The new "Math Platforms at a Glance" Reference Sheets give teachers a clear look at major digital math platforms like Khan Academy, IXL, and DreamBox.
This free resource offers practical comparisons, classroom insights, and tips to find the best fit for every teaching style and purpose.
By Anna Lasek, Communications Assistant at Rutgers CESP
There are numerous math platforms and educational tools available to help students succeed both in and out of the classroom. You may have heard of ALEKS, Beast Academy, DreamBox, IXL, and Khan Academy - each providing various features, levels of adaptivity, and ways of tracking student progress. But which resource works best for you and your teaching goals?
Rutgers CESP has created free, concise reference sheets for educators that allow teachers to learn more about each major platform, see how they’re structured, and receive tips for using them in practice.
Our math resources are designed to give teachers essential information about each platform. Each resource includes:
Quick Comparisons: At-a-glance information showing grade levels, standards alignment, and access options (desktop, mobile, app).
Classroom Applications: How each tool can be used as a full curriculum, for homework, extra practice, and more!
Student Experience: What the platform looks and feels like for students, such as game-like adventures, clean workbooks, or somewhere in between.
Teacher Insights: Real considerations such as how long diagnostics take, whether dashboards are easy to use, what keeps students motivated, or what features might end up being a distraction.
How We Built This Resource
Utilizing a two-step process, we explored each platform while considering the perspectives of students and teachers. Experienced math educators reviewed each platform while considering how to use them in class, how they fit into lessons or achieve particular learning goals, and how they ultimately serve students. This feedback helped to highlight the “need-to-know” details and flag potential challenges.
Using structured graphic organizers, we logged details such as scope and sequence, pricing, assessments, and available teacher supports.
By combining systematic research with real educator input, we created resources that are practical, honest, and of course, free!
Why It Matters
No digital math tool is perfect, and none of them are one-size-fits-all. These reference sheets are here to help you figure out which platform is best for your students, your teaching style, and your needs.
Ready to dive in? Explore the reference sheets in the CESP Resource Library here to see which tools might be the best fit for your classroom.