IXL Learning Names Richard Carranza as Chief of Strategy and Global Development

Carranza will draw from his deep expertise in K-12 education to advise IXL on meeting the growing needs of school systems around the world

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IXL Learning

Apr 01, 2021, 14:00 ET

SAN MATEO, Calif., April 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- IXL Learning, developer of personalized learning products used by more than 12 million students, has hired Richard Carranza as its Chief of Strategy and Global Development. Carranza brings to IXL more than three decades of experience serving at nearly every level of education, including leading two of the largest school districts in the United States. He will utilize his extensive background to help IXL better meet the evolving needs of educators, identify where the company can make an even greater global impact and reach students no matter what setting they learn in.

Richard Carranza has served at nearly every level of education and will advise IXL Learning on meeting the growing needs of school systems around the world.

"Richard will supply IXL with an abundance of wisdom gained from working at the highest levels of K-12 education and a boundless commitment to ensuring all students have access to world-class learning experiences," said Paul Mishkin, CEO of IXL Learning. "He has been a transformative force throughout his career and we are excited to continue shaping the future of education with him."

Carranza served as Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education—the largest school system in the United States—where he was responsible for educating 1.1 million students in more than 1,800 schools. During his tenure, Carranza led the charge to bridge the technological divide between schools and communities, and worked to correct inequities in the education system. Previously, as superintendent of Houston Independent School District, Carranza led the seventh-largest U.S. school system through Hurricane Harvey and spearheaded an educational initiative aimed at aiding underserved communities. He also served as superintendent of San Francisco Unified School District, where he focused on expanding student access to technology and narrowed disparities in graduation rates. Carranza began his career as a high school social studies teacher and principal in Tucson, Arizona.

"Education is undergoing a profound transformation where teachers are utilizing technology to close learning gaps and provide every child with the tools to build lasting knowledge," said Richard Carranza, former Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education. "IXL has harnessed the tremendous power of innovation throughout this shift to empower teachers and build students' learning capacity. I am thrilled to join IXL and execute our vision of bringing the wide-ranging benefits of educational technology to as many students as possible across the world."

Carranza earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in secondary education from the University of Arizona and a Master of Education with distinction in educational leadership from Northern Arizona University. He also completed his doctoral coursework in educational leadership through Northern Arizona University and Nova Southeastern University.

IXL's personalized learning platform
Founded in 1998, IXL Learning's flagship product is IXL, a personalized learning platform that helps students in more than 190 countries become strong, confident learners. IXL is built on over 8,500 interactive skills that are highly targeted and adjust to each student's level of understanding. IXL's adaptive assessment, the Real-Time Diagnostic, evaluates students across every concept in the K-12 curriculum, generating an accurate portrait of students' knowledge levels in math and language arts. Using student data from the curriculum and diagnostic, IXL gives every learner a personalized action plan for growth. In addition, IXL Analytics provides real-time insight into student progress and helps teachers make better instructional decisions in the classroom.

About IXL Learning
Currently used by 12 million students and in all of the top 100 U.S. school districts, IXL is an integrated learning platform that supports personalized learning in math, English language arts, science, social studies and Spanish. With more than 85 billion questions asked and answered around the world, IXL is helping schools and parents successfully boost student achievement. The IXL family of products also includes Rosetta Stone, Wyzant, Education.com, ABCya and Vocabulary.com. To learn more about IXL, visit www.ixl.com, facebook.com/IXL and twitter.com/IXLLearning.