IXL is an online platform used by many high schools, including Malden High, to help students practice various subjects—especially math. Students take diagnostic tests provided by IXL a few times a year that give teachers a quantified evaluation—or a “snapshot”—of students’ math and reading skills that can be used to measure their academic progress.
For many students, it can be time-consuming and misrepresentative of their abilities. Now, teachers at Malden High are also having mixed feelings about IXL. IXL is educational and easy to access as it is already set up through Aspen, but some have observed issues.
Math teacher Chris Giordano strongly believes that a big problem with the diagnostic is that it does not always truly represent his students’ abilities. “We do the IXL diagnostic across every class, and it’s an important tool for us across the district to see how students are progressing,” said Giordano. However, it is “oftentimes challenging to get all the students to really buy in that it’s a great way to keep track of themselves.”
Giordano is not the only one who believes this, as math teacher Murphy Page expressed similar concerns about the IXL diagnostic not properly representing students’ knowledge. “I understand why we give the diagnostic,” said Page. “I feel like it has the potential to be a useful tool.”
However, he added that IXL “does not seem to accurately portray what our students do and don’t know. The whole point of it is to see what they know, and that data, based on my observations in class, doesn’t match up.”
IXL aims to adapt to the student’s knowledge. “When you get things right, it’ll make it harder, and when you get things wrong, it’ll go back and make it a little easier,” Page said. He expressed how it does not allow students to jump ahead unless they complete the specific area they are working on. “I have a lot of students who are juniors, and I know they could handle some harder algebra problems, but they’re stuck doing fifth-grade math problems.”
The diagnostic is a tool that IXL uses to evaluate the student’s current skill level on that topic. It is supposed to “figure out the student’s weaknesses and strengths,” Joshua Kolodny, a math teacher, stated. Although he agreed that the diagnostic numbers are not accurate to what students actually know, he also highlighted the positive sides of IXL: “It provides teachers with a lot of practice questions that they can have their students work on and gives students opportunities to practice what they’re learning in class.”
Giordano added to this, appreciating the flexibility that IXL offers. “There are a lot of different skills that students can practice on their own. There’s a seemingly endless number of problems, so students can get as much practice as they need because it’ll keep giving you more and more options. A lot of the skills also have videos or embedded explanations, so a student can try to figure things out on their own.”
Upon being required to take the lengthy examination, the initial reaction of most students was to “groan and seem very unhappy about it,” Page recalled. “It does take a long time, and it can be really discouraging because at the end, you’re getting that number telling you what your math skills are, and sometimes that number is lower than it ought to be.”
Page also highlighted the impact that numerical measures can have on students. “It’s super important for students to have confidence in math. This is probably the key ingredient to achieving success in math class, and IXL can bring their confidence down.”
English teacher Anne Mooney strongly believes that over-testing students can negatively impact mental health, including the IXL diagnostic. “The more diagnostics we do, along with the ACCESS testing that some students may be taking…MCAS…midterms…It’s just a lot of testing over and over and over again, which is really not benefiting students.” She added that “t’s not helping their learning, and also just putting a huge strain on them.”
The questions can also be difficult to the point where even staff members would not be able to get them correct.
Mooney expressed that it “unfairly penalizes multilingual learners.” She continued, “It’s hard to show significant growth or get your test to accurately show your grade level just because language is an issue, I don’t think that’s fair.”
Giordano compares IXL to Mathia and Delta Math, two other common educational websites math teachers use. He highlighted Delta Math and IXL’s similarities, describing them as “endless dreams of skill-based problems.” However, Mathia is slightly different, with more exploration and interactive learning as students complete the questions. “Although it can be challenging to navigate and try to absorb everything that’s going on, there are some cool aspects and elements that I like about Mathia,” Giordano remarked.
Despite the mixed opinions on IXL, IXL’s practice problems can be both helpful and effective. “The system is not perfect, but it wants to make sure that you know how to do it and can do it consistently,” Giordano concluded.
