Canvas for System Admins

Newsela's Canvas integration supports single sign on (SSO), rostering, content embedding, and Speedgrader access. It is available to schools and districts with a Newsela subscription.

Using Canvas with Newsela requires system administrator setup. If your school or district uses Canvas, your users will sign into Newsela from Canvas.


Newsela’s implementation team guides Canvas system administrator through setting up the Canvas/Newsela integration. Please contact us to request setup.

Student email addresses are required in Canvas. Without student email addresses, class rosters will not import into Newsela.

Newsela’s Canvas integration allows users to: 

  • Sign into Newsela from Canvas

  • Import classes and class rosters from Canvas

  • Embed Newsela content in Canvas assignments.

Accounts are created automatically the first time a user clicks on the Newsela link in the Canvas course navigation. Each time a teacher clicks on the Newsela icon in Canvas, roster information is updated and teachers have the option to import new courses in Newsela. 

Please note that Canvas PD courses (classes in which teachers are enrolled as course members) will not sync with Newsela.

Once teachers import their Canvas courses to Newsela, they can embed Newsela content in Canvas assignments.

Which Canvas courses will be imported into Newsela?

Currently published courses will import into Newsela. If classes are not importing, confirm that they are published. 

When are Canvas courses updated in Newsela?

Classes and enrolled students will be automatically updated in Newsela every time the teacher clicks on the Newsela icon in the course navigation menu of a Canvas course.

When will classes archive in Newsela?

Newsela will archive classes once they are marked concluded in Canvas or after the course end date passes. 

How will cross-listing courses in Canvas affect my Newsela classes?

Cross-listed sections will import into Newsela as one large section.

How do I add a co-teacher to a class imported from Canvas?

Newsela imports co-teachers from Canvas. Co-teachers need to be added in Canvas.

Will Newsela quiz scores pass back to Canvas?

Since Newsela is an adaptive tool that allows students to take quizzes multiple times and adjust article levels, individual scores graded in Newsela do not pass back to the Canvas SpeedGrader.

Student quiz scores, annotations, and writing prompt response submissions can be viewed and manually graded in the Canvas SpeedGrader. Newsela’s Canvas video demonstrates grading Newsela assignments in Canvas (skip to 7:00 for an overview of grading).

How can I confirm that the Newsela-Canvas sync is working?

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.

For additional details, please review these Canvas articles: