Setting the Record Straight on i-Ready

Responsible technology use means digital tools are used purposefully, within clear limits, and in support of teacher-led instruction—and that the time students spend on a screen is justified by meaningful impact on learning.

Dedicated teachers, strong relationships, and thoughtful instructional design drive student growth. Technology will never replace that. When used intentionally, however, it can extend teachers' reach, providing timely insights, targeted practice, and differentiated support that would otherwise be difficult to achieve at scale.

This also means holding digital tools to a higher bar: they should be backed by credible evidence, demonstrate measurable gains, and earn the instructional time they require.

No. Research consistently distinguishes between passive screen use such as entertainment or social media and purposeful, teacher-guided learning. Not all screen time has the same impact. The key question is not just how much time students spend on screens, but whether that time is instructionally meaningful and improves learning outcomes.

i-Ready is purposeful, aligned to clear learning goals, guided by teachers, and connected directly to instruction. It has no advertising, no autoplay, no social feed, and no infinite scrolling. It’s designed to provide feedback, practice, and insight into student learning.

Screen time in i-Ready is purposeful, structured, and limited—designed to support, not replace, teacher-led instruction.

The i-Ready Inform assessment is administered up to three times per year (fall, winter, and spring). Administration takes about 30–60 minutes per subject, depending on grade, and is often split into shorter sittings. For schools that also use Personalized Instruction, recommended use is 30–49 minutes per subject per week. This typically looks like two to three sessions of about 15 minutes each. Not all schools use Personalized Instruction; some use i-Ready for assessment only. Some may only use i-Ready for one subject, reading or mathematics.

The vast majority of K–5 students use i-Ready Personalized Instruction for less than 50 minutes per subject per week, with an average of about 34 minutes, a small fraction of total instructional time.

The goal is not more time on screens; it's better-informed teaching and stronger student learning outcomes.

i-Ready is designed to strengthen teacher-led instruction by making student learning more visible and actionable.

Through i-Ready Inform and ongoing data, i-Ready provides educators with timely, precise insights into each student's strengths and areas for growth. This complements what teachers already know about their students and helps inform next instructional steps.

Teachers use these insights to:

• Identify specific skills gaps and unfinished learning
• Plan targeted whole class and small group instruction
• Group students flexibly based on need
• Monitor progress and adjust instruction over time

Importantly, i-Ready does not dictate instruction; teachers remain fully in control. The data is there to support their professional judgment, not replace it.

In practice, most learning still happens off screen through teacher-led lessons, discussion, and hands-on work. i-Ready's role is to help this instructional time be targeted, responsive, and effective for every student.

We design for balance, provide clear guardrails, and partner with educators to ensure technology is used intentionally and not excessively.

Our approach includes:

• Clear usage recommendations: Defined time ranges (not open-ended use), aligned to classroom practice and research on effective implementation
• Learning-focused goals: Progress and pass-rate expectations tied to learning, not more time spent on the platform
• Visibility and monitoring: Tools that help educators and leaders track usage and ensure it stays within recommended limits
• Professional learning: Training on how to integrate digital lessons into teacher-led small group and whole class instruction
• Planning protocols: Guidance that prioritizes off-screen learning and seamless transitions back to instruction

We reinforce these practices through ongoing professional learning and district partnership, helping schools maintain consistency over time.

At every level, the expectation is the same: technology should be used purposefully, within clear limits, and in service of strong teaching—not as the centerpiece of instruction.

Transparency and shared visibility are built into i-Ready:

• Educators have access to detailed, real-time data, including time on task, lesson completion and pass rates, and overall engagement and progress. These insights help ensure usage stays within recommended limits and remains focused on learning, not just time spent.
• Students and families can also view progress and time spent through the secure student portal, creating a shared understanding of how i-Ready is being used and what students are working on.

This visibility supports productive conversations between schools and families, while helping to ensure that screen time remains short, purposeful, and aligned with learning goals.

The i-Ready Resources for Families page at CurriculumAssociates.com/Family provides information on supporting and encouraging student success with i-Ready, along with viewing progress and time spent on lessons.

To support healthy routines for any lessons completed at home, we recommend:

• Starting with teacher guidance
• Reviewing progress weekly
• Encouraging short, focused sessions
• Balancing screen time with reading, play, and family activities
• Celebrating effort and growth

No. i-Ready's recommended usage is intentionally limited and this guidance is actively communicated to schools and districts through support resources and professional learning.

Curriculum Associates does not price i-Ready based on usage or time on the platform. The standard purchase model is a site license, where a school or district purchases licenses based on enrollment (not minutes). There is no financial incentive for Curriculum Associates to maximize student screen time.

Educators and administrators can monitor how much time students spend in i-Ready at any time through built-in reporting tools. Students and families can also view progress and time spent through the secure student portal.

Print and digital materials serve different and complementary purposes, and Curriculum Associates offers both. We’ve published print-based assessments and instructional resources since 1969. Digital tools like i-Ready offer capabilities that print alone cannot, such as:

• Adaptive technology that adjusts to each student's level in real time
• Audio support, closed captions, and multilingual supports that increase access for a range of learners and learning styles
• Immediate feedback and progress data for teachers
• Differentiation at scale across classrooms with students at many different starting points

This is especially important for multilingual learners, students with disabilities, and students who need additional academic support—groups for whom research consistently shows strong positive outcomes from i-Ready.

Student wellbeing matters deeply to us, and it shapes how i-Ready is designed. We continuously evaluate and improve the program based on educator feedback, student experience research, and classroom outcomes.

i-Ready is designed to be teacher guided, age appropriate, and used for limited periods of time to support learning and intervention, not to maximize screen time. The platform includes no advertising, no social comparison features, no autoplay, and no infinite scroll. Lessons are short, structured, and focused on skill building.

i-Ready’s feedback model is designed to build confidence. Students receive immediate, targeted feedback on their work and progress at their own level. Teachers remain in control at all times and can monitor, adjust, or pause a student’s learning path.

Curriculum Associates regularly refines the platform, lessons, and user experience to better support students academically and emotionally, while helping educators identify learning gaps and provide support earlier.

The i-Ready evidence base includes large-scale quasi-experimental studies, longitudinal analyses, third-party evaluations, ESSA-aligned research, and state and district impact research conducted across varied student populations and learning environments.

Across more than 50 published studies, including over a dozen independent third-party studies, the evidence is consistent and substantial. Research across millions of students and thousands of districts points to the same conclusion: when i-Ready Personalized Instruction is used as recommended, students show stronger reading and mathematics outcomes.

For example, in one large pooled analysis of nearly one million students across 27 states and more than 400 school districts, i-Ready users scored significantly higher on state assessments. Multiple additional studies show positive outcomes specifically for striving learners, multilingual learners, and students who need intervention support.

In another study, students using i-Ready as recommended showed, on average, about 46% greater reading growth and 38% greater mathematics growth in one academic year compared to similar peers.

i-Ready's evidence base includes both independent third-party research and studies conducted by Curriculum Associates' own team of Ph.D. scientists and researchers.

Third-party research has been conducted by nationally respected organizations, including Human Resources Research Organization (HumRRO) and the Johns Hopkins University Center for Research and Reform in Education (CRRE). A study conducted by researchers at Georgia State University, funded independently by the Institute of Education Sciences at the US Department of Education, and published in June 2026 in the peer-reviewed Online Learning, found statistically significant gains in both mathematics and reading across nearly 28,000 students in 131 schools (Darling-Aduana & Capers, 2026).

Evidence reviews have been completed by What Works Clearinghouse and Evidence for ESSA, the two most widely recognized independent review bodies in US education.

Darling-Aduana, J., & Capers, K. J. (2026). Evaluating a personalized online learning tool for academic recovery: Lessons from K–12 implementation of i-Ready. Online Learning, 30(2), 459–490. https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v30i2.4916

RCTs are difficult to conduct well in K–12 settings. Schools are not controlled lab environments, and randomly assigning students to use or not use a program creates real practical and logistical challenges. Education research has turned to an accepted alternative: quasi-experimental designs, which compare carefully matched groups of similar students and use statistical methods to isolate the effect of the program and rule out other explanations for the results.

The i-Ready evidence base relies on this approach across millions of students in real classrooms, across multiple states and student populations. The program has been studied through rigorous, large-scale research that consistently demonstrates its efficacy. Studies have been reviewed and approved by What Works Clearinghouse and Evidence for ESSA.

We continue to explore opportunities for experimental research where it can be designed responsibly, and we remain committed to building the strongest possible evidence base for the students and educators who rely on i-Ready.

• The Assessment: Three times a year (fall, winter, and spring), students complete the adaptive i-Ready Inform assessment that takes about 30–60 minutes per subject depending on grade level, typically across two or more sessions. This gives teachers a precise picture of where each student is, down to the subskill level, so they can act quickly and with confidence to provide enrichment or targeted support.
• The Lessons: Based on assessment results, students receive short Personalized Instruction lessons matched to their skill level. These sessions are structured and time-limited, recommended for 30–49 minutes per subject per week. Best practice is for students to complete about two to three interactive sessions weekly over 18 weeks, with a 70 percent pass rate. In practice, the vast majority of Grades K–5 students average about 34 minutes per subject per week, well within this recommended range.
• The Teacher's Role: Teachers may use assessment data to help group students, decide what to reteach, and target intervention or enrichment where it's needed most. They can assign lessons, adjust a student's learning path at any time, and monitor whether students are progressing and engaging with the program productively. The teacher always drives instruction. i-Ready helps them do it with more precision.

Educational programs are most effective when used as designed, and i-Ready is no exception. The research consistently shows that positive outcomes occur when i-Ready Personalized Instruction is used as recommended, meaning teachers integrate it intentionally to supplement classroom instruction, and students use it for approximately 30–49 minutes per subject per week.

Schools with strong implementation—where educators use the assessment data to drive instruction, monitor student progress, and make adjustments over time—consistently show the strongest results. The data shows the program works; how it's used determines whether students benefit.

Research shows that consistent, purposeful use of i-Ready Personalized Instruction within the recommended range is associated with stronger student outcomes. And to a point, more time does correspond with greater growth. But more isn't always better. Our guidelines exist to protect something no program can replace: the time students spend interacting with their teachers and peers. The back-and-forth of a well-led lesson doesn't just build academic skills; it supports the development of the whole child. That's essential.

i-Ready is designed as a targeted, time-limited complement to teacher-led instruction, not a substitute for it. The goal isn't maximum time on screen; it's the right time, used well.

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is the federal law governing K–12 education in the United States. It established a tiered evidence framework that schools and districts use when evaluating programs, especially those receiving public funding.

ESSA Tier 2 and Tier 3 standards require comparison-group research with statistical controls. Studies in the i-Ready evidence base meet these standards, meaning they have been held to the same bar used for federally funded program evaluation.

Yes. The i-Ready research base includes analyses for a range of student populations, including English learners, students with disabilities, Black and Latino students, striving learners, and students who are socioeconomically disadvantaged.

Positive outcomes are consistently observed across these groups, reinforcing that well-implemented instructional support can help all students make measurable progress, particularly those who need it most.

This civil lawsuit is one of several similar actions filed against companies across the education technology industry. This case is the most recent chapter in the plaintiff's efforts to use the courts, rather than the legislative process, to fundamentally change the way in which schools operate. We strongly believe their positions raise serious concerns for school administrators, teachers, and providers.

We believe it is undeniable that this movement seeks to take control from schools. If a court accepted the positions being set forth by the plaintiffs in these cases, districts and schools could be required to obtain unanimous and individualized parental consent for an array of tools and resources, including technology providers and contractors that interact with students. We feel this movement, if successful, will undeniably alter the education landscape, create educational inequities, and place significant burdens on schools.

• Data provided by schools includes basic student information, such as name, date of birth, grade, school, and student ID. The school may also choose to provide additional demographic or program information, such as school email for single sign-on, English learner status, disability status, eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch, or participation in specialized programs.
• Data generated when students use i-Ready may include learning data, such as assessment results, lesson progress, and student responses.
• Information collected automatically during use of i-Ready may include usage data (such as time spent, logins, and feature use) and limited technical information (such as device or browser type) used to support internal operations.

This information enables i-Ready to create and manage student accounts, support school and district reporting, provide teachers with actionable insights, deliver Personalized Instruction at the right level, and keep the platform secure and functioning properly.

School districts own and control their students' data. Curriculum Associates uses it only to provide the educational services the school or district has requested and authorized.

i-Ready does not collect:

• Health or biometric data
• Student mailing addresses or phone numbers
• Student personal email addresses
• Social media or personal profile information

Curriculum Associates takes the protection of student data very seriously. i-Ready uses multiple layers of security and oversight to keep student information safe:

• Student data is stored on secure, professionally managed servers in the United States.
• Data is protected both when it is being sent and when it is stored.
• Access is limited to trained, authorized personnel.
• Systems are regularly monitored, updated, and tested for security.

We also follow strict policies:

• We do not sell student data—ever.
• We do not use student data for advertising.
• We do not create commercial profiles of students.
• We do not share student data with third parties unless authorized by the school district, and only with partners that follow strict confidentiality protections.

Our data-handling practices are consistent with applicable federal and state laws, including FERPA and COPPA.

School districts remain in control of their student data and determine how it is used, shared, and managed. They can request corrections or deletion of student data when appropriate.

No. Curriculum Associates does not share student data with third parties for any purpose other than supporting the provision of its platform, in accordance with a school’s instruction, and where necessary to comply with applicable laws.

Only as permitted under contracts with school districts, limited data is provided to a small number of service providers (often referred to as “subprocessors”) that support the hosting, security, authentication, analytics, operation, improvement, and research of the i-Ready platform.

All service providers are bound by strict confidentiality, security, and data protection obligations.

Service providers are contractually prohibited from using student data for advertising, marketing, profiling, or any independent commercial purposes.

No. Curriculum Associates does not sell student data, use it for advertising, or build commercial student profiles.

Personally identifiable student information collected through i-Ready is used for education purposes to deliver the services requested by our school customers and to improve student outcomes.

De-identified or aggregate student data may be used to conduct efficacy studies and academic research, or to assist in the development of new features and products to improve student outcomes. This data is not traceable to an individual student.

No, Curriculum Associates does not share student personal information with Google through Google Analytics.

Google Analytics (GA4), a disclosed service provider, is used within the i-Ready student dashboard to help Curriculum Associates improve the user experience and ensure the product is functioning as intended. The identifiers transmitted are internal system-generated “universally unique identifiers” (UUIDs) that are not meaningful outside of our own systems and cannot be used by Google to identify an individual student.

Google may only process the analytics data to provide the GA4 service to us. Google is not permitted to access or use this data to improve its own products, serve advertising, or build user profiles. Google acts as a data processor, providing us with reports and analytics, rather than using the data for its own independent purposes.

Yes. School districts own and control their students’ data and authorize Curriculum Associates to provide educational services on their behalf. Curriculum Associates operates in accordance with all applicable federal and state laws.

At all times, Curriculum Associates remains under the direct control of school districts regarding use of their student data.