''Newsela'' is a literacy
educational technology
Educational technology (commonly abbreviated as edutech, or edtech) is the combined use of computer hardware, software, and educational theory and practice to facilitate learning and teaching. When referred to with its abbreviation, "EdTech" ...
company founded by Matthew Gross. Newsela news content is free with a registered account and additional resources are available by subscription.
Background
History
While former teacher Matthew Gross was working on the
Common Core standards
The Common Core State Standards Initiative, also known as simply Common Core, was an American, multi-state educational initiative begun in 2010 with the goal of increasing consistency across state standards, or what K–12 students throughout th ...
roll out in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
New York may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* ...
, he was disappointed to discover outdated textbooks that were labeled "Common Core-Aligned". One of Gross's children struggled with reading. After meeting with his son's assistant principal, he felt like she had given up on his son. Gross decided to start Newsela in 2013 for his son and to make a larger impact in education.
Partnerships
Newsela's partnership with The Virginia School Consortium for Learning (VaSCL) enables members to access Newsela at a discounted rate, as of December 2020.
In response to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, Newsela announced a partnership with
NWEA
The Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) is a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (acquired by HMH in 2023) that creates academic assessments for students pre-K-12.
NWEA assessments are used by over 50,000 schools and districts in 149 cou ...
to help teachers differentiate instruction. After a student takes a MAP Growth assessment, Newsela will automatically show teachers content at that student's reading level.
BrainPop
BrainPop (stylized as BrainPOP) is a group of educational websites founded in 1999 by Avraham Kadar, M.D. and Chanan Kadmon, based in New York City.The Certificate of Incorporation of Brainpop.com, LLC was filed with the Secretary of State of t ...
and Newsela formed a partnership on October 10, 2017. Users can access Newsela's resources directly from BrainPop's topic pages.
Newsela editor-in-chief Jennifer Coogan partnered with the
American Press Institute
The American Press Institute is an educational non-advocacy 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization affiliated with the News Media Alliance (formerly the Newspaper Association of America). The institute's mission is to encourage the advancement of news ...
to help combat
fake news websites in the United States
Fake news websites target United States audiences by using disinformation to create or inflame controversial topics such as the 2016 election. Most fake news websites target readers by impersonating or pretending to be real news organizations, wh ...
in October 2016.
Features
Newsela offers news articles that can be customized to match a student's reading level. Newsela's texts come from publishers including the
Associated Press
The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City.
Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
and
Encyclopedia Britannica
An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article (publishing), articles or entries that are arranged Alp ...
. The company offers supplemental instructional materials, including assessments, lessons and professional development. English
language arts
English studies (or simply, English) is an academic discipline taught in primary, secondary, and post-secondary education in English-speaking countries. This is not to be confused with English taught as a foreign language, which is a distin ...
(ELA),
Social Studies
In many countries' curricula, social studies is the combined study of humanities, the arts, and social sciences, mainly including history, economics, and civics. The term was coined by American educators around the turn of the twentieth century as ...
,
Science
Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...
and
Social and Emotional Learning
Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not.
Etymology
The word "social" derives fro ...
(SEL) content are available in English and Spanish.
Due to concerns about mature content, Newsela has created Newsela Elementary, with articles targeted toward elementary school students. Newsela also created Newsela PRO, a paid upgrade for teachers to use more features.
References
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External links
Webinar About BrainPop and Newsela Partnership
American educational websites