Product Review of Curriculum Associates’ i-ready

Online program for grades K-12 makes the promise of differentiated instruction a practical reality for educators and learners. i-Ready combines powerful assessments and rich insights with effective and engaging instruction in reading and mathematics to address learners’ individual needs. The adaptive diagnostic provides educators with actionable insight into learner needs and offers a complete picture of learner performance and growth, eliminating the need for multiple, redundant tests. The diagnostic results also set a personalized learning path for each learner, ensuring they’re working on engaging instruction that matches their unique learning needs.
Website: http://www.i-ready.com/empower
What Users Love About the App
“I like the ease of use for the students. My students can access the material and complete the lessons on their own with little to no guidance. I can just let them have at it and not have to hover around them to ensure they are doing what they are supposed to do.”
“With i-Ready learning, you can differentiate student lessons and adjust as needed. You can also use it for RtI small group work. Progress monitoring for student growth is beneficial as well.”
“I like that my students can log into ela or math and the program will keep track of weekly min spent on the program. My students can easily see where they stand and how many lessons they have passed.”
“i-Ready is a great program that allows administration, teachers, and staff to track progress and data of their students. The Diagnostic is given 3 times a year (with included reports that give suggestions to help). I like the individualized path and lessons students can complete independently based on their results from their diagnostic.”
“I love how this program helps you see what kids need the most help with. Then it develops a personal learning path for the students to work on independently. It focuses on the specific standards that student needs.”
What Users Dislike About the App
“I teach middle school. My students seem to think that the lessons and software are more childish and so they are not eager to participate. I am also not sure about the diagnostics being accurate.”
“Many students saw a SIGNIFICANT decline in their diagnostics but incredible growth in their standardized testing. The lessons are good for lower-level learners but I have not seen significant improvement with my higher-level learners.”
“i-Ready has Standards Mastery’s to give as a way to check mastery of different standards. Some of the math does not fully align with the test-time specs as they should so they are not as useful as they could be.”
“The admin pages are full of info and reports. However, there are so many options it is a little hard to navigate at first. I wish there was a Most popular ran report option to quickly help you find the information you need.”
“I teach kindergarten and some of my students are not on level, however, there are not activities that meet their needs. I wish there was a pre-k level to help my students who need even more basics.”