Elite 100

Strategies for success:

I use IXL to check students' understanding of the concept after whole-class instruction (10-15 minutes). I also use it for daily homework (30-45 minutes). In 2015-2016 school year, my students group made an average 95% growth in 6th grade math tests on PARCC (top growth among entire Aurora School District schools). In the 2016-2017 school year, my students group made 78.8% of meet/exceed expectations, 75.5% growth (1st place out of 6th grade achievement among 55 Denver Public Schools).

Favorite teacher tools:

I appreciate the ability to differentiate to fill in a wide range of gaps among students in the same grade. I assign homework from 3rd grade up to even the Geometry level.

Favorite teacher tools:

I like all the features of IXL Analytics because the data that is collected gives me an idea of what lessons I need to target in class to help my students. What I like the most is the Real-Time Center, which gives me an idea of when students are getting the lesson and when they’re struggling with it.

Strategies for success:

I have been using IXL in my Algebra 1 class for a few years now, primarily as a replacement for paper/pencil practice. I also use it a lot for remediation, since the resources are there to go back to Pre-Algebra or even further. Since I began using IXL, my learners have been overwhelmingly successful on Pennsylvania Keystone Algebra 1 Exam, with over 99% passing the exam on their first attempt!

Favorite teacher tools:

I appreciate the reports that show time spent and number of problems attempted, but I really like the Real-Time Center, where I can monitor learner progress as they work in my class.

Making it fun:

I don't have any gimmicks to motivate my learners. They quickly buy into the philosophy that practice is important. IXL also takes away a lot of the stress by providing immediate feedback. But I do offer a few bonus points for the learners who work the hardest and/or show the most growth from quarter to quarter.

Strategies for success:

I use IXL to deepen a skill, obtain and evaluate students' mastery, differentiate instruction, remediate weaknesses, and enrich my curriculum. To keep students motivated, I display their Certificates of Excellence and celebrate the top 5 in my class monthly. I also give them incentives.

Favorite teacher tools:

I use the Diagnostic Strand Analysis to evaluate the areas that need to be strengthened. By knowing the skills to strengthen, I can identify the right assignments to give my students. Also, the standards are aligned with common core standards, so I don’t need to worry whether the skill I’m assigning correlates with CCSS. I also appreciate the regular and prompt notification of my class’s progress or success. Likewise, I love the analytics and trouble spots reports.

Strategies for success:

While focusing mostly on 8th grade skills, my students have also used IXL to review 7th grade math skills and to be introduced to some high school algebra and geometry skills as well. When completing IXL for homework, students have been able to see problems in a different context, thus reinforcing their learning and enjoyment of the material. They appreciate the feeling of accomplishment when they’re able to achieve a smart score of 100 on a more advanced and challenging skill.

Favorite teacher tools:

I use IXL in my 7th grade Honors Pre-Algebra classes as a way to reinforce concepts that my students are learning in class. I appreciate the ability to assign skills at various grade levels.

Strategies for success:

I use IXL as enrichment and extra practice to my lessons, and I have definitely seen improvement in math and language understanding. Some students reach mastery quickly, and some have to answer many questions, but they can all attain mastery if they persevere. Perseverance is a word I teach them during IXL practice. You can achieve when you NEVER give up!

Favorite teacher tools:

I use almost all of the reports, but I really love the Real-Time Center. I can see what students are working on and if someone needs my help and attention on a particular skill.

Strategies for success:

I use IXL with my entire class, but I differentiate how I implement it. I use some skills for whole class and others for small group, direct support, peer support, or individual work. All IXL completion is tracked to mastery—SmartScore of 100. As a class, we set goals and celebrate all completion. I find that students who are reluctant to practice are better motivated to grow their understanding when all students are required to reach mastery. There are enough practice questions within each skill that students truly get to experience each element they will encounter on formal assessments. Holding them accountable to reaching a SmartScore of 100 increases their assessment performance ten-fold.

Favorite teacher tools:

I like the vast variety of questions. I also like that when a child makes an error, a visual explanation is given. Students have to be trained to slow down and read the explanation, but once that happens the impact is profound.

Making it fun:

IXL is the way we do business in sixth grade. My students' success on both IXL and assessments is their motivation. I post certificates in their portfolios when they reach performance and completion milestones.

Strategies for success:

I use IXL in my classroom daily after I introduce a certain skill or standard. Students then go on to practice and reinforce the skill they just learned about. For my advanced students, I can take them aside and do a quick “above and beyond” mini lesson and let them work on that new skill. Every night, I assign 15 minutes of IXL on the skill I taught that day. If they’ve already mastered that skill, they can go on to a different skill or one they haven't previously finished.

Favorite teacher tools:

I love the Real-Time Center when I do whole group instruction. I can see who’s struggling or off task right away. Every Monday, I use the dashboard to see how many skills my whole class has mastered. I also love being able to see how long each student has been on at home and what skills they’ve been on.

Making it fun:

My students are eager to learn new skills and want to make it onto my "IXL Wall of Fame." If they master all of 3rd grade, I add them to the wall. It’s a pretty amazing task because there are over 370 skills to master in a year! I give prizes for the medals they master each week, which include "out of dress code" passes, stuffed animals, homework passes, Popsicles, candy, and eating lunch with the teacher. The two 3rd grade classes also challenge each other each month for overall Mastered Skills, and the winning class gets a reward.

Strategies for success:

I use IXL as part of the students' weekly independent work. It helps them understand the importance of organizing their work, sticking to a schedule, and meeting deadlines. It also gives them the freedom to choose when and where to complete the work.

Favorite teacher tools:

I really appreciate the instant feedback, explanations, scoring system, and the sense of achievement it gives the students when mastering a skill.

Strategies for success:

I use IXL for lesson reinforcements. It is assigned as homework. We have contests for scholars to earn points for their "houses", so they work on IXL both independently and with peer tutors. In the past, I have created scatter plots to see if there is a correlation between time spent in IXL and test grades, and there is definitely a positive correlation. The more they practice, the better they do.

Favorite teacher tools:

As a teacher, I use the Analytics page often. The Score Grid works the best for me, but when I have the entire class on, I like to use the Real-Time Center to see when scholars get stuck! When I run contests for the day, I use the Progress and Improvement report to make sure they are moving new skills up that day. I also appreciate that the scholars have immediate feedback and explanations as soon as they answer a question. The overall ease of creating classes and using the system is a definite plus!

Making it fun:

I always give our scholars choices. For example, if there are 8 skills under a topic, I ask them to choose 6 of them and work up to a SmartScore of 85. They are more than willing to do the work, because they have a choice. We also have our school split into "houses" and I run contests to see who can do the most of their assigned homework in a day and offer points for their "houses."

Strategies for success:

My students have access to 1-1 devices within my numeracy block, which allows me to use the program as part of my rotations. Students are able to work independently, in pairs, or in small guided groups with my guidance. My students also use it as part of their nightly homework. I encourage my students to continually challenge themselves to accomplish small goals on a regular basis, often within small sections of the curriculum. As a teacher, I love that all students are able to get a daily sense of achievement regardless of their prior knowledge and understandings. Within my class cohort, I have students working between years 3-9 depending on their confidence—meaning that differentiation is made so much easier for me, and the results are in the data on a yearly basis. When I first introduced IXL to my students 3 years ago, they had no confidence in their own abilities, with numeracy [being] their least favourite curriculum area. Now students are begging to do numeracy! I attribute a huge portion of this success to the regular use of IXL.

Making it fun:

A long term goal for my class this year has been to make IXL's Elite 100 classrooms. With many of my students achieving that goal last year, they have been leaders in the initiative. We also have weekly challenges based on both effort and achievement on an individual and whole class level. Prizes such as extra physical activity have been a huge bonus for students to continually go above and beyond what is expected of them. I now never have trouble with students completing their homework with almost all students choosing to do extra each night just for fun! Parents now regularly comment that homework used to be a challenge, but now they don't even mention it because it's already been completed. The challenge for them now is actually getting them to stop! It's great when learning becomes more of a game than a chore and that's what it has become for many of my students. Students now choose IXL as their preferred method of learning numeracy, which is great that they are now able to articulate where they need to focus their efforts and how they want to learn it.

Strategies for success:

I like to use iXL for a spiral review in math. The first 9 weeks, I require students to get to a 50 or 70 percent. The second 9 weeks, they move to 70 to 90, and I add a few new skills they must get to 50 percent. This same process continues until all lessons covered by our state standards have been met for the school year. My high-level students enjoy when they get to work on skills before they’re taught in the classroom.

Favorite teacher tools:

I really appreciate the state standard and textbook alignments, as well as the Real-Time Center. Also, being able to track student progress daily and identify struggling students with the Trouble Spots report is very helpful.

Making it fun:

Students are encouraged to complete two iXL lessons to 50, 70, or 90% each day. Anything above that amount is considered extra work, and students are rewarded with classroom points.

Strategies for success:

I use IXL in many ways. I use it for whole-class instruction for both language arts and mathematics, especially when my students are learning a new skill. During whole-class instruction, students work on the same problem and discuss the strategies they used to solve each problem. I also use IXL to differentiate in both subjects so that students can work independently. Since my students range in different levels, each student is given specific skills that they need to complete throughout the week. When students are working independently on their individualized skills, they are given support one on one if needed.

Favorite teacher tools:

Analytics is my favorite IXL feature! I especially appreciate the Students Quickview report because I can easily grade students' weekly skills by selecting a specific week. I also use the Real-Time Center often to identify students who are struggling. When students are working independently on a skill, I use the Real-Time Center to know which students are actively practicing their skills as well as to determine if a student might need help. When I notice students' names appear in red, I work with these students in small groups to provide additional support. I also use Progress and Improvement to find reports on each student to identify which skills the student spent the most time on and each student's mastery level.

Strategies for success:

Differentiation is probably the number one way I use IXL in my classroom. I have 8th graders working their way up through third-seventh grade skills and others working in Algebra 1 and higher. I can also use it on an individual basis. For example, a student who still needs help with fractions can work to master it on IXL. It’s also great for whole group instruction when teaching a new skill. Students have certain skills to finish each week and must work on IXL at home as well.

Favorite teacher tools:

I love the Real-Time Center. Even when working with a small group, I can immediately see who is struggling or not working. And the Trouble Spots report helps me form groups for class the next day and know the type of problems students need help with and what errors they are making.

Strategies for success:

After teaching a lesson to the class, I assign IXL sections for practice and a check for understanding. It is easy for me to see which students I need to pull for reteaching or clarification. The students who understand the concept and finish quickly can move on to other skills that provide the challenge they need.

Favorite teacher tools:

I appreciate the fact that there are so many skills available in so many subject areas. I can easily find and assign the sections that fit the lesson I’m teaching. I also use the individual student progress and class scores reports to monitor my class.

Making it fun:

We have classroom money that the students can use on Friday to “buy” a small treasure, Lego time, or lunch with the teacher. They earn these as they complete assigned IXL sections.

Strategies for success:

I coordinate the lessons from the textbook with the IXL topics. I give the students an example of the problem on the board and use the IXL as the homework practice. The students are very excited to do the IXL practice! They prefer doing IXL over problems from the textbook. I also give assignments at the next level for bonus work (for example, 5th grade would do 6th grade work). This gives students an extra incentive to go above and beyond their regular requirements. I have noticed that the students who take advantage of this excel on the standardized tests.

Favorite teacher tools:

I appreciate the listing of topics so that I can coordinate them with my textbook. Also, the automatic feedback is important. Students know immediately if they worked a problem wrong.

Strategies for success:

I work with a whole group before school each day. When it is possible, I teach a lesson in math or language arts, and use IXL as practice work. I have seen an improvement in my students after using IXL. My ISTEP scores have been the highest in the building in math. I'm starting to use the other subjects more often and I think my scores will improve there as well.

Favorite teacher tools:

I use the Score Chart report quite frequently. I print it out and review it with students who haven't scored well. I also share this with other teachers that also work with my students.

Making it fun:

The Real-Time Center is the best. I put the students score on the screen with my projector. If a student has trouble and their box turns [red], we call out, "Who ya gonna call?" They quickly reply, "Math busters!" Then they go and help out. We sing the Ghost Busters song to get peer help. The students love this! I also love that I can tell if anyone is not working.

Strategies for success:

We use IXL as a supplement to our curriculum for independent practice. At times, we do whole class instruction, but for the most part it is individual work. We also use it for MTSS tier intervention with small groups on occasion. Our IXL is used as a portion of their grade for reading and math.

Favorite teacher tools:

We utilize the Real-Time Center, the Score Grid, and the Questions Log to analyze student progress and do reciprocal teaching. We use the Score Grid to monitor weekly progress, the Real-Time Center to monitor students during our dedicated daily IXL time, and the Questions Log to review strategies.

Strategies for success:

I use IXL as a means of tracking students' strengths and areas of difficulty. IXL allows me to focus my lessons according to individual and class needs rather than on the next planned lesson for the day. I also use IXL as a portion of class and homework activities, and as a means of tracking work habits as well as specific math skills. I encourage students, as well as parents, to use the data that IXL gathers to view and monitor their own progress so that they can become proactive learners by celebrating their accomplishments and seeking assistance when troubles arise. Since IXL displays the underlying math concepts for each question, parents often feel empowered to help their child with their math homework. Suddenly, the "new math" difficulties that parents find challenging become easier to understand. Parents often tell me that they enjoy using the software with their children, and they wish that they had had IXL when they were in school. This daily conversation about mathematics and children's education as a whole has helped foster a learning community between our students, our parents, and our school.

Favorite teacher tools:

I appreciate the data that IXL gathers on each student so that I can focus my teaching on skills that are most in need of attention. I also value that achievement is evaluated through the SmartScore system which evaluates skill level according to skills mastered rather than a percentage of right and wrong answers. I appreciate that this program allows my students to work and progress according to their abilities and to find explanations to questions they find difficult when I'm not able to help them at home.

Making it fun:

To encourage students to complete each section, I often allow students who master each section first to choose a book of their liking from our book club. I also use the same reward for each student who has shown the most improvement in each section.

Strategies for success:

I direct students who need more help to work on the fundamentals of a subject in a lower grade. I usually choose it for them on their iPad so they don't know they’re doing work at a lower grade level.

Favorite teacher tools:

I love that the modules are self-correcting and explain the strategy for determining the answer. I also love that I can challenge my high-achieving students by having them work at a higher grade level. The individual progress and class scores reports are great for monitoring progress and for grading.

Making it fun:

I give Third Grade Bucks to students for completing their IXL modules. They can trade them in for treasure box prizes or for lunch with me, free iPad time, or Magnet Mania.

Strategies for success:

IXL is one of my favorite resources for reinforcing lesson content, practicing difficult concepts, building foundational knowledge, and filling in gaps. In addition to assigning skills as homework, I let the kids interact in groups of two or three during supervised classwork. I like to keep track of how much time my students spend trying to master a skill. I can then use that information to assess if not enough or too much time was devoted to work on a certain skill, and identify the students that might be in need of extra help.

Favorite teacher tools:

I really appreciate the Analytics feature! It is really important for students to know that I have access to all their activity on IXL. This accountability keeps them engaged with the program in a responsible way.

Strategies for success:

I use IXL for whole-class and for homework. I love it because it provides good practice for students, shows them what they did wrong when they miss a problem, is motivational for students, and provides excellent information for me as a teacher. I have definitely seen an improvement in all of my students. Reluctant readers must read the language arts problems, which improves their reading skills. My test scores have consistently improved with IXL.

Making it fun:

I want my students to understand why education is so important. So, I've designed degrees (high school diploma, associates, bachelors, etc.) that students can earn. I've incorporated IXL into these degrees in order to help me differentiate instruction. Along with this, I've posted some careers that are available on a bulletin board and the education required to get these jobs. Students research different professions and interview for these jobs once they become qualified. They earn fake money and pay expenses, including taxes. IXL has made all of this possible.

Strategies for success:

We use intrinsic motivations through learning about growth-mindset ideas at the beginning of every school year. It’s important to know that failing is okay, but it’s even more important to know that the more you fail, the more you learn. So keep at it. Using the student progress, trouble spots, and skill analysis reports also gives me whole class and individual status reports, which helps me know how and where to provide additional support.

Favorite teacher tools:

The Real-Time Center allows me to immediately see where students are at and offer support as needed. We learn cooperatively in our class, so I project the Real-Time Center on the smartboard. Students who have mastered the skill can see that classmate who needs help, and they quickly go offer assistance. Helpers change depending on the skills we’re practicing. Having access to multiple grade levels has also helped me close learning gaps and scaffold learning.

Strategies for success:

The Real-Time Center allows me to monitor student progress while they’re working. The Diagnostic Strand Analysis groups students according to their needs, which takes away the guesswork on the teacher end. It allows me to provide the students with exactly what they need when they need it.

Favorite teacher tools:

One of the best features IXL offers is the immediate feedback to students. The kids know if they are on the right track or if they need additional practice at a skill. This allows students to take responsibility for their learning and excel at a pace that is right for them.