Who would use this website

**Why I Despise i-Ready: An Honest Reflection** i-Ready, an online learning platform designed to assess and instruct students in reading and mathematics, has become a staple in many schools across the nation. While it was created with the intention of helping students succeed academically, I cannot help but feel an overwhelming sense of frustration whenever I am faced with it. My hatred for i-Ready runs deep, as it fails to live up to its promises and, instead, creates an environment of stress and disengagement. In this essay, I will explore the reasons why I strongly dislike i-Ready, from its lack of engagement to its ineffective and tedious nature. ### Uninspiring and Tedious One of the main reasons I despise i-Ready is its lack of engagement. The lessons feel repetitive, monotonous, and uninspired. Every session begins with a tedious assessment, which often leaves me feeling like I'm simply going through the motions. The software's lessons, despite claiming to be interactive, are often just a series of mind-numbing exercises that feel more like a test than a learning opportunity. Rather than being an enriching educational experience, i-Ready feels like an obligatory chore that I must suffer through. The frustration is exacerbated by how long the lessons can drag on. The lessons are often unnecessarily long, filled with repetitive content that doesn't hold my attention. As a student, my mind starts to wander, and I find myself disengaged, unable to retain information from the lessons. The system doesn’t seem to understand that not every student learns the same way, nor does it accommodate different learning speeds. As a result, instead of fostering my educational growth, i-Ready ends up draining my energy and enthusiasm. ### Lack of Personalization i-Ready is often touted as a platform that personalizes learning to meet each student’s needs. However, in my experience, it falls short of this promise. The assessments may adjust to my performance in theory, but in practice, the “personalization” feels generic and disconnected. If I struggle with a specific concept, i-Ready doesn't always provide helpful, targeted explanations or offer any useful alternative approaches. Instead, it simply serves up more of the same material, leaving me frustrated and stuck. Furthermore, there is no true sense of guidance or support. When I am having trouble with a lesson, i-Ready offers limited feedback or instruction. There is no real teacher to help me through the difficult parts. While the platform may suggest some additional practice or provide hints, it often feels like a shallow, impersonal solution to a complex problem. This lack of human interaction and meaningful feedback makes it hard to feel motivated to keep going. ### Stress and Anxiety Perhaps the most harmful aspect of i-Ready is the stress and anxiety it induces. The assessments, which often feel like mini-tests, can be overwhelming and stressful, especially when I feel like I am being judged based on a single performance. It’s hard not to feel anxious about making mistakes, as the platform seems to emphasize getting everything right, making it feel like a high-pressure environment. Moreover, there’s a constant sense of urgency while working through i-Ready. The timers and progress trackers add to the pressure, making it feel as though I’m racing against the clock. Instead of learning at my own pace and feeling accomplished, I feel like I'm always playing catch-up. This constant pressure has a negative impact on my mental well-being and only fuels my dislike for the platform. ### Disconnection from Real-World Learning Another key issue I have with i-Ready is its detachment from real-world application. The lessons presented on the platform often lack any meaningful connection to the world outside of the classroom. The problems and activities feel isolated from everyday experiences, leaving me to question why I am learning them in the first place. I fail to see how the concepts presented on i-Ready will help me in my life beyond school, and this lack of context makes it hard to stay motivated. I often wonder why a platform designed to help students succeed would fail to incorporate real-life examples, discussions, or practical applications of the content. Education should be about preparing students for the world, not just teaching them how to fill in boxes on a screen. i-Ready’s rigid approach to learning does not seem to align with this broader purpose, and that’s one of the reasons it feels so disconnected from what I need as a student. ### Conclusion In conclusion, my dislike for i-Ready is rooted in its inability to engage me as a student, its lack of meaningful personalization, the stress it creates, and its disconnection from real-world learning. While i-Ready may work for some, it is clear to me that the platform fails to offer a truly enriching or supportive educational experience. Instead of inspiring a love of learning, i-Ready feels like a frustrating and ineffective tool. As a student, I yearn for an educational experience that challenges me in an engaging, supportive, and meaningful way, something that i-Ready, unfortunately, does not provide.

Some may think that i-Ready is good at helping students learn what they need to and believe that teachers can tailor their lessons for students based on their pupils’ diagnostic scores. Still, I want to argue that i-Ready is difficult to use and different from many learning programs that actually help students get the education they need.

My kids' school district requires students to use the iReady Math and English programs every week for 45 minutes each. I have seen many of the lessons and am quite appalled that they rely so heavily on this program. Several lessons include poor grammar and improper spelling. On more than one occasion, my children have asked me why sentences in the English portion start with the phrase "me and my friend." If a third grader knows this is poor grammar, why does a supposedly educated adult think this is OK to put in an educational app for children? My fifth grader had problems with a math question and asked her teacher about it. The teacher verified that my child's answer was correct and entered it in for her only to receive and incorrect from iReady. Another time, my child was working on a section and pointed out pictures of dead body parts. Why on earth would you put something like that in a lesson for a ten year old? These pictures were disgusting for even an adult to have to view. I am disgusted that my children are required to use this ridiculous program and that the school district thinks paying money for it is acceptable.