Making Student MFA Easy: Lessons from North Kitsap

In Western Washington’s North Kitsap School District 400, Director of Technology and Innovation, Dr. Jeremy Sullivan is helping lead the charge in making student accounts more secure—and more accessible. With 5,100 students spread across a unique, rural landscape, the district faced significant challenges in account security and student access, particularly for young learners and students with disabilities.

By implementing student multi-factor authentication (MFA) through Clever, the district was able to improve security, streamline student login experiences, and lay the foundation for broader conversations about cybersecurity across the district.

Here’s how they did it.

The Problem of Practice: Security and Access

North Kitsap’s journey began with a clear problem: student account vulnerabilities and access barriers.

Many schools relied on predictable login methods, like formulaic usernames and passwords, which made it easy for students to guess each other’s credentials. These patterns, especially common at the elementary level, were difficult to change and left students vulnerable to phishing and social engineering attacks. At the same time, rigid access systems created barriers for young learners and students with disabilities, making independent login a challenge.

The team knew that any solution needed to be equitable, sustainable, and simple enough for students of all ages to use.

Why MFA—and Why Now?

The district launched its 1:1 device initiative in 2021 with managed Chromebooks and Google Workspace for Education. Clever was already in place to streamline digital access, so extending the platform to include MFA was a natural next step.

With support from CARES Act funding and a growing need for digital security, the district recognized an opportunity to build a safer, more inclusive login experience for all students.

5 Keys to a Successful Rollout

1. Setup: The team used Skyward as their student information system and synced it with Clever. Students are on 1:1 Chromebooks and the district uses Google Workspace for Education. Integrations with Clever and Google authentication allowed Chromebook policies to enforce login rules automatically.
2. Flexible, Age-Appropriate Authentication: The district avoided a one-size-fits-all approach, instead designing MFA experiences that matched the developmental and support needs of each grade band.
   
   • Elementary students used Clever Badges and visual, picture-based MFA.
     
   • Secondary students created and managed their own passwords, with Clever-supported self-service reset options. For their second factor, they started the rollout with a picture-based MFA factor but will move to something new next year.
     
3. Staff MFA: Interestingly, this student MFA rollout became a proof point for staff. “If our kids can do it, the adults can do it too,” said Sullivan, noting it paved the way for staff MFA, which is currently being deployed to the entire staff.
4. Training and Support: Key district and school tech champions including IT specialists, library media specialists, and support staff were all trained to help with password resets, badge support, and MFA troubleshooting.
5. Resources: A one-pager, asynchronous training videos, and tutorials were all created and shared to support the transition. Important here for Sullivan, was creating instructional video content that actually featured their students so everyone could see in an instant how easy it would be. Check out the district’s MFA resources for more: NKSD Clever MFA Resource One-Pager for Admins

The Outcome: More Secure, More Equitable

With Clever Classroom MFA, North Kitsap School District 400 has:

• Reduced account takeover risks from internal and external threats
  
• Improved login speed and independence for young learners
  
• Boosted knowledge and buy-in around digital citizenship best practices

Their experience shows that strong security doesn’t have to come at the cost of usability—and that even the youngest students can be trusted with modern authentication tools when supported with intentionality.

Learn more about implementing multi-factor authentication for your staff and students by meeting with a Clever specialist.