Maureen Shrader is an IXL Professional Learning Specialist with over 18 years of experience as an educator.

Do you want to make a bigger impact with IXL in your classroom? IXL has tons of easy-to-use tools that support instruction and help students build knowledge. They’ll even help you save time! The best part is these resources are very easy to incorporate into day-to-day instruction.

Read on to find out which 5 features will help you use IXL even more effectively in your classroom.

1. Preview skill rigor

IXL helps students reach authentic skill mastery, and monitors their progress through a unique scoring system—the SmartScore! When students work through a skill, they’ll move through multiple stages of increasing difficulty, represented by a SmartScore, to help them solidify their knowledge. 

Teachers can use the “Jump a level” feature to preview the different levels of difficulty within a skill. This is a great way to see the SmartScore range for each rigor level. You can use this feature to model questions at different difficulty levels to the class, work through problems in small groups, or set appropriate SmartScore goals for your students.

Tip: A SmartScore of 80 represents proficiency, 90 is excellence, and 100 represents mastery of the skill. We generally recommend setting a SmartScore goal of 80 (proficiency), which is proven to have a big impact on learning! See more SmartScore tips here. 

2. Assign work on IXL

You’ve probably noticed the gray stars next to skill names. When you click on them, you can suggest skills to students! Skills can be assigned to your whole class, small groups, or individual students. These starred skills help your students easily find the work they need to complete. 

IXL is also integrated with multiple Learning Management Systems (LMS) including Google Classroom, Schoology, Clever, and more! If your school uses one of these systems, you can assign skills through your LMS, and take advantage of additional benefits like auto-rostering and Single Sign-On.

You can find the full list of IXL integrations here, and learn more in our Help Center.

3. Personalized skill plans for tests, textbooks, and more

It’s now easier than ever to find the perfect IXL skills for your students to work on! Whether you’re looking for skills aligned with your state standards, your textbook, or an upcoming assessment, IXL has a skill plan to match.

IXL is aligned with more than 80 math, ELA, science, and social studies textbooks. Our textbook skill plans point you to the best skills to reinforce every chapter.

Plus, our state standards skill plans make lesson planning a breeze, with custom-built skills to match each of your state standards.

We also offer skill plans for tests like the ACT, SATs, NWEA MAP Growth, and more! 

And IXL has even more skill plans to meet your students’ unique needs, like skill plans that can help keep students learning over Winter or Summer breaks, teach early reading skills, and assist in reading intervention instruction. 

4. Built-in teaching tools

Students on IXL have a few different tools that they can use for independent learning.

Before starting a skill, students can preview the concept by clicking on “Learn with an example,” which provides students with a step-by-step walkthrough of how to solve problems in the skill. For many math skills and ELA skills, students can also select “Watch a video” to see a video tutorial on the topic led by one of Wyzant’s expert tutors. Additionally, students can learn or review key topics for 3rd grade math through Geometry with IXL Lessons.

As students answer questions, IXL also provides immediate feedback to help them learn from their mistakes. When a student answers a question incorrectly, they’ll see a detailed explanation for how to solve the problem they missed. 

And if students need additional support, IXL will suggest foundational skills to help them build their knowledge and confidence.

5. Energize instruction 

Interact with students in a whole new way using IXL’s classroom engagement tools. Perfect for any classroom configuration, these fun features give you a deeper insight into student learning while inspiring increased participation.

For example, your whole class can practice IXL skills together with IXL Group Jams. In an IXL Group Jam, all of your students will see the same question at the same time, allowing you to see students’ answers in real time and correct any misconceptions as they arise. Group Jams are a great way to introduce a new topic to the whole class, review tricky concepts with a small group, or collaboratively study for upcoming assessments.

And while students are working independently, you can monitor their progress and  provide one-to-one support using Live Classroom. You’ll be able to see exactly what students are working on, and if a student needs help, you can send a live message to provide support and encouragement.

Or, start some friendly competition to encourage student practice! IXL Leaderboards allow you to create custom competitions based on your learning goals. Students will love competing for the top spot while they learn!

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