Newsela - Reading assessment tool for language teachers (English and Spanish)

One of the biggest challenges teachers face is finding high-quality, relevant, nonfiction texts.  As the language teachers, I'm sure you must have struggled to find engaging articles that could be read by your learners and still challenge those students who are reading above grade level. Thankfully, Newsella addresses just this issue. Newsela.com is an education website focused on building student reading comprehension by providing high-quality news articles and real-time assessments for students in grades 2–12. It is a database of current events stories tailor-made for classroom use. Indexed by broad theme (e.g. War and Peace, Arts, Science, Health, Law, Money), stories are both student-friendly and can be accessed in different formats by reading level. An added benefit of using the site is that students not only practice reading nonfiction but also stay current with what is happening locally and globally. Newspaper writers rewrite a story four times for a total of five Lexile levels per story. All articles have embedded, Common Core-aligned quizzes that conform to the reading levels for checking comprehension. The quiz provides real-time assessments of student comprehension through multiple-choice quizzes and writing prompts. Each article is accompanied by a four-item quiz that probes the following areas: what the text says; central ideas; people, events, and ideas; word meaning and choice; text structure; point of view or purpose; multimedia; or arguments and claims. The adaptive feature on this site adjusts the articles to students’ appropriate reading level, thus allows for an entire class to read and discuss the same content, while permitting individual students to access material at their individual reading level. Newsela has also translated many of its articles into Spanish—again available at five reading levels. An account is required to use Newsela, both for teachers and for students, but students sign up using a teacher or parent provided code rather than an email address. Teachers can create classes and assign reading-level specific articles to individual students, or download printable PDF copies of the article in any of its reading-level versions. There is an upgraded fee-based Pro Version which allows teachers or administrators to track reading progress and students to take constructed response writing assessments, but many of the features are free and there is no outside advertising.

How can teachers use Newsela in their classrooms? - 

There are countless ways for teachers to use Newsela in the classroom. News articles and text sets can provide students with background knowledge in preparation for classroom activities and discussions. Thoughtfully assembled text sets can provide students with real-world examples at the same time expose them to key vocabulary terms.  Newsela can also be used to help students doing background research for projects or reports.  When younger students are conducting research on a topic, they often have difficulties reading the information that they find. With Newsela, the articles are adapted to students’ reading levels. Newsela also provides articles that discuss both sides of controversial issues. Pro/con articles can be found on topics such as labeling genetically modified food, using nuclear power to combat global warming, and the use of self-driving cars. These provide students with background knowledge and can also be used as a basis for persuasive and opinion writing, discussions and debates, and for students to practice comparing and contrasting. When assigning articles, choose to have the class read at one reading level, or choose individuals and set the reading level for them. There are five categories from which to choose. You may want to set up different articles at different learning stations on the computers in your room. Have the students rotate daily through the stations, completing one or two a day until they have completed all five articles. 

Since Newsela is cloud-based, even absent students can complete the missed work easily. Teachers of gifted students can use this site to accelerate or enrich reading for students. The site is easy to use, and students find it engaging. The articles also cover myriad topics, so no matter what subject you teach, you are apt to find something relevant to your class.

 Web sources - fordhaminstitute.org and teachersfirst.com