IXL
[ IXL Learning (650) 372-4040] - Website

         IXL is an immersive K-12 learning experience that provides comprehensive, standards-aligned content for math, language arts, science, and social studies. The flexible curriculum and adaptive learning environment allows students to work at their own pace, and the program can be used with almost any teaching strategy, including 1:1,  flipped classrooms, rotational models, and more.
         The comprehensive curriculum, with over 7,000 skills across all subjects - fully aligned to the Common Core and all state standards - provides the content needed to support successful learning. Through rigorous, interactive, carefully scaffolded content, students develop the fluency needed for success on high-stakes exams.
         Teacher support is abundant, and one can select from IXL's comprehensive content to build custom lessons, or leverage student practice history to create individualized learning paths. IXL Analytics easily pinpoints exact item types with which students are struggling, tracks class progress toward meeting state standards, identifies areas for improvement, and more, so teachers can determine where to focus teaching, remediation, and intervention.
         An example describes the program's appeal: Challenging and captivating content is provided for physical science, life science and earth science. The interface is dynamic, intuitive and colorful, and interactive visuals and real-life examples with fun questions are sure to inspire curiosity and interest . Activities in a science module include Classify and Compare, Dig for Evidence, Interpret Diagrams, Draw Conclusions, Make Observations, and Learn Scientific Terms.
         IXL is easy to use, and its flexibility makes it appropriate for intervention, enrichment, standards preparation and more. The company offers a free trial on their website.


Exceptional Child - Online Professional Development System
[Vector Solutions (800) 434-0154] - Website

             Exceptional Child - Online Professional Development System is a remarkably well-designed online professional development training program. Intended for all school staff who encounter special needs students, it is elegant and very easy to navigate in the form-follows-function dictum.
            With nine general courses - ADHD, Autism Spectrum, Behavior, General, IEP, Instruction and Learning, Paraeducators, Policy, and Special Education Law - and each general course subdivided into 15/20 minute multimedia units, each written by a leading expert in the field - the program provides support for intervention, actionable ideas, assessments and reference materials, with a certificate upon completion. Exceptional Child may very well be the most comprehensive Special Education online product on the market.
             Exceptional Child's team believes, "A team of dedicated adults with the right resources and knowledge to help every child with special needs will succeed." To that end, Exceptional Child meets all professional development requirements, whether for hours, credit, or simply on-site training; and it offers an impressive management system that assigns, tracks, and customizes professional development tutorials at the individual or school district level.
             Winner of a 2018 EDDIES, Exceptional Child is, without overstating the facts, a must-have for all schools that are committed to helping every child succeed.