Frequently Asked Questions

IXL is a type of assessment or diagnostic tool available through the IXL Learning platform, which is an online educational service used in many schools for personalized learning in subjects like math and language arts.

If you enrolled with Enlightium after Kindergarten, you were asked to take this test as an entrance exam. It is also offered in the Spring as a standardized assessment for students to take instead of the Iowa Complete.

Many families use IXL during the school year and over the summer to develop skills. It has been a tool that is included with enrollment for quite some time.

Enlightium is an accredited school through both Cognia and ASCI. This is a large value add to the records you receive from Enlightium and ultimately the diploma if you choose to stick with us until graduation. IXL Assessment and Progress monitoring are a requirement of our accreditation.

Students are not tested on a specific curriculum; they are tested on the benchmarks. The benchmark IXL test and Enlightium align with is the TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills). Every state has adopted a set of learning standards. Although these standards vary slightly from state to state, the benchmarks for skills are very similar. This type of test is more about ongoing learning and skill mastery than one-time testing.

• It is a dynamic test, meaning it will continue to ask you questions until you have reached the peak of your knowledge of the content. This is why it is not a handwritten test.
• It is nationally normed. The result will not only inform you of the grade level your student is at, but also where they are nationally compared to other students.It provides instant feedback and explanations.

Students are tested in 2 different areas, Math and Language Arts. Since this is an adaptive test, it will keep asking you questions until you have exhausted your knowledge on the subject. Most students complete one content area in a few hours. When we use this for the Spring Assessment, we ask families to take two days to do the test.

The longest test is the first one because it tests everything you know. The progress monitoring tests are much shorter because the test will start where you left off. Our suggestion is to do each test at the time you would have done your lesson that day. It should take 30-40 minutes.

No. Even though the test appears in your Math and Reading subjects, it is not included in the overall grade. It is simply checked off as completed.

This test is being implemented as part of our accreditation requirement. It is not something we can allow you opt out of.

Yes. It might not be a state requirement for your student to take the IXL, but it is an Enlightium Requirement in order to be in compliance with our accreditation.

1. Clear Academic Insight

• IXL gives a detailed breakdown of your child’s skills, strengths, and areas for improvement.

• You can see progress over time and understand where your child is really at—not just a letter grade.

2. Guided Teaching

• The diagnostic recommends specific skills to work on.

• This helps parents focus their teaching time, especially in homeschooling or tutoring.

3. Tracking and Documentation

• Great for creating a portfolio or records if you're homeschooling.

• Diagnostic results and skill progress can be printed or saved as evidence of academic growth.

• This is especially helpful for parents without a teaching background.

Bonus: Continuous, Not One-Time Testing

Unlike traditional standardized tests, IXL’s diagnostic is dynamic and continuous. Students can log in and answer a few questions regularly to update their learning profile. This keeps feedback current without long, high-pressure test sessions.

At Enlightium, we mostly need you to take the test and upload the results so we can meet our accreditation requirements. But if you would like assistance with interpreting the results or coming up with a teaching plan, we are available to help with that.

According to IXL's Privacy Policy, the information is protected by FERPA and COPPA.

Ideally, you will begin working on this test in the first week of school. We do not recommend busting through both tests on the same day, or even one test in one day. Spend 30 minutes or so testing each day this week until you have finished the test.

Then, you could jump into IXL in practice mode to brush up on skills twice a month, or however much fits your schedule. You will take the progress monitoring assessment during the 8th week of each quarter. It will be much shorter than your first test.

You can download the test results at the end of the IXL test and upload them to the IXL course in Canvas. Screenshots work as well.

Schedule an appointment with your grade level counselor. We would be happy to help you.

Haylee Long for PreK3-2nd Grade

Chandra Burghart for 3rd - 10th Grade