Los Angeles Unified School District is wasting no time rethinking classroom ed-tech under the leadership of new Superintendent Andrés E. Chait. Just weeks after launching a bold new Parental Consent policy that took a kind of anti-trust knife to the Google Classroom, the nation’s second-largest school district is now taking the truly remarkable step of empowering its roughly 200,000 secondary students (grades 6–12) to log in and formally evaluate its two dominant e-learning platforms: i-Ready and IXL.
Minors are typically given no voice in consequential district policy decisions, but yesterday LAUSD, which is currently conducting comprehensive audits of all its ed-tech vendor contracts, quietly posted a survey for students on its Schoology intranet. Headlined “STUDENTS WE WANT YOUR FEEDBACK!,” the survey asks kids to give their opinions on i-Ready and its closest competitor IXL Learning, both of which are used heavily within the district — and nationwide, with 17 and 11 million U.S. students respectively.
The brief survey opens by inquiring whether respondents have access to a computer and internet at home, before proceeding to ten refreshingly blunt questions about the ed-tech giants’ offerings. LA students are asked to rate the truthfulness of ten positive claims common in i-Ready and IXL marketing, including whether the platforms “help me understand,” “help me improve,” or “make learning fun.” Kids can grade those statements on a four-point scale ranging from “Completely True” to “Not At All True.” Crucially, students are also asked whether the diagnostic tests and screen-based lessons take “too much time.”
Reprinted below is the full text of the survey, along with a PDF download of the actual screens.
This is a survey that goes there; one that could never be authored by a district still fully captured by ed-tech’s magical thinking orthodoxy. i-Ready and IXL were conceived and built by adults, pitched by adults, and purchased by adults — yet this is the first big survey of the kids actually forced to use them. As reported previously in this series, across the Internet, American kids hate i-Ready so intensely and so vocally, publisher Curriculum Associates disables all commenting on its YouTube channels — and has even sicked its legal dogs on children for posting videos criticizing i-Ready.
So what will Los Angeles students have to say? We’ll have to stay tuned for the survey’s results, but speaking as an LAUSD parent who has witnessed tween birthday parties spontaneously devolve into ferocious hate sessions at the very mention of these products — and with spoiler regrets to anyone who hasn’t yet seen the 2025 horror masterpiece WEAPONS — I hereby predict that both i-Ready and IXL had best brace themselves for their very own Aunt Gladys finales:
LAUSD i-Ready and IXL Student Survey Questions
Section 1: Welcome & Overview
You have been invited to take part in a conversation.
LAUSD is asking secondary students to share their thoughts on our diagnostics and personalized learning tools (i.e., i-Ready, IXL).
All surveys are voluntary, and no personally identifiable information will be requested from any participant
Section 2: Demographic & Background Questions
Region
Options: East / North / South / West / I don’t know
Do you have access to a personal computer device (not issued by school/district) at home?
Options: Yes/No
Do you have access to the internet (not issued by school/district) at home?
Options: Yes/No
What grade are you in?
Options: 6th / 7th / 8th / 9th / 10th / 11th / 12th
Section 3: i-Ready Inform Assessments
The following statements will ask that you rate what you think about the i-Ready Inform assessments which are online tests that measure your reading and math skills. Students take these tests two to three times each year.
The i-Ready Inform assessments help me understand when I need more support with my reading skills.
Options: Not at all true / A little true / Mostly true / Completely true
The i-Ready Inform assessments help me understand when I need more support with my math skills.
Options: Not at all true / A little true / Mostly true / Completely true
The i-Ready Inform assessments take...
Options: Too much time / Just enough time / Too little time
Section 4: Personalized Instruction Lessons
Which personalized learning system do you use in your English and/or math classes?
Options: i-Ready / IXL
[Questions Below for i-Ready option only]
The following statements will ask that you rate what you think about the Personalized Instruction lessons that you work on each week.
The i-Ready Personalized Instruction lessons help me understand which areas I need academic support in.
Options: Not at all true / A little true / Mostly true / Completely true
The i-Ready Personalized Instruction lessons help me understand when I am ready for higher level work.
Options: Not at all true / A little true / Mostly true / Completely true
The i-Ready Personalized Instruction lessons help me improve my reading skills.
Options: Not at all true / A little true / Mostly true / Completely true
The i-Ready Personalized Instruction lessons help me improve my math skills.
Options: Not at all true / A little true / Mostly true / Completely true
i-Ready lessons make learning fun.
Options: Not at all true / A little true / Mostly true / Completely true
The i-Ready Personalized Instruction lessons take...
Options: Too much time / Just enough time / Too little time
Section 5: Submission / Closing
Thank you for participating in this survey. Review your responses
[Submit]
Thank you. We’ve received your submission.
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About John Allen Wooden:
Howdy. I’m a tech-traitorous writer, satirist, creative director, and dad of an i-Ready victim based in Los Angeles. Having done hard time in big online media, late night TV, ad agencies, politics, and parenting, I created Epostasy as my little lab for gleefully dismembering all those self-important things. Check out my tech-skeptical kids book series, Screen Time Tales, along with other projects at johnallenwooden.com
Do you think they will share the real results?? I can't wait to see them!