Guthridge fifth grade teacher Ivy Brimm learned last week that her class was, at the halfway point, in second place among fifth through eighth grade classes in Kansas participating in the IXL Sunflower State Sprint. The competition runs from Jan. 29 to Feb. 23.
“We were pretty excited to learn we were in second,” Brimm said. “I didn’t even know. It was Mr. (Cody) Holmes who emailed it to me and said, ‘Ivy, look at you.’”
IXL is an immersive online learning tool for students that reinforces grade level curriculum taught in class. Students use IXL in class and at home to practice lessons, and the program helps them master skills in the areas of math, language arts, science, and social studies. Schools across Kansas use IXL at every grade level, assisting teachers in assessing and analyzing where students are needing more practice and where they are excelling.
This is the first year for the Kansas statewide IXL competition, but in-school competitions are the norm. All classes at Guthridge compete against each other monthly.
“Whoever completes the most topics, Mrs. (Michell) Piva gives them an award or a treat,” Brimm said. “I also do a competition weekly in my classroom and I give the top three a prize out of my prize bucket, and sometimes we have IXL competitions during class. Usually like on a Friday if we have 30 minutes, we will break up into teams. They sit in their groups, but they are still individually answering questions. Whichever team gets the most right wins the prize. It’s a big incentive for them to do the topics besides the fact I also take them for a grade.
“I love this class because they are really competitive like me.”
Daily in class, Brimm said she requires her students to reach 80 % on each IXL level, which is considered proficient. For the state contest, however, Brimm is asking her students to go back in and master each skill, earning a “SmartScore” of 100%. Students must master at least three skills for their questions to be counted in the contest.
“The questions get harder after you pass 80%. At 90% is what they call a ‘Challenge Zone.’ The bad thing is if you miss one question, it will drop you like 7 or 8 points, and when you get one right it will only bump you three or four points,” Brimm said.
As of this week Brimm has not incorporated any additional usage of IXL into her day to achieve that second place standing, so that makes the second place standing “really nice.” How much they students use IXL could change as they move into the final week, though.
“Maybe adding five more minutes each day would bump us up to first,” she said.
State rankings are figured based on the total number of eligible problems completed by a class, divided by the total number of students in each class as of their entry date. In the event of a tie, the classroom with the higher percentage of correctly answered eligible questions will win.
Brimm said she has no idea how many IXL subscriber classes across Kansas are participating. She doesn’t know how many questions her students have answered currently or if they have maintained second place, fallen behind, or if they have taken the lead in their fifth thru eight grade category.
The competition ends in one week, and students are concerned about missing school on President’s Day noting that it could put them behind other schools that will be in session. Students concerned enough can still use their holiday to get on IXL and answer questions at home if they want to.
“Hopefully we are in first place,” Brimm said. “I always offer that they can work on them at home because, especially with the math ones, they can be time consuming working them all out. I do have a few students who have done some at home because they are really competitive.”
Winners will be announced Feb. 29, and each winning class will receive a $100 U.S. Visa gift card.
“And my class has already spent it,” Brimm said. “They said, ‘We get to do a pizza party.’ They’ve already got it planned out.”
