Newsela Science
Product by Newsela
Facts checked: Not yet checked
Our take (not a Learning Standard rating). This label applies to learning-science judgments throughout this overview.
Our take (not a Learning Standard rating)
Newsela Science effectively builds background knowledge by offering current science articles at multiple reading levels, integrating literacy with STEM. However, because it relies heavily on reading comprehension rather than direct instruction or interactive simulations, it supports classroom learning but cannot replace hands-on science education or standalone mastery-based practice.
Pros
- Adjusts article Lexile levels dynamically to match your child's reading proficiency.
- Connects abstract scientific concepts to real-world current events and career technical education.
- Includes embedded quizzes that provide immediate retrieval practice after reading.
- Integrates seamlessly with existing school curriculum for blended learning environments.
Cons
- Lacks interactive simulations or hands-on virtual labs to demonstrate scientific phenomena.
- Relying heavily on text means struggling readers may spend more cognitive load on decoding than learning science.
- Does not provide automated feedback on written short-response questions.
- Pricing and access are designed for school districts rather than individual parent subscriptions.
What Do We Know About Newsela Science?
Newsela Science is an effective supplemental tool for building scientific background knowledge through reading, but it is not a standalone science curriculum. The platform takes real-world science news and rewrites the text at multiple reading levels, ensuring that a third grader and a twelfth grader can read about the same scientific discovery at their respective reading capacities. This approach relies on the learning science principle that background knowledge is a primary driver of reading comprehension. When your child reads an article, they will encounter embedded quizzes and writing prompts designed to test recall and synthesize information. However, parents should know that this is primarily a literacy tool applied to science content. It does not teach the scientific method through interactive virtual labs, nor does it provide mastery-based progression through a standard science curriculum like physics or chemistry. It works best when your child's teacher assigns articles to complement hands-on classroom experiments or primary textbook instruction. Because pricing is geared toward district-wide adoption, individual parent access is highly limited unless provided directly through your child's school.
How Does Newsela Science Work?
Newsela Science uses a differentiated literacy approach to teach scientific concepts through leveled informational texts. The core mechanic involves taking authentic, real-world science journalism and adapting each article into five different reading levels. When your child logs in, the platform assesses their current reading ability and automatically serves the science article at the appropriate Lexile measure. As they read, students engage in retrieval practice through multiple-choice quizzes and short-answer writing prompts attached to each text. These assessments measure comprehension and allow the algorithm to adjust the reading level of future articles up or down based on performance. The content spans applied science, career and technical education, and general science standards for grades three through twelve. Teachers can assign specific article sets to align with their current classroom units, creating a blended learning environment where current events reinforce traditional science instruction.
Strengths and tradeoffs of Newsela Science
The biggest strength of Newsela Science is its ability to decouple scientific concepts from reading barriers via dynamic Lexile leveling, while its biggest weakness is the complete absence of interactive, simulation-based scientific practice. Building Background Knowledge: The platform excels at connecting theoretical science standards to real-world applications, which cognitive science shows is highly effective for building the background knowledge necessary for deep learning. Retrieval Practice: The embedded multiple-choice quizzes force students to recall information immediately after reading, a proven strategy for moving information into long-term memory. Lack of Experiential Learning: Science education requires observing phenomena, testing hypotheses, and manipulating variables. Because Newsela Science is purely text-based, it misses the experiential component of learning science. Cognitive Load for Struggling Readers: While the text leveling helps, students who struggle significantly with reading may still expend too much working memory on decoding words rather than understanding the underlying scientific principles. Feedback Limitations: The platform provides immediate scoring on multiple-choice questions, but short-answer writing prompts require manual grading from a teacher, delaying the feedback loop necessary for correcting misconceptions.
Who Might Benefit From Newsela Science?
Best for students in grades 3 through 12 who need to build scientific background knowledge and vocabulary alongside their traditional classroom instruction. It is an excellent resource for blended learning environments where teachers want to connect abstract textbook concepts to real-world STEM careers and current events. Because the platform dynamically adjusts reading levels, it is highly beneficial for mixed-ability classrooms where students read at different proficiencies but need to participate in the same scientific discussions. It is not suitable for families seeking a primary science curriculum or interactive virtual lab experiences.
Data Transparency
Does Not Meet Data Transparency Standard
Newsela Science reaches Level 1 of 3 (Basic protections), below our data transparency standard. Reaching Level 2 needs the policy to document a data retention timeline and self-service deletion.
25 of 35 checks passed
Evaluated September 2026
Newsela Privacy Policy →Level 1 · Basic protections
Does not sell data or target ads at students, limits sharing, and lets parents see and delete their child's data.
Level 2 · Parent control (meets the standard)
Families can get their data out, know who processes it, and know how long it is kept.
Not documented: a data retention timeline, self-service deletion
Level 3 · Direct data access
Families or schools can pull their own data through an API, in a stated format.
Not documented: an API for retrieving their own data, a named export format
View all 35 checks
Parent Access7/8
Does the policy mention parents specifically?
“If you are a parent, please continue reading this Privacy Policy for Children and Students to understand how your child’s information will be collected and used by Newsela on behalf of your child’s school.”
Can parents view their child's data?
“If you are a student, or the parent or legal guardian of a student, please contact your School to submit a request to access, review, modify or delete Student Data.”
Can parents modify their child's data?
“If you are a student, or the parent or legal guardian of a student, please contact your School to submit a request to access, review, modify or delete Student Data.”
Can parents delete their child's account?
“If you are a student, or the parent or legal guardian of a student, please contact your School to submit a request to access, review, modify or delete Student Data.”
Is there a dedicated Children's Privacy section?
“We do not permit children under 13 to create an account and do not knowingly collect personal information from a child under 13 unless the child is provided access to the Services by the child’s School or an authorized legal guardian for use in an educational setting”
Does it reference COPPA compliance?
“When a School uses the Services in the classroom or educational context, we rely on the School to provide appropriate consent Newsela to collect Personal Information from a student under 13 for the use and benefit of the School and for no other commercial purpose, as permitted by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”).”
Does it reference FERPA compliance?
“Our collection and use of Student Data is governed by our contracts with the Schools, as well as by applicable student privacy laws such as FERPA, COPPA and state student data privacy laws.”
Is parental consent required for child accounts?
The policy relies on the School, not the parent, to provide consent for collecting data from students under 13.
Data Portability3/5
Can users access their personal data?
“Right to Know and Access: You have the right to confirm whether we are processing your personal data and to request access to specific pieces of personal data we have collected about you”
Can users download/export their data?
“you may have the right to request to access, correct (rectification), delete (erasure) your Personal Information, and/or to request to opt-out of certain types of data practices (such as restrict processing and/or object to processing), or transfer data we have collected to another organization or directly to you under certain circumstances.”
Is there a self-service data access tool?
“You may, at any time, log into your account and manage or modify the Personal Information stored in your account.”
Is a specific data format mentioned for export?
The policy does not name any format for exported data.
Is there an API for data access?
The policy mentions APIs only for third-party AI services and Google, not as a way for users to access their data.
Data Minimization1/6
Is data collection itemized?
“Student Data we may collect includes: - Full Name and Contact Information, including email address and address - State and/or Country - School, district, grade, subject, course, and/or classroom affiliation”
Can the app be used without a real name?
The policy says it collects students' full names.
Can the app be used without an email?
The policy says it collects students' email addresses.
Does it state collection is limited to what is necessary?
The policy does not say collection is limited to what is necessary; it only limits retention and AI-vendor sharing to what is necessary.
Is IP address anonymized or truncated?
The policy says it collects IP addresses and does not say they are anonymized or truncated.
Is location tracking explicitly excluded?
The policy does not rule out location tracking and says analytics collect approximate location.
Third-Party Protection7/7
Does it explicitly state no selling of data?
“We do not sell Student Data.”
Are third-party providers named?
“For the Generation Genius product offering, we use a server-side implementation of Google Analytics to analyze website usage.”
Are providers contractually restricted?
“We also disclose Student Data to our trusted service providers who have a legitimate need to access such information on our behalf, subject to appropriate contractual terms to protect such data.”
No-targeted-advertising commitment?
“We do not use or disclose Student Data for targeted advertising purposes.”
Is AI/ML data sharing addressed?
“Your information will only be shared with these AI vendors to the extent necessary to provide you with the Services and support. The AI vendors only use your information in accordance with directions from Newsela.”
Child-specific sharing restriction?
“We disclose Student Data solely as needed to provide the Services on behalf of specific Schools in accordance with our contractual agreements with those Schools.”
Cookies/tracking limited or opt-out?
“You can exercise control over the use of cookies on the Services through our cookie banner or cookie preference center.”
Deletion & Retention3/5
Can users delete their account?
“You can request your Personal Information to be deleted at any time by filling out our [Privacy Rights Request Webform](https://privacy.newsela.com/) or emailing us at privacy@newsela.com.”
Self-service deletion mechanism?
The policy offers deletion only by request via a webform, email, or the School, not through a self-service tool.
Specific data retention timeline?
The policy says data is kept while the account is active or as long as necessary, with no specific time period.
Auto-deletion of inactive accounts?
“Even if we do not receive a deletion request from a School, we may delete or de-identify Student Data after a period of inactivity in accordance with our standard data retention practices.”
Post-deletion handling described?
“We may not be able to immediately or completely delete all data in all instances, such as information retained in technical support records, customer service records, backups, and other similar business records.”
Advertising4/4
Advertising model explicitly disclosed?
“We do not display advertisements on our Services. We also do not disclose Student Data for targeted advertising purposes.”
Free from third-party advertisements?
“We do not display advertisements on our Services.”
Children excluded from ad targeting?
“For clarity, we do not use Student Data to: (i) advertise or market to students on our Services or to direct targeted online advertising to students on our Services”
Ad-free option available?
“We do not display advertisements on our Services.”
What This Means
The policy review did not meet our data transparency standard. The checks above show the documented findings and unknowns. A missing statement does not establish how the app handles data in practice.
About this evaluation: Based on automated analysis of Newsela Privacy Policy against 35 policy-disclosure questions, including questions adapted from the Common Sense Privacy Program's published evaluation questions. TLS is not affiliated with Common Sense Media, and this is not a Common Sense rating. Quoted text is copied from the policy; unquoted notes are our summary. Results describe what the policy documents, not the company's actual practices. Privacy policies can change: this review reflects the version we analyzed and does not determine legal compliance.
Sources and review method
TLS combines product information and editorial analysis to explain how Newsela Science works, its tradeoffs, and the questions to ask before choosing it. Product features, an instructional rationale and evidence of learning outcomes are different kinds of information.
Formal Learning Standard assessment: not yet completed. Data Transparency findings are reported separately and do not establish learning effectiveness. Read our methodology.
Frequently Asked Questions About Newsela Science
Is Newsela Science free?
No, Newsela Science is not free. Pricing varies based on the number of students and schools served, and it is primarily sold as a subscription to school districts rather than individual families.
Is Newsela Science good for elementary students?
Yes, it is effective for students starting in third grade. The platform adapts complex science articles down to lower reading levels, making it accessible for upper elementary students building foundational science vocabulary.
What does Newsela Science teach?
Newsela Science teaches general science concepts, applied science, and career and technical education by exposing students to current events and informational texts related to STEM fields.
How does Newsela Science compare to Khan Academy Science?
Khan Academy provides direct instruction through video and mastery-based practice sets for core science subjects. Newsela Science focuses strictly on literacy, using current events and leveled reading articles to build scientific background knowledge.
Has The Learning Standard evaluated Newsela Science?
TLS has not yet completed a Learning Standard evaluation of how well Newsela Science teaches. Its privacy policy has been reviewed for Data Transparency and reaches Level 1, Basic protections.
Is Newsela Science COPPA compliant?
The reviewed privacy policy references COPPA. A policy reference alone does not establish COPPA compliance. Policy review note: The policy references COPPA.
Is Newsela Science FERPA compliant?
The reviewed privacy policy references FERPA. A policy reference alone does not establish FERPA compliance. Policy review note: The policy references FERPA.
Does Newsela Science have a children's privacy policy?
The reviewed policy includes a dedicated children's privacy section. Policy review note: The policy has a dedicated "Children Under 13" section within its Privacy Disclosures for Children and Students.
Does Newsela Science sell student data?
The reviewed policy states that the app does not sell data. This is a policy statement; actual data practices were not verified. Policy review note: The policy states the company does not sell Student Data.
Can you delete your data from Newsela Science?
The reviewed privacy policy describes account deletion. We have not tested the deletion process. Policy review note: Users can request deletion of their personal information.
Follow TLS Research
Subscribe to future TLS research updates: app reviews, findings, and what the evidence shows.
Take Action
For Newsela Science
If you represent Newsela and have a correction or new evidence, send the relevant source so we can review and update this page.
Submit a correctionDetails
- Pricing
- Pricing varies depending on number of students and schools served. Discounts available for bundling with other Newsela subject products.
- Platforms
- Web Browser, iOS (Apple mobile), iPadOS (Apple tablet), Android (Google mobile), Tizen (Samsung mobile), Windows (Microsoft), macOS (Apple), Chrome OS (Google)
- Grade Levels
- 3rd Grade, 4th Grade, 5th Grade, 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade, 9th Grade, 10th Grade, 11th Grade, 12th Grade
- Website
- Visit site