Newsela Launches Annual Summer Reading Challenge for all!

The literacy company’s 2015 Summer Reading Challenge begins on June 1. Newsela will introduce an iOS app to help students keep their reading skills sharp during the summer.

NEW YORK, N.Y. - School may be out for summer, but Newsela, a leading education technology company that helps students master reading and critical thinking, is making sure nonfiction literacy stays in.

Today, Newsela announced that it is kicking off its annual, free Summer Reading Challenge to keep students’ reading skills sharp during the break, a time commonly known as the “summer slide” where students can lose as much as two months of reading achievement. The global challenge empowers students to remain up to speed on important current events over the summer through news articles that are tailored to every ability and reading level.

This will be the first year that Newsela will offer its Summer Reading Challenge direct to iOS devices. A native iOS application to be introduced later this summer will make it even easier for students to read Newsela on the devices they use most, anytime and anywhere.

From June 1 through Aug. 14, students across the globe in grades 2-12 can read news stories directly from their smartphones, receive newsroom promotions, earn points for the number of words they read and badges to recognize their reading accomplishments. The badges are awarded to participants when they complete a range of quizzes based on article assignments.

Newsela articles are published at five different reading levels on the high-interest topics students care about. Students of all abilities can learn about important news events happening in the world around them, including groundbreaking medical advances, politics, the arts, environmental issues and immigration. The Summer Reading Challenge is available to any student with a Newsela account. Parents and teachers are invited to create a free Newsela account for students to participate in the challenge and can visit Newsela's new Summer Learning page.

Last year, 50,000 students from more than 3,000 schools in all 50 states, D.C. and 34 countries took part in the Challenge. Additionally, 510,344 articles and 203,937 quizzes were completed over the summer, with more than 17,000 badges presented to participants worldwide.

“Many students lose ground over the summer, and have to catch up again in the fall,” said Newsela Founder and CEO Matthew Gross. “The Newsela Summer Reading Challenge helps change that by making reading competitive and engaging. It helps develop reading skills and habits that last a lifetime.”

Newsela is one of the fastest-growing K-12 technology startups. More than 3.5 million students and teachers read Newsela, and the service is being used in more than half of the K-12 schools across the nation.

ABOUT NEWSELA INC: Newsela unlocks the written word by publishing daily news articles at five reading levels to engage students in grades 2-12 in high-interest topics from immigration and diplomacy to drones and animal extinction. Launched in 2013, students have read more than 37 million Newsela articles, making Newsela the No. 1 news source for students. When students read articles and take Common Core-aligned quizzes online, they are developing the critical nonfiction literacy skills that empower them to take part in conversations about complex issues, and prepare them for academic and professional success. To read more, visit our home page and follow us on Twitter!