BELLE GLADE -- Monica Villanueva from Glades Day School in Belle Glade was honored as an Elite 100 teacher following her efforts in helping students succeed academically and using IXL to engage learners on a deeper level with day-to-day instruction.

IXL Learning, an education company that helps K-12 students and schools succeed through personalized learning technology, recently announced its ninth annual Elite 100 list. The Elite 100 recognizes the top 100 teachers out of 900,000 worldwide who have demonstrated the highest commitment to helping their students learn over the past year. 

IXL, the personalized learning platform used by more than 14 million students, announced its ninth annual Elite 100 list, which honors teachers who dedicated the previous year to serving students and prioritizing personalized learning.

IXL selected the list of 100 from 900,000 teachers worldwide who used the program in their classrooms, based on usage during the 2021-2022 academic year. This year’s Elite 100 reside in 30 U.S. states, Canada and China, and 71 educators are first-time Elite 100 honorees. To view the full list of Elite 100 winners, visit https://www.ixl.com/resources/elite-100.

“Educators were entrusted with the difficult job of filling knowledge gaps, stabilizing test scores and cultivating students’ curiosity over the past year. Elite 100 teachers responded to these challenges by personalizing instruction to address the specific needs of each student and recover unfinished learning,” said Paul Mishkin, CEO of IXL Learning. “We look forward to helping even more schools tackle their most pressing challenges so that every student feels empowered to succeed and reach their full potential."

How Elite 100 teachers used IXL to support students

As a result of disrupted learning and fluctuations in academic achievement during the 2021-22 school year, districts increasingly adopted IXL’s personalized learning platform to identify and close student knowledge gaps. IXL was a critical component of the Elite 100’s learning recovery efforts, which helped them better understand what students knew, what they were ready to learn and how they could make a greater impact immediately.

“IXL has been a game changer for our school over the past several years and I can’t imagine my classroom without it,” said Georgette Vanover, a 5th-grade teacher at Whitley East Elementary in Williamsburg, Kentucky. “I love that IXL helped me create personalized study plans for students based on their NWEA Map scores so that we could focus on the skills that they needed to practice more.”

IXL’s state-of-the-art assessment, the Real-Time Diagnostic, provided teachers with a comprehensive view of students’ knowledge, pinpointed gaps and provided specific next steps that helped each student grow.  "Students gained confidence when they worked on IXL, especially after seeing the Real-Time Diagnostic results and how much they grew,” said Brenda Kauffman, a 5th-grade teacher at Clinton Christian School in Goshen, Indiana. “The diagnostic opened my student’s eyes to their progress—some even jumped up two grade levels!”

IXL’s comprehensive curriculum helped teachers efficiently and effectively support any lesson or educational need. Educators also used IXL’s built-in instructional resources and classroom engagement tools, such as math video tutorials and leaderboard competitions, to support independent learning and foster friendly competition. 

“There is such a broad range of content on IXL that inspires students and builds their confidence. My students lived for winning bragging rights during our weekly Leaderboard competitions, which was a great way to inspire learners to go above and beyond,” said Dayna Winczner, a 6th-grade teacher at Trillium Academy in Taylor, Michigan. “You can see my students' smiles from outer space after using IXL!”

IXL’s award-winning personalized learning experience

IXL’s teaching and learning platform comprises a comprehensive PK-12 curriculum and personalized guidance, instructional resources and classroom engagement tools, a first-of-its-kind assessment suite and actionable analytics for districts, schools, classrooms and individual learners. Additionally, IXL offers district partnership, professional learning and implementation services. All integrated into a single offering, each component is designed to work together seamlessly to give educators the tools and insights they need to maximize learning for every single student.