IXL

Table of Contents: 

IXL Basics

What is IXL? 

IXL is an intervention and enrichment tool primarily for Math and Reading, although some schools have also purchased the newly-released Biology and Civics lessons. IXL has a variety of capabilities, but the functions we will be using the most are: 

• The Any-Time Diagnostic

• Student Skill Practice 

How many licenses do we have? 

Each school has a preliminary amount of licenses for students that were already purchased, but we can enroll students above this amount. In November or December 2024, we will purchase any additional required licenses from IXL to match the amount of students enrolled. The bottom line is that schools have as many licenses as they want to use. 

What staff need access to IXL? 

All Academic teachers in the school should be able to log into IXL, check on students' progress and diagnostic results, and assign skills to students. If the leadership of a school decides other staff members like Student Success Coordinators or CTE Instructors should also have access to check in with students about their progress, that is fine. 

How do students get access to IXL? 

The AD puts them into the classes in DASL on their student schedule. This will sync overnight and as long as their emails are correctly entered into DASL, the students should have access in 24-48 hours. 

How do staff get access to IXL? 

The AD adds them as a teacher into the IXL classes in DASL on the "Meeting Times" page. 

If you are NOT able to log into IXL, please check with your AD to make sure you have been added to the class in DASL. If you are still experiencing issues, please email Emily Knight at eknight@oakmontedu.org .

Teachers can log into IXL through Clever, or use the direct link below. Administrator accounts in IXL MUST use this link. 

https://www.ixl.com/signin/oakmonteds 

How Are We Using IXL?-- Goals and SOP

Every student should complete the IXL Diagnostic as soon as possible. We will be using this data for MTSS, to assign enrichment, remediation, or test prep activities to students, and as a way to target supplements and interventions for students' reading and math skills. 

Student activities in your building might look like this: 

1. Student enrolls/returns and completes STAR testing.

2. Students work on the IXL Diagnostics in Math and Reading for 10-15 minutes per day until they are finished. The Diagnostic is automatically set up to switch between math and reading questions, but some students find it easier to do one and then the other. 

3. When students finish the Diagnostic, teachers should assign skills for students to work on. Students should continue to work on IXL for 10-15 minutes per day, striving for proficiency in at least two skills per week. One day per week, students should check back in with the Diagnostic by "stepping into the arena." This allows the Diagnostic to update student progress. IXL's research has shown that achieving proficiency in two skills per week improves EOC scores. 

Students should complete the Diagnostic first, but they do not have to do it all in one session. They can work 10-15 minutes a day on the Diagnostic until it is finished. 

When students are finished with their Diagnostic, it will give teachers and students a comprehensive report that we can use to make decisions about what might be best for student, shown below. 

Prompt Students to take the Diagnostic

When students log into IXL, their homepage should look like the picture below. Students should complete their Diagnostic (Step into the Arena) first. Once they have pinpointed levels for Math and English, they should start to work on the skills assigned by their teacher. Once a week or so, they should step back "into the arena" and engage with the Diagnostic so it can monitor their improvement. 

If students' pages do NOT look like this (they don't prompt students to take the Diagnostic), a teacher from the school will need to select this instruction in IXL. 

To make sure all students are prompted to take the Diagnostic on their home screen: 

• Click on "Assessment" in the green bar at the top of IXL. 

• Click the star in the middle of the page under "Encourage Diagnostic Use." 

• Select "All Students" next to "Keep your Real-Time Diagnostic up to date!" 

Don't forget to check in with students about whether they are working on the Diagnostic, or on their Skills Practice. Both are important, but the Diagnostic should be completed first, and then re-engaged with for a few questions once a week. 

How to Assign Activities to Students in IXL

Hidden Grade Levels Map

In IXL, on the Teacher Profile and Settings page, which you can find by clicking on the mountain icon in the top right corner, you can choose to hide the grade levels of assignments for students. 

This is left up to each school to decide whether they would like to hide the grade levels, but many DO choose to do this. If a student is working on a 2nd grade reading assignment, it might cause them some embarrassment. To avoid this labelling, IXL has the option to assign alphabetic letter levels instead. If one teacher from the school clicks this button, it should change it for everyone. 

Once this has been selected, it is useful to have the chart below available in order to remember what grade level "Level K" is, now that the grade levels have been hidden. 

Translation Settings in IXL

Ms. Jeannine Coutts at Marshall High School was kind enough to make this document explaining how to change the language on IXL, or any site. 

How to Add Teachers to IXL

The following instruction guide is for staff in the building who have the correct DASL access to add teachers to classes in DASL. This is usually the Assistant Director, but may be other staff in various buildings. If you do not have this responsibility in your school, please ask your AD to make the necessary changes to teacher rosters. 

IXL Resources and Blog

Click the buttons above for IXL Resources and look at the documents below. IXL has many tools and printable resources for teachers, and there is much we can explore in the future. For right now, getting students finished with their Diagnostic is the priority. I have found the documents below helpful for me to motivate and organize myself and students. 

Please email eknight@oakmontedu.org with any IXL questions and thank you for your patience and dedication while we continue to innovate and explore new ways we can engage our students. 

IXL Group Jam