100 Reasons to Celebrate: IXL Honors the Teachers Powering Today’s Classrooms

IXL’s Elite 100 recognizes educators who went the extra mile to help their students succeed

SAN MATEO, Calif., Feb. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Teachers deserve extra credit, too. Now in its twelfth year, the IXL Elite 100 celebrates educators who go above and beyond to make a lasting impact in their classrooms.

While more than 1 million teachers used IXL in 2025, 100 distinguished themselves through their innovation, creativity and dedication to helping students reach new heights. This year’s winners represent 29 U.S. states and nine countries, including the United Kingdom, China, Liberia, Canada, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt.

“Each year we look forward to announcing the Elite 100 and reflecting on the tremendous accomplishments of these educators,” said Paul Mishkin, CEO of IXL Learning. “Now more than ever, students need strong classroom leaders, and we’re proud to partner with these teachers and spotlight their remarkable work.”

The Elite 100 in action
The work of every teacher begins with a question: Where do my students stand? Answering that is how educators find the best path forward and, most importantly, ensure no learner is left behind. That’s why Elite 100 teacher Moses Sliva Jr., from Mililani Mauka Elementary School in Hawaii, relies on the LevelUp Diagnostic.

Moses uses LevelUp to check students’ knowledge throughout the year. By spending just 10 minutes a week in Real-Time mode, his students provide him with a steady stream of data that helps him individualize instruction. “The real-time data not only helps me be responsive, but also ensures that no student is silently struggling,” says Moses. “It’s a great way to make our use of technology feel more personal and effective.”

But identifying a struggle is only the first step; the next is creating a roadmap to fix it. At Central City Elementary in Nebraska, Elite 100 honoree Jacob Zeiss uses the personalized action plans generated after each LevelUp assessment to move from testing to teaching. These plans focus every student on exactly what they need to master next to grow, and allow Jacob to support each child at his or her own pace. “One student started the year below grade level, so we implemented interventions based on their action plan,” Zeiss shared. “As a result, this student made significant progress, and by the end of the year, they were tackling material beyond grade level.”

Sometimes, the barrier to success isn’t a lack of direction, but a language gap. Elite 100 recipient Javier Velazquez of Charles R. Drew Elementary School saw this firsthand. To help his English language learners bridge that divide, he uses IXL’s multi-language support tools, which translate content into over 120 languages—ensuring their potential isn’t lost in translation:

“I had a student from Mexico who didn’t speak any English, so I taught him how to use IXL’s audio feature. I explained the importance of listening to native speakers and learning gradually. By the end of the year, he passed the STAAR test at the Meets level and made significant gains in reading, listening and even speaking.”

Even when the path is clear, one of the hardest parts of a lesson is holding students’ attention. To keep them locked in, Elite 100 educator Eric Schmitz of Chaparral Christian Community School uses classroom engagement tools like Group Jam to make learning more interactive. Beyond keeping students engaged, Group Jam allows Eric to gauge his class’s understanding of topics, tailor instruction and move the room forward together: “During a Group Jam on proportional relationships, students were flying through the first couple of sections, but then six out of seven missed a question,” Schmitz noted. “This created an opportunity for me to go more in depth on a particular detail that I didn’t explain initially.”

Meanwhile, IXL Analytics delivers quick, reliable insights, so teachers can see how students are progressing and where they may need additional help. At Collins Elementary, Elite 100 awardee Amanda Conway uses this information to make more informed instructional decisions. “I like looking at the Score Grid report to view proficiency in each grade level skill. I use this information to determine if I should do a small group lesson on a specific skill.”

To learn more about the Elite 100 and view the full list of winners, visit IXL’s website.

About IXL
Currently used by 17 million students and 96 of the top 100 U.S. school districts, IXL is an all-inclusive educational platform providing a comprehensive PK-12 curriculum, instructional resources, actionable analytics and a state-of-the-art assessment suite. Available in more than 120 languages, IXL’s end-to-end teaching and learning solution supports personalized instruction in math, English language arts, science, social studies and Spanish. With more than 200 billion questions asked and answered worldwide, IXL is helping schools and parents successfully boost student achievement. The IXL Learning family of products also includes Rosetta Stone, Dictionary.com, Thesaurus.com, TPT,  SpanishDictionary.com, inglés.com, FrenchDictionary.com, Wyzant, Vocabulary.com, ABCya, Education.com, Carson Dellosa Education and Evan-Moor Educational Publishers. To learn more about IXL, visit www.ixl.com, facebook.com/IXL and x.com/IXLLearning.

Press Contact
Eric Bates
IXL Learning
[email protected]

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