i-Ready is the Worst

For many years, students in Port Washington’s elementary and middle schools have taken the NWEA test each year in reading and math. This year, the district decided to switch from the NWEA to a program called i-Ready. Students had to take a diagnostic test three times throughout the year, and teachers also assigned lessons for students to do on i-Ready.

i-Ready is annoying, we should all know that. But let’s go deeper. Here is a breakdown of some of the “pros” and cons: 

Now let’s elaborate on the cons. Con number one: The i-Ready diagnostic is unfair. This is because it will give you whatever questions it wants. It does not care if you have not learned the topic yet or if it was too easy. It does not let you skip questions if you don’t know the topic, causing you to waste your time.

Con number two: It’s boring. I think this is self explanatory.

Con number three: It does not care if you know what it is telling you to do. This is bad either way, whether it is something you never learned then you have no idea how to do it, and if it’s too easy then you are just wasting your time. 

Con number four: The game it comes with is boring and non-skippable. This is another waste of time.  

Let us elaborate on the one single benefit: The lessons are supposedly personalized. According to Curriculum Associates, i-Ready “personalizes questions to identify each student’s needs.” I doubt this because the stuff they give does not seem at all personalized. 

What are students saying?

• “i-Ready is the worst website you can learn on.” – Nathan H., 3rd grader at Sousa 
• “While i-Ready is helpful for the teachers knowing what levels their students are on, it is quite irritating to do every week.” – Isadora, Green 7
• “i-Ready can be a waste of time for other students, especially those who are busy and have other extra-curriculars. It can be good to practice, but the i-Ready time should be lowered” – Mila, Green 6
• “The point of i-Ready is to boost your knowledge on basic facts, and by the time you take the test again you get more points. And then you boost your knowledge on slightly harder facts, and it’s just a loop like that! And when you finish, you have more knowledge on those basic facts. Sure it’s a bit irritating, but, ‘oh no! You can’t watch YouTube shorts for 30 extra minutes! How will you survive?’” – Peter, Blue 6

Now that we heard all of this, I think we can all agree that the school should get rid of it.