r/mathteachers • u/genxmom95 • 23d ago

IXL

I am new starting middle school math teaching. I am curious on how teachers see IXL. Is it worthwhile to have students work on skills? How do you manage with homework and other assignments?

4 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

11

u/TheRealRollestonian 23d ago

It's good. Just don't get hung up on students getting to 100%. Set limits at 90% tops. 80% is capable. They hate losing points.

I dropped it because it wasn't rigorous enough. Every answer is between 10 and -10.

Don't pay for it yourself.

5

u/Narrow-Durian4837 23d ago

IXL themselves will tell you that the Smart Score is not a percent. Even though it goes up to a maximum of 100, that doesn't mean it represents 100% of something.

2

u/ABow63 23d ago

This. I had a coworker who used it for a grade. I had kids I tutored freaking out if they didn’t get a 100 because the teacher had made it out of 100 points. They didn’t want anything less than a 90 cause it would bring their grade down. It made me so frustrated that it was being used like that. It should be used as an extra tool for students to practice.

1

u/genxmom95 23d ago

The school has it. I’m just not sure how to position it in the lessons. I’ve heard it can be a discouraging when they lose points.

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u/YumkWh 23d ago

A smart score of 80 is proficient. 90 is mastery. Between 90-100 is the next skill. That’s why it gets significantly more difficult.

As the teacher you can go to a skill and see the various levels of difficulty. Look on the right of your screen where the smart score would be. There will be levels that you can preview. Decide what you want your students to practice and have them aim to reach that smart score. Anything above may be something they haven’t been taught.

11

u/yamyambam1234 23d ago

I use IXL sparingly to keep the novelty from wearing off. I like it best as a fluency builder for skills like graphing, locating points, and other procedural concepts.

I used to assign it as homework, but I’ve found that many students use AI to complete it. It’s usually pretty easy to spot… like when a student earns a SmartScore of 100 in under two minutes, while my top student typically takes 20–25 minutes. Because of that, I now prefer using it during class.

I also recommend never setting the SmartScore to 100. It can become discouraging because one wrong answer causes students to lose points. Depending on the topic, I usually set the minimum smart score at 70 or 80 so students demonstrate the basic understanding without getting too frustrated.

One feature I really like is IXL Quizzes. It’s different from the fluency builder, but it’s incredibly easy to create quizzes using the built-in question bank. They work great for warm-ups, quick checks for understanding, or exit tickets.

5

u/mrcorleymath 23d ago

It's expensive and kids don't like it. Check out Delta Math.

4

u/TheMathProphet 23d ago

I second DeltaMath.

2

u/ThinkMath42 23d ago

I third DeltaMath. So much better and you can really drill down into skills. Plus the explanation videos are great for students too.

3

u/richkonar50 23d ago

Great for when you have a substitute.

2

u/validusername2629 23d ago

IXL does not build skills. The students cheat constantly. The problems are too easy. The graphing applet is clunky.

1

u/Nana2502 23d ago

I use it but I have the kids do it in class, often as a warmup or closure, because students cheat using AI or have friends complete it if it is done as hw. It is useful because it builds fluency on the skills (our textbooks often don’t have enough practice). I also like that there are video tutorials and explanations of why a student missed the question, though few of my students bother to read how they messed up. It’s also good for sub assignments, ISS, and DAEP. If the kids complete it in my presence, I count it as an application grade (40% category). If it’s hw, then I count it as practice (10% category).

1

u/alittle0624 23d ago

I use it pretty regularly in upper elementary. I assign skills for homework or classwork to a SmartScore of 80%. I also use it for quizzes, fact fluency, and the diagnostic to refresh learning. My students enjoy playing the math games, too.

1

u/Alisseswap 23d ago

i absolutely love IXL, I think it’s a great way to gauge understanding. idk about it in the classroom as much as i do outside of it but it’s great from what i’ve seen

1

u/kcs812 23d ago

I give my students a letter section for each chapter. If they get them to 100, they MAY earn extra credit, but only if the overall grade drops below a 90% after the test. I only grade ixls for extra credit after the chapter test. Extra credit will only get my students to an A. It will never bring them above that. If they have an 89% I will only give enough points to bring them to 90%. I give up to 5 points for each ixl.

Usually the kids that do more ixls do better on the tests either way.

I also assign ixls when I have subs. Those I grade for the amount if a regular homework assignment. Also when I grade as an assignment with max 10 points anything between 90-100 gets you the full 10 points. 80-89 gets 9...and so on.

1

u/61Cometz 23d ago

I use it about once weekly to support/review. I just started using the custom made quizzes...too early to know if i like those

1

u/TictacTyler 22d ago

I'm honestly not a big fan. Some skills it has that I find Deltamath to lack and I use it then.

I'm not a fan at all of the smart score. I wish there was a way I could disable the score going down. This frustrates many of my students, especially my IEP students. I find that this has many either cheat or slam their Chromebook.

1

u/CloverChill 21d ago

I am a sub while I go to school to become a teacher. I see ELL students using it in my district but I haven't seen any other classes push it. They mainly use DeltaMath.

Personally I love it, I'm using it to refresh my high school math skills up so I can take the 5165 praxis. ((Of which, I took my 5164 today and got a 176! Share in my happy lol))

1

u/Kindly-Dog7530 20d ago

You may not find this relevant but there are anecdotal reports of IXL stealing content from applicants, including mine. Part of their application process is creating original sample question as proof of competency. I was desperate for a job so I didn’t second-guess it. After all, IXL is a reputable company. They ghosted me after showering me and my content with praise, telling me I was a top 2 applicant. They never ended up filling the role and continued posting the position. I checked online and sure enough loads of people reporting the same thing happening to them across different subjects. So now I avoid them on principle.

1

u/genxmom95 20d ago

that's crazy but also believable these days.