Parents' Guide to

IXL

Website https://www.ixl.com/
IXL Poster Image

Common Sense Media Review

Erin Brereton By Erin Brereton , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 5+

Hundreds of learning activities build skills and confidence.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 5+?

Any Positive Content?

  • IXL Screen Capture #1
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Parent and Kid Reviews

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age 12+

Based on 1,623 parent reviews

Mrs. Dina
Mrs. Dina Adult
December 6, 2021
age 10+

Worst Website for children ever!!!

This site is absolutely outrages! I have had 5TH GRADERS start crying in frustration over this site. The main problems are it does not encourage students to learn, the point system is unfair, and is destroys a students self esteem. I have had many of my students tell me "ixl makes me feel dumb...". And I'm not very surprised after I used it myself for a while I noticed the frustration and pain students have to go through. First off it is boring there is nothing fun about this and when students do complete an ixl all it does is them a sticker they can use as their profile picture. This reward does not make students excited and determined to complete the ixl. Which brings me t my next topic, this point system is very frustrating and upsetting for the students. Ex- a student just hit 70 percent they answer and there is a typo students score-68 percent. This is what causes students to start yelling or crying it's just awful to see students so distressed. I have seen many sites that when a student submits an answer and it has random letters numbers symbols ect. It has an option that says "sorry typo" so that students don't have to lose 10 percent of their progress. And finally the students self esteem, any student would not feel great if they get a question wrong. But to get a question wrong and then have an explanation not even explain to them what they did wrong only makes students feel worse. I have seen that many of my students get questions wrong on ixl and ask me "why did I get this wrong" and I tell them "try reading the explanation first" an they say "I have but I don't get my mistake". I read the explanation and the students do make a point these explanations are wordy and are hard to understand even for a teacher. Ultimately, I feel like this is your worst option if you are finding an educational site for your students. Even though it's free it's horrible.
CristyDawn
CristyDawn Adult
November 19, 2021
age 11+

Awful. Makes Kids Feel Worse

It's absolutely infuriating. My twelve-year-old daughter thinks it's awful. Especially the challenge mode. It is so unforgiving. Even if you get one question wrong you have to restart from the beginning. This is especially annoying when you are doing difficult alegerbra problems.
See all 1623 parent reviews

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What’s It About?

IXL offers more than 7,000 practice modules on Common Core pre-K through high school math and language skills. It also features language arts, science, and social studies for second- through eighth-graders. Kids repetitively practice one lesson at a time, earning certificates and virtual awards that reflect their favorite animals, foods, places, and hobbies for completing work, and they get step-by-step explanations for incorrect answers. After registering, parents can access progress reports to evaluate kids' strengths and weaknesses. Kids can write their responses, which is especially good for younger kids. There are also audio supports and on-demand Spanish translation.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (1623 ):
Kids say (5178 ):

This academic skill-building site/app provides independent practice and focus on areas where they need to improve, but be aware that some kids don't love it. In terms of practice, for example, at the sixth-grade level IXL presents 320 math skills practice activities. Parents can view kids' scores for various skill exercises, the questions they answered, and other specific information to differentiate instruction for their child. The "Trouble Spot" report can be very useful in quickly identifying where kids are having a hard time and where they need extra help.

IXL's practice-and-drill approach may not thrill some kids, and some could feel they need to focus on getting the answer right every time, instead of viewing each exercise as a learning experience. But the questions -- which range from basics such as counting to geometry's perpendicular bisector theorem, as well as a range of grammar and vocabulary items -- offer consistent progression. They increase in difficulty once kids reach the challenge mode. Kids also get detailed feedback if they answer incorrectly, along with the chance to continue with the same skill to try to apply what they've learned. This can greatly improve their comprehension of difficult concepts. Adding tools like a virtual sketchpad would be great, and the subscription cost, which kids will need for full access, may be a deterrent for some parents. But overall, IXL is a comprehensive learning resource.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how practicing skills with IXL leads to confidence and accuracy. What's a skill you struggled to learn that you possibly could have studied with the help of a site like IXL? How did you feel when you improved? What other skills would you like to improve?

  • How can you use the math skills you're practicing in the real world? When do we use addition in everyday life? How about algebra?

  • Kids can see an explanation if they enter an incorrect answer. Does your child feel stressed out if that happens? Talk about why it's OK to not get things right sometimes when you're learning something new.

Website Details

  • Subjects: Language & Reading : reading, vocabulary, writing clearly, Math : addition, algebra, arithmetic, counting, division, equations, fractions, functions, geometry, graphing, grouping, measurement, money, multiplication, numbers, patterns, probability, ratio, sequences, shapes, statistics, subtraction, Science : astronomy, biology, chemistry, ecosystems and the environment, energy, plants, weather, Social Studies : geography, government, historical figures, the economy, timelines
  • Skills: Self-Direction : work to achieve goals
  • Genre: Educational
  • Topics: STEM , Numbers and Letters
  • Pricing structure: Free to try (Kids can access 10 free questions in each overall subject area per day. A core subjects subscription is $19.95/month or $159/year; a pre-K to 12th-grade math and language arts subscription is $15.95/month or $129/year; an individual math, language arts, or Spanish subscription is $9.95/month or $79/year; and Spanish exercises can be added to any other package for $5/month.)
  • Last updated: December 2, 2020

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