As schools and districts navigate the new learning landscape, it’s evident that pandemic learning loss is nothing like anything students and teachers have experienced before.
Though there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, IXL has played a large role in many educators’ post-pandemic strategy.
We talked to three school and district leaders about how IXL has helped their students get back on track. Here are their biggest takeaways:
Interviews have been edited for clarity and length.
1. Personalized instruction accelerates learning for students of all backgrounds
Every learner is unique, and so are their learning gaps. As schools reopened, educators were tasked with the challenge of helping every student get back on track despite their varying knowledge levels and needs.
To combat these setbacks, school and district leaders can help facilitate personalized instruction for teachers by adopting technology. With over 10,000 adaptive skills, IXL empowers educators to provide individualized instruction across a broad range of ability levels—whether students are English language learners, have special needs, or are working at different grade levels.
District leaders at Twinsburg City School District in Ohio were just starting to explore blended learning when the pandemic hit. The district quickly turned to edtech to streamline personalized learning, and has been implementing IXL district-wide ever since.
Lauren Pfenning, the district’s Blended Learning Coach, expressed how pleased teachers have been with IXL’s ability to engage and tailor the learning experience for a diverse range of students:
“In many ways, IXL has made a large impact on our students who have needed RTI. It really helps fill the gaps and allows us to personalize learning paths for students who need a little extra support.
See AlsoIXL Learning | Our storyHow do I cancel my membership?IXL - ResearchComparing Resources for the Math Classroom: IXL & Delta MathBut it’s also been incredibly valuable for our teachers with gifted students too. Sometimes these students can become less motivated because they’re so ahead of their peers. But with IXL, these students are able to work on skills that are even above grade level. This has helped keep them engaged and motivated in their personal learning.”
Pfenning also shared how IXL has been able to help students effectively move forward post-pandemic:
“It’s challenging to say exactly how much students are improving because the baseline data was impacted by COVID. So, our focus is on ensuring that they continue to grow from where they are at today, and moving forward. Our teachers can confidently say that all our students are improving and growing.”
While making the transition back to in-person learning, administrators at Woodbridge School District in Delaware searched for a solution that would not only meet the state’s new MTSS requirements but also help students quickly recover from learning loss. After months of rigorous evaluation, the district adopted IXL—initially just for Tier 3 interventions—but quickly found that IXL’s personalized learning plans and detailed data reports also benefited SPED students and teachers.
Dawn Lybarger, Assistant Principal at Phillis Wheatley Elementary, explained how IXL has been effective and rewarding for all student populations:
“After our special education teachers saw how we were using IXL for progress monitoring for MTSS, they decided to piggyback off that and use IXL to help inform their IEPs for their students. Though we hadn’t initially planned to use it this way, it’s been incredibly beneficial.
It’s often hard to find the time to do anything in elementary schools, so to have an easy and effective solution for our special education students that can inform our intervention strategies has been tremendously helpful.”
Though the district initially started with IXL Math, it has expanded to include all IXL subjects after seeing impressive progress for students and positive feedback from stakeholders.
2. Diagnostic data can identify where students need the most support
With the amount of learning loss caused by school closures and remote learning, it can be overwhelming to reteach every missed lesson. Instead, educators can identify and prioritize the most critical knowledge gaps by leveraging assessment data.
IXL’s Real-Time Diagnostic accurately measures each student’s knowledge levels in key math and language arts strands and also provides teachers with actionable learning plans tailored for every individual.
When Illinois’ Lockport School District 91 was one of the first in their county to reopen following the pandemic’s start in August 2020, district leaders decided to implement IXL to address learning loss and provide universal intervention.
Dr. Erin Rae, the district’s District Curriculum Coordinator, explained how the entire district uses IXL’s Diagnostic and personalized action plans diligently to ensure students are working on the right skills at the right level:
“When we implemented IXL, we actually had the students start with the diagnostic, so we could identify what skills each student needed to work on, allowing for differentiated instruction and instructional grouping based on the needs of our students.
As a district, we still do the diagnostic monthly to ensure we’re collecting the data. We utilize the diagnostic to help students focus on the most critical things.”
And their diligence has paid off. Rae shared that most students are now on grade level or just slightly below grade level. Some students are even seeing up to 190 points so far, equivalent to almost two years’ worth of growth in less than one academic year!
“Our students may have been a grade level behind, but to gain over 100 points this year, truly shows that they’re closing the learning gaps resulting from the pandemic.”
Similarly, Twinsburg City School District also uses IXL’s diagnostic and data to inform instruction and tailor student learning. Pfenning shared how practical the data has been for educators:
“One of our principals uses IXL data to identify which students need additional math intervention, which has been huge for him. The data has really informed where specialists need to intervene with specific groups of students outside of regular instruction. It’s been a great tool for reinforcement and enrichment, helping students develop the skills they need to be successful.”
3. When implemented with fidelity, IXL helps students bounce back quicker
While technology can help teachers streamline lesson planning and enhance their instruction, there is no substitute for the connection and expertise that educators provide. To maximize learning outcomes, even the best tools need to be supported by teachers and used with intention.
Lockport School District 91 set a district-wide expectation for teachers to use IXL at least 15 minutes a day, three times a week for math and twice a week for ELA. Rae explained that setting concrete expectations for IXL usage, along with providing mental health resources, made a significant positive impact on student outcomes:
“Our third graders answered 100 IXL questions a week and got the highest score our students have ever received in the history of state testing under the Every Student Succeeds Act. Our fourth and fifth graders have doubled their scores over the previous year. Our eighth-grade students are right back where they used to be pre-pandemic.
We also implemented a lot of social-emotional learning lessons and added counselors and social workers to our district to help with the mental and emotional impacts of the pandemic. I think that, coupled with IXL, has really improved outcomes for our students.”
Likewise, Woodbridge School District also set clear expectations for their instructors: Every math teacher in the district was required to use IXL for 50 minutes a week in the classroom. While each teacher was given the flexibility to determine how and when to use IXL, most elementary schools in the district chose to spend 10 minutes a day working on IXL Math as part of their center time.
Lybarger shared the impressive amount of growth their elementary school students have made after using IXL with fidelity:
“After our first year, we saw our elementary students had an average growth of one hundred and fifty points. That means our elementary students gained a year and a half of knowledge last year, which is incredible when considering the amount of learning loss that occurred during the pandemic. It’s not likely for those numbers to remain sustainable, but the great news is we continue to see gains.”
Want to learn more about how IXL can support your school or district? See our success stories or contact us today!
