Classlink for System Admins

Newsela supports single sign on (SSO) and rostering with ClassLink.

Please see below for our steps on how to integrate Newsela with ClassLink.

  • In ClassLink, go to the App Library.

  • Find Newsela.  You will see two versions of the Newsela app:

  • Click the + Add button next to the relevant Newsela OAuth icon.

    • Most districts should select the Newsela OAuth icon. 

    • If you plan to upload a file with Newsela usernames and passwords to Classlink, please use the Newsela SSO icon.

  • Newsela will now appear in your ClassLink portal.

  • From the Dashboard, navigate to Applications.

  • Click the Add Applications button.

  • Find Newsela and click the+ Add button next to Newsela.

  • Select full permissions.



Newsela recommends impersonating a few teachers and going through the login and class import workflows to make sure the integration is working as expected.

All users, including students, need to have emails in ClassLink. Emails serve as unique IDs for all users. If your school or district does not use student emails, you can construct unique IDs using your email domain to serve as unique IDs.

Newsela imports and updates data when users sign in. When a teacher signs in for the first time, Newsela creates their account, imports their classes, and rosters their students students. When a student signs in for the first time, Newsela creates their account and connects them to any classrooms imported from ClassLink in which they are enrolled. Newsela does not import data from ClassLink in bulk, so users need to sign into Newsela from ClassLink consistently to keep their accounts current.

If you want to check that the process is working as expected, we recommend asking a few users to sign in to confirm that they can sign in and see classes.

Selecting the type is not a required step. If you’re prompted to select type on the Edit Application page, close the page and add Newsela from the App Library.

You do not need to share your tenant id, key, or secret with Newsela. Newsela automatically receives these credentials from ClassLink when you set up the integrations.



For additional details, please review these ClassLink articles: