Checks For Understanding

Checks for understanding is a new scaffold and activity that encourages close reading with low-stakes, AI-generated, recall questions embedded within the text. These are available in both English and Spanish on news and informational texts across Newsela ELA, Newsela Science, and Newsela Social Studies.

What to know:

  • Each text will include one to four questions depending on the length of the text

How to assign:

  • You must assign checks for understanding in order for it to appear on a text a student reads

  • Checks for Understanding are automatically enabled by default in your Assignment Builder under Activities

  • If you are not interested in assigning checks for understanding, please uncheck the box next to it prior to assigning the article

Background section

  • Clicking on 'View' next to Checks for Understanding in the Assignment Builder will re-direct you to the first check within the article. From here you can scroll down to view the rest.

    Background section

Completing checks for understanding:

  • Students must answer each check for understanding correctly in order to continue on in the text

  • As a low-stakes scaffold, students will have unlimited tries to correctly answer each question

  • Because these are meant as a low-stakes scaffold, it is not currently featured in a teachers grading.

Background sectionBackground section

Reviewing Checks For Understanding Data:

Checks For Understanding Data is added to the grading page, displaying:

  • whether or not students responded to a Checks For Understanding question

  • how many attempts it took to complete each Check For Understanding

  • students' responses (e.g., student selected answers B, D, and A, in order)

A Checks For Understanding column is also available on the assignment review page.

Background section