Impact of IXL on Student Achievement in Washington

This research report examines the impact of IXL, an educational platform, on the academic performance of students in grades 3 through 8 in Washington state, specifically focusing on math and English Language Arts (ELA) achievement as measured by the Smarter Balanced Assessments (SBA). The study aims to evaluate the efficacy of IXL by comparing proficiency rates between cohorts that utilized IXL and those that did not. Key findings indicate that students using IXL for both math and ELA demonstrated significantly higher proficiency rates compared to their non-IXL counterparts. The report details the methodology, including a quasi-experimental design and propensity score matching to ensure comparability between groups. It also discusses the statistical significance of the results, highlighting that IXL Math cohorts had a proficiency rate more than three percentage points higher, while IXL ELA cohorts exceeded by more than eight percentage points. The findings suggest that IXL implementation is associated with improved academic outcomes for students in Washington.