 

When using external authentication, the students do not need to be part of your Zoom account, only using a school email address. 

This article covers:

Prerequisites for external authentication for K-12 schools

External authentication for K-12 schools

Will Breakout Rooms work if my students do not have Zoom accounts?

Yes, you can still use Breakout Rooms as usual. If you would like to pre-assign students to Breakout Rooms, you will need to upload a CSV file with the details . 

Will my guest speakers or teacher be able to join a meeting?

Any external guests will not be able to join the meeting unless that specific party has an authorized account in your SSO Identity Provider.

Note: However, if authentication profiles is enabled, admins can allow authentication exceptions to allow guests to bypass authentication to join meetings. For example, if a school authenticates meeting participants against their school IDP, they can create an exception to allow a guest lecturer to join the meeting.

How is this different from standard Zoom/SSO authentication?

This is authenticating users upon joining a meeting and does not create a Zoom account. 

Can I use the same SSO configuration as my Zoom account?

No, this must be set up as a different SAML application in your identity provider.

Can I pull a report of the students and have accurate attendance information?

Yes, all student’s names will be documented accurately with their associated email address.

Can students change their names?

If you do not want your students to change their names, you can turn off the setting Allow participants to rename themselves at the user, group, or account level.

If students are allowed to change their names and do change them, it will not reflect the new names in the attendance report.

Does this require participants to have a valid Zoom account?

No, meeting participants do not need to have a valid Zoom account.