All curriculum reviews

    IXL

    A subscription practice-and-diagnostic website that gives your child unlimited auto-graded skill questions in math, language arts, science, social studies and Spanish, with no…

    Nobody reads the workVisit site
    As a full curriculum
    2.5/5
    As a supplement
    3.1/5
    How this is scored
    Not sufficient on its own as a full curriculum

    This scores below our floor on at least one of content, assessment, accountability or academic demand. Use it with a documented plan alongside it.

    Rating capped at 2.5 as a full curriculum

    Most of the work happens in an app and no qualified adult is required to read what the student produces. It can still serve well alongside another programme.

    A student can move through this quickly with nobody checking

    Finishing fast is not the same as learning. Worth pairing with your own checkpoints.

    How it scored

    Nine dimensions, each scored 0 to 4 by a reviewer working from the programme's own published materials.

    3
    Standards, Accuracy & Content Scope

    Is the content accurate, at the right level, and does it cover what it claims?

    2
    Focus, Coherence & Cognitive Rigor

    Does it build in a sensible order and make a student actually think?

    2
    Research-Consistent Instructional Design

    Is it taught in a way the research supports, with honest claims?

    2
    Assessment, Feedback & Demonstrable Mastery

    Can you actually see what your child learned, not just what they finished?

    1
    Accountability & Feedback Loop

    Does a qualified adult read your child's work and respond to it?

    3
    Adult Usability & Implementation Support

    How much work is this for you, and does it help you do that work?

    3
    Differentiation, Access & Learner Fit

    Does it flex for a struggling learner, an advanced one, or a different kind of learner?

    3
    Practical Feasibility & Transparency

    What does it truly cost, in money and time, and will it work where you live?

    1
    Academic Demand & College Readiness

    Is this preparing a student for college, or just for a diploma?

    The practical details

    Grades
    Pre-K through 12th grade. Math runs Pre-K to Calculus (including Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, Precalculus, Calculus, and Integrated Math…
    Subjects
    Five subjects. Math (Pre-K to Calculus). English language arts (Pre-K to 12: phonics, reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar and mechanics, literature analysis, writing strategies taught as discrete auto-scorable items rather than composition). Science (K to Physics). Social studies (K to 12). Spanish (paid…
    How it runs
    Fully self-paced, on-demand, asynchronous. There are no live classes, no scheduled sessions, no cohorts, no enrollment windows, and no teacher contact of any kind. A typical session: the child signs in, either picks a skill from the catalog, opens a skill the…
    Who teaches
    Software, plus whatever the parent does. There is no live teacher, no recorded teacher-led course, and no human instructor attached to the account. Instruction is limited to: 1,300+ short video tutorials (many math skills, some ELA skills), text "lessons" that exist only for third-grade math through Geometry, and a…
    Who grades
    Everything is auto-scored by software. No human being ever reads, marks, or comments on a single piece of student work at any grade level, including high school. IXL's own help center describes the product as "an ongoing, interactive worksheet" where "every question is corrected immediately, with helpful feedback," and scoring is done by the proprietary SmartScore algorithm. There is no essay submission, no…
    What the parent does
    The parent is the entire teaching and record-keeping operation. IXL supplies the practice; the parent supplies the curriculum plan, the actual instruction for anything the child cannot self-teach from an example, all writing and project work, all record keeping, and the transcript. Concretely the parent must: pick which skills or skill plan the child works (or accept the Diagnostic's recommendations), star skills to…
    Credit and records
    None. IXL is not accredited. Its help center states: "IXL is not an accredited homeschool, and we are not authorized to verify or issue school credits," and separately, "Completing skills on IXL will not equate to proof of grade completion or transcripts." No transcript, no diploma, no course credit, no grade-level certification, no counselor. It carries no NCAA course…
    Cost
    Family memberships, billed monthly or yearly, auto-renewing, sales tax may apply. Monthly: single subject (math OR language arts) $9.95/mo; Combo (math + language arts) $15.95/mo; Core subjects (math, language arts, science, social studies) $19.95/mo. Yearly: single subject $79/yr; Combo $129/yr; Core subjects $159/yr. Those prices cover ONE child. Each additional child is +$4/month or +$40/year. Spanish is an…
    Alaska notes
    Bandwidth is the good news. IXL documents a recommended minimum connection of 128 Kbps, and the core experience is text and interactive questions rather than streamed video, so it holds up on Starlink, older satellite, or a cellular hotspot far better than any live-class or video-first program. The video tutorials and games are the only heavy items and they are optional. No…

    Strengths

    • Genuinely cheap for what it covers: $159/year unlocks Pre-K through Calculus math plus K-12 ELA, science and social studies for one child, with every grade level open, and only $40/year to add a…
    • The Real-Time Diagnostic is the best part of the product. About 45 minutes per subject produces a concrete, continuously updating picture of where a child actually is in math and ELA, and it converts…
    • Skill plans mapped to Alaska Content Standards and the Alaska Early Learning Guidelines, to specific textbooks, and to PreACT/ACT/SAT/NWEA MAP, which makes it easy to align to an Alaska…

    Weaknesses

    • It is not a curriculum and IXL does not claim to be one. There is no scope and sequence you follow day by day, no course, no credit, and no transcript. Marketing language like 'perfect for…
    • Instruction is thin and unevenly distributed. Text lessons exist only for third-grade math through Geometry, and video tutorials cover 'many' math skills but only 'some' ELA skills. Everywhere else…
    • Zero human contact and zero writing assessment. Nobody reads anything your child produces. There is no essay, lab, project or portfolio component, so a high schooler can log thousands of IXL…
    Good fitA family that already has a spine curriculum or is enrolled in an Alaska correspondence-school program, and wants a cheap, always-available drill and gap-diagnosis layer on top. It is strongest for: a parent who suspects math gaps and wants them located and closed; a household with two or more kids where $159 plus $40…
    Poor fitA family that needs an accredited transcript, course credit, or a diploma for a college-bound high schooler. A parent who wants a parent-free full core they can hand to the child while they work, because IXL supplies practice and not teaching. A family that needs writing, essays, or projects evaluated by a person. A…

    Reviewed from the programme's own published materials. Pricing and features change without notice, so confirm details with the publisher before buying. How FrostBoard rates curriculum