Why Is i-Ready Good for Students? (2024)

"Why is i-Ready beneficial for students?" "How does i-Ready support personalized learning?" "Does i-Ready recognize each student’s unique needs?" "Does i-Ready promote equity in schools?" These are the kinds of questions we see on social media platforms and blogs from teachers and family members.

They are all important questions and the kind we want you to ask. By engaging in meaningful conversations about how learners spend their classroom time and what tools are chosen to support them, we increase the likelihood of students and educators succeeding.

The Bottom Line: Why i-Ready Is Good for Students

Is i-Ready beneficial for students? Absolutely. As an adaptive test that personalizes questions to identify each student’s needs, i-Ready is a powerful and beneficial assessment tool. For example, if a student answers a series of questions on a topic correctly, subsequent questions get harder. Although the test may seem challenging, the assessment helps chart an individual course for each student, and you can measure progress using visual data tools about what your students already know and still need to learn.

The i-Ready system is a reliable tool. More than 13 million students use it to provide accurate, safe, and effective learning assessments. Studies show that Grades K–8 students who use i-Ready demonstrate greater improvements in mathematics and reading than those who don’t. Teachers who use it are more likely to recommend i-Ready to a peer or colleague compared to those using other leading assessment programs.

The people who can truly speak to i-Ready’s effectiveness are those on the front lines: educators like you working with students day after day. You plan instruction, manage your classrooms, and respond to student needs based on your familiarity with each student and your deep knowledge of instructional best practices. We are privileged to assist you in this crucial work with the tools and data from the i-Ready assessment.

Here are some testimonials from real classroom teachers and district leaders about the positive impact i-Ready has had in their classrooms. They also discuss how schools and districts use data to tailor instruction to the needs of each student to ensure equitable learning opportunities.

What Educators Are Saying about i-Ready

“The important message to send to both teachers and parents about i-Ready is that it is not a replacement for best practices. It’s not a replacement for teacher-led instruction. I think i-Ready is so helpful with data in providing in-the-moment data for when teachers need it.”

—Amy Boles, District Administrator, Oak Grove School District, San Jose, CA

“i-Ready has helped me focus and be supportive of kids. That’s the hardest thing for me—to try to encourage the kids who are not motivated or get frustrated. But those are the kids you can make the most progress with if you can build a relationship with them and get them to trust you.”

—Lisa Reiss, Grade 6 Teacher, Sakamoto Elementary School, San Jose, CA

“The [i-Ready] data gives us opportunities. We are probably the most diverse school in our county, and i-Ready has given us the opportunity to determine what we need to do specifically for every child on our campus.”

—Dr. LaShawn Frost, Principal, Booker Middle School, Sarasota, FL

“i-Ready is an amazing complement to what we were already doing in the classroom. The Diagnostic is definitely a great starting point for the children and for myself, but beyond that, children need to get into those lessons, onto their computers, and also have some backup support material from me. They definitely need both to go together hand in hand.”

—Joanne Rowe, Grade K Teacher, Ledesma Elementary School, San Jose, CA

“The way we define equity is making sure our schools have the tools they need to serve the population that’s sitting right there in front of teachers. And so, having i-Ready in our schools is part of equity. Because equity is about making sure we’re giving each individual child what they uniquely need. i-Ready has a pathway for that. I truly love that there’s a program that’s made for individual students.”

—Dr. Marla Sheppard, Deputy Superintendent, Kansas City Public Schools, Kansas City, MO

“I describe equity as giving our students an equal chance in learning in all ways of life. i-Ready fits in with equity because it meets students where they are. I truly love that there’s a program that’s made for individual students.”

—Deandra Pauley, Mathematics Interventionist, Wendell Phillips Elementary School, Kansas City, MO

“Our teachers’ belief in the new way we were delivering math instruction grew through their experience in the trenches—in the classroom. Teachers saw students having that ‘aha!’ moment. They realized kids were making connections that made them say, ‘Wow, I can’t believe they’re thinking that way!’ Even before teachers saw any kind of assessment data, student discourse and collaborative comments made teachers believe in the Ready®/i-Ready approach to instruction.”

—Elizabeth Johns, Director of Curriculum, MSD of Mount Vernon, Mount Vernon, IN

Discover more about the many advantages of the i-Ready Adaptive Assessment.