What can you expect from Newsela this school year? More types of content, more multimedia curations, and more intuitive ways to quickly find what you need (2022)

Background section

School is back in session and Newsela has a huge slate of product updates. It’s one of our biggest updates since we first launched in 2013 with daily news articles available at five reading levels.

This back-to-school we have more ways to solve classroom problems so teachers can start reclaiming their Sunday nights.

More standards aligned ELA, Social Studies, Science, and SEL curriculum content that’s vetted, leveled, and classroom ready.

More than 20+ types of content from biographies and primary sources to multimedia and novel studies. More platform enhancements that make lesson planning and teaching easier while improving learning experiences for students.

We started with news, but we’ve got so much more. As you welcome back students and adjust to a new school year, remember to take a look at what’s new on Newsela.

What’s new with Newsela Social Studies?

  • 700+ interactive social studies videos that hook students with engaging, interactive videos paired with relevant texts, searchable transcripts, and embedded quizzes.

  • State-based social studies collections that align with state-specific standards. These premium curations of hard-to-find content are designed to help teachers meet individual state requirements – from teaching the Massachusetts Constitution to the Geography of North Carolina, and beyond.

  • New and enhanced C3 Teachers Inquiries on civics, the Holocaust, and genocide studies, providing teachers with a standards-aligned, inquiry-based approach to enable student-led exploration and comply with state requirements.

  • Newly updated course-area collections that help teachers engage students with more present-day connections and structured choice.


What’s new with Newsela ELA?

  • Updated novel studies collections that provide engaging texts and build background knowledge for now nearly 200 books being read in class, including The Pearl by John Steinbeck, and Dominicana by Angie Cruz.

  • Nearly 100 new videos with embedded quizzes and searchable transcripts that help teachers strengthen lessons.

  • New bias and reliability ratings embedded in Newsela texts that improve students’ media literacy and grow their critical thinking skills.

  • More curated text sets to spark positive discourse in the classroom and help students build evidence-based arguments.

  • Twice as many relevant topics to support student research projects on everything from women in history to the future of virtual reality to help students build research and presenting skills.

What’s new with Newsela SEL?

  • 135 new SEL lessons across elementary, middle, and high school, including poetry and fiction.

  • All SEL text sets will be available in Spanish by the end of the year.

  • 3 New SEL topics including Making an Impact, Teamwork, and Leadership

What’s new with Newsela Science?

  • 150+ engaging science videos with embedded quizzes and searchable transcripts


What’s new on the Newsela Platform?

  • Newsela search just got better.With intuitive filters built specifically for the classroom, teachers have a resource to find engaging, authentic, standard-aligned content perfect for their instruction.

  • Knowledge Pages that will serve as a home for vetted, classroom-ready, and instructionalized content on often-taught people, places, topics, events, and even standards. (Available in September)

  • A personalized and updated homepage that surfaces the content teachers need, when they need it. (Available in September)

  • A new Newsela add-on for Google Classroom that will save teachers time on planning, grading, and record keeping by streamlining the disparate edtech tools teachers are juggling.

You may not know yet what to expect from your new students this year, but you know what you can expect from us. We hope this helps you get ready for the school year and all that’s ahead in 2022! Check out our full slate of updates here.