Local teacher awarded "Elite 100" for closing knowledge gaps

Mar. 24—WILLIAMSBURG — A Whitley County elementary teacher has been recognized for her use of a national program geared toward personalized learning.

IXL, a platform used by more than 14 million students, announced its 9th annual Elite 100 list, which honors teachers who dedicated the previous year to serving students and prioritizing personalized learning.

Included on the list is Georgette Vanover of Whitley East Elementary School.

IXL selected the list of 100 from 900,000 teachers worldwide who used the program in their classrooms, based on usage during the 2021-2022 academic year. This year's Elite 100 reside in 30 U.S. states, Canada and China, and 71 educators are first-time Elite 100 honorees. To view the full list of Elite 100 winners, visit https://www.ixl.com/resources/elite-100.

"Educators were entrusted with the difficult job of filling knowledge gaps, stabilizing test scores and cultivating students' curiosity over the past year. Elite 100 teachers responded to these challenges by personalizing instruction to address the specific needs of each student and recover unfinished learning," said Paul Mishkin, CEO of IXL Learning. "We look forward to helping even more schools tackle their most pressing challenges so that every student feels empowered to succeed and reach their full potential."

As a result of disrupted learning and fluctuations in academic achievement during the 2021-22 school year, districts increasingly adopted IXL's personalized learning platform to identify and close student knowledge gaps. IXL was a critical component of the Elite 100's learning recovery efforts, which helped them better understand what students knew, what they were ready to learn and how they could make a greater impact immediately.

"IXL has been a game changer for our school over the past several years and I can't imagine my classroom without it," said Vanover, who teaches 5th grade at Whitley East. "I love that IXL helped me create personalized study plans for students based on their NWEA Map scores so that we could focus on the skills that they needed to practice more."

IXL's state-of-the-art assessment, the Real-Time Diagnostic, provided teachers with a comprehensive view of students' knowledge, pinpointed gaps and provided specific next steps that helped each student grow.

IXL's comprehensive curriculum helped teachers efficiently and effectively support any lesson or educational need. Educators also used IXL's built-in instructional resources and classroom engagement tools, such as math video tutorials and leaderboard competitions, to support independent learning and foster friendly competition.

IXL's teaching and learning platform comprises a comprehensive PK-12 curriculum and personalized guidance, instructional resources and classroom engagement tools, a first-of-its-kind assessment suite and actionable analytics for districts, schools, classrooms and individual learners. Additionally, IXL offers district partnership, professional learning and implementation services. All integrated into a single offering, each component is designed to work together seamlessly to give educators the tools and insights they need to maximize learning for every single student.