Evaluating the Impact of Personalized Online Learning on English Language Arts Achievement in West Virginia

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session Eight
  In Roundtable Session: Community and School Collaborations Addressing Literacy and English/Language Arts (Table 1)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic caused educational disruptions worldwide (Engzell et al., 2021), and many schools and families turned to online learning, which plays an unique role in remedying learning loss (Kaffenberger, 2021). Using a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design, we evaluated the impact of a widely used personalized online learning platform, IXL, on students’ English Language Arts (ELA) achievement in West Virginia. We found grade cohorts that used IXL during the pandemic outperformed comparable non-IXL grade cohorts on the 2021 state ELA assessment. The amount of IXL usage was positively associated with higher proficiency rates in ELA. These findings suggest that personalized learning platforms such as IXL can be a potential solution to overcoming pandemic-related learning loss.

Authors

• Xiaozhu An, IXL Learning
  Presenting Author

• Bozhidar M. Bashkov, IXL Learning
  Non-Presenting Author

• Christina C Schonberg, IXL Learning
  Non-Presenting Author