Evaluation of a Reference Work

Currently the school has a subscription to The Day which provides online education news articles on global issues for students.  I am recommending that we consider using Newsela in its place.  Newsela also provides news article for schools however, their content is useful for a wider range of students and teachers.  Also, Newsela has  many additional features that The Day does not have such as accessibility features, a diagnostic reading element and the teachers ability to curate articles.  Newsela is considerably more expensive but the extra cost will prove  worth it by the impact it will have on student learning. 

Purpose & Relevance

Both sources provide information on current global issues intended for a school audience.  For example, both cover articles on important topics such as the climate which is evident in Newsela's article  Alaska Indigenous Community Relocates as Climate Crisis Ravages Homes and The Day's article, The Climate Crisis is an Imagination Crisis.  However, Newsela provides information for a wider audience.  The articles in The Day are more applicable to students in middle school and high school.   There may also for for students in upper primary with high reading levels and teacher support.   Newsela articles are easily adaptable to students in all lower primary schools with little teacher support. 

Curricular Connections

Curricular connections can be easily made in Newsela as articles are searchable by subject.     The site allows teachers to curate the articles relevant to their units and assign them to students.  The content is aligned with my school's pedagogy in the belief that "Deep and  personalised learning is at the heart of Education".  The content covers topics that primary school  to high school students would be interested in and the article titles capture their attention  and evoke curiosity.   The wide range of content encourages students to inquire into a topic of their own interest and supports the schools Vision Statement "We help every student turn their learning into action…".  The content in The Day is more appropriate for students in upper primary school  high school and therefore a large part of the school population is missed out.  

Newsela has a variety of features that support critical thinking skills including an embedded annotation tool, a  quiz feature and writing prompts for each article.   The accessibility features are an additional way students can personalise their learning.   Students can use the voice to text or the screen reader functionality is compatible with  the main browsers such as Chrome, Safari, and Windows. The grade level is identified at the top of each article and can be adjusted through a simple dropdown menu.  An added feature in selected articles is a label stating Sensitive  Content indicating the article may be upsetting for some views.   The curriculum connections and accessibility features are  one of Newsela's greatest strengths.

Accuracy,  Authority,  Objectivity

Newsela is partnered with highly reputable newspapers including the Washington Post, New York Times and The Guardian.  Their sponsoring and educational agencies include National Geographic,  The Smithsonian,  The History channel and The California Academy of Science.   The connection to high quality newspapers  ensures accuracy and objectivity of information and the partnership with educational agencies demonstrate the educational clear purpose.   Titles, authors, publication dates, grammar and spelling are clear and correct. It is evident that the content is accurate, current and professional.  The Day is partnered with many high quality educational institutions but does not mention having many connections to reputable publishers or newspapers.

Format

The format makes the information easy to navigate and interesting.  Each article begins with a large bright image that highlights the content.  A caption is added to the bottom of each image to provide more information. The recommended grade level, reading level and word count are clearly indicated before the article to help teachers and students determine the appropriateness of the information.   The articles are written with a wide line spacing which increases legibility.  Visuals are included in each article such as subtitles, captions, charts and additional images support understanding which makes the information interesting and engaging. 

The Day also has a clear easy to navigate format.    However, there are minimal visuals added into the article other than the opening image.   An additional dropdown menu is used to access extra content posters, videos and quizzes which makes it slightly less user friendly.

Scope

The  scope of the content is appropriate for educational use.    The clearly stated reading and grade levels helps to guide students and teachers to material at the correct cognitive and linguistic level.    An adaptive Reading Level customises the reading level for each student and suggests  individualised appropriate reading material. Many articles are available in Spanish and labelled for ELA based on the theme and subject.    The number of languages available in Newsela is a small drawback in relation to The Day which supports Arabic, Spanish, French & German.   Newsela has a classroom/assignment function that The Day is missing.   The additional classroom  functionality allows teachers to curate a(n) article(s) and connect them to an assignment, lock the reading level and send it to a class or group of students.   Within the classroom function, teachers analytics such as  the Activity Feed and a Reading Summary.  The Content tab enables teachers to view the content they created themselves as well as content created by other teachers.    Newsela provides a wide variety of teacher  Support  through resources and help documents.  Support resources are not as easily accessible for teachers in The Day.  It is also missing the power of a classroom functionality which allows teachers to customise and empower students. 

Cost

The Day is a very useful reference resource for students, however, Newsela's additional functionality, partnership with many prominent news agencies makes it a superior resource.   The cost of a  subscription to Newsela is substantially higher, coming in around $14 000  a year while a subscription to The Day is $1 300/ year.   Newsela's excellent content, support, resources, strong connections to reputable partners makes the resource worth the price.  The reading, accessibility and assignment features make it a perfect fit within the schools vision and pedagogy. 

Rubric

The Day in Green & Newsela in Yellow

Evaluation rubric created based on the evaluation information in Riedling, Ann, Reference Skills for the School Librarian: Tools and Tips (Fourth Edition) and Evaluating, selecting and acquiring learning resources:  A guide  published by the BC Education Resource Acquisition Consortium (BC ERAC).

Citation

Beaumont, Hilary. adapted by Newsela staff Jazeera, Al. "'Alaska Indigenous community relocates as climate crisis ravages homes'". Newsela, 18 January 2023, https://newsela.com/view/clbvciz0300093b6a7ghj4kc0/?levelId=clbvczwlx0pqv08ou10z5a5rj. Accessed on 8 February 2023. 

Kaplan, Sarah, Washington Post., The Washington Post, adapted by Newsela staff "Nine people are shot in church with a rich Southern history". 9 Feburary, 2023 https://newsela.com/view/ck9noobm801ig0iqjtat6ek0a/?levelId=ck7ecufaw06nz14p7x9wszsmz. Accessed on 9 February 2023. 

Osterloh, Zoe. "‘The climate crisis is an imagination crisis’". The Day, 16 January 2023, https://theday.co.uk/the-climate-crisis-is-an-imagination-crisis-5/. Accessed 8 February 2023.

Rich, Gina The Washington Post, adapted by Newsela staff "'Instead of ears, some spiders use their webs to hear'". Newsela, 20 Janurary 2023, https://newsela.com/view/cla7b436b00063b6antrfwcz4/?levelId=cla7bm23c68zq07ng06fkg7cq. Accessed on 9 February 2023. 

"Accessibility on Newsela ''. February 2023, https://support.newsela.com/article/accessibility-on-newsela/. Accessed on 8 February 2023. 

"Content Partners". February 2023, https://newsela.com/about/content/content-partners/. Accessed on 8 February 2023. 

"ISZL Mission and Guiding Statements". February 2023, https://www.iszl.ch/about-us/mission-and-values. Accessed on 9 February 2023. 

"Learning at ISZL". February 2023, https://www.iszl.ch/programmes/learning. Accessed on 9 February 2023. 

"Newsela ELA Levels". February 2023, https://learn.newsela.com/article/newsela-ela/. Accessed on 9 February 2023. 

"Student Reading Level". February 2023, https://support.newsela.com/article/student-reading-level/. Accessed on 9 February 2023. 

"Teacher Support". February 2023, https://support.newsela.com/. Accessed on 9 February 2023.