Checkology and Newsreel Classroom: which one, or both?
Students can learn lateral reading in one lesson and forget it by the next unit if they never use it on real news. Checkology teaches the skills. Newsreel Classroom gives students new, real news to practice them on most school days.
If you need a news literacy curriculum and your budget is zero, start with Checkology. It's free and comes from the nonprofit News Literacy Project. If your students already know the skills but don't use them, Newsreel Classroom gives them a real story to read, question and discuss most school days, at their reading level, with a quiz you can check. The two work well side by side.
We make Newsreel Classroom, a media literacy resource for teachers. Everything about Checkology on this page comes from the News Literacy Project's own site, checked October 25, 2026.
Newsreel Classroom and Checkology side by side
Checked October 25, 2026
| Newsreel Classroom | Checkology | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $49 a month per classroom of up to 35 students. | No cost. "100% free for educators," with "no credit card, no trial period, no paid tier." |
| Who it's for | Teachers of grades 5 to 12, in any subject. | Grades 5 to 12, with some resources for early elementary. |
| Who writes the content | Newsreel's own journalists. Each story carries the writer's name. | The News Literacy Project, a nonpartisan nonprofit. |
| Format | New short news stories every day, plus the full archive. | More than 250 interactive lessons, activities, video tutorials, posters, slides and lesson plans. Use preset course pathways or single 5- to 15-minute activities. |
| Quizzes and assessment | Each story comes with a quiz and a poll. Scores show up in the teacher dashboard. | Quizzes and built-in assessments with real-time feedback, plus an online grade book. |
| Ads | None. Newsreel doesn't sell student data. | Not listed on their site. |
| Google Classroom | Yes. Import classes and students, or share a join code. | Not listed on their site. Teachers can sign in through Google, Microsoft or Clever, and rostering runs through Clever. |
| Reading levels | Three. The lower levels keep the original reporting and add plain-language help. | Not listed on their site. Resources sort by grade level. |
| What students need | A class code or a Google Classroom import. It runs in any browser. | Student accounts are optional. You need them for interactive lessons and the grade book. It runs in any browser. |
| Standout feature | A new story every day, with the opposing views and what to watch for. | Skills lessons on topics like lateral reading, reverse image search and misinformation, aligned to ELA Common Core, C3, AASL, ISTE and NGSS. |
Where Checkology is better
- It costs nothing, and there's no paid tier. Newsreel Classroom is a paid plan.
- It's a real curriculum, with preset course pathways for ELA, civics and journalism. We don't offer a sequenced news literacy course.
- It teaches the skills directly, with lessons and tutorials on algorithms, misinformation, science claims, lateral reading and reverse image search.
Where Newsreel Classroom is better
- It's the news students are hearing about this week, reported and written by our news team.
- The same story comes at three reading levels, so a mixed class reads the same reporting and can argue about it together.
- Every story lays out the opposing views and what's at stake, which is where students actually use what Checkology taught them.
- Each story has a quiz and a poll, and scores land in your dashboard, so you can see who did it.
- You can import your classes from Google Classroom. Checkology's site lists Clever, Google and Microsoft sign-in, but not a Google Classroom import.
- NAMLE named Newsreel Classroom its 2025 Media Literacy Resource of the Year.
Each Newsreel Classroom story gives students a real piece of news to practice on.
How to use both
Teach the skill with Checkology, then have students practice it on real news in Newsreel.
- Run a Checkology lesson, such as InfoZones or the lateral reading tutorial.
- The next day, assign a Newsreel story at each student's level.
- Ask a question that uses the skill. Ours: what perspective does this story take, and whose viewpoint might be missing?
- Repeat with a new story each week.
For more tools, see our guide to the best media literacy tools for schools and the best current events websites for students, or read how Newsreel Classroom works.
Give students a real story to practice on
NAMLE named Newsreel Classroom its 2025 Media Literacy Resource of the Year. See the stories your students could read today.
See today's Classroom storiesFrequently asked questions
Is Checkology free?
Yes. The News Literacy Project says Checkology is 100% free for educators, with no credit card, no trial period and no paid tier. Teachers register once with an email, or sign in through Google, Microsoft or Clever.
What grade levels is Checkology for?
Checkology is designed for grades 5 to 12, with some resources for early elementary. Newsreel Classroom also covers grades 5 to 12.
Do students need Checkology accounts?
Only if you want them. The News Literacy Project says quizzes, posters and lesson plans work with no student accounts. Register your class if you want to assign interactive lessons and track progress in the grade book.
Does Checkology work with Google Classroom?
The Checkology page doesn't list a Google Classroom integration. It lists sign-in through Google, Microsoft or Clever, and rostering through Clever. Newsreel Classroom imports classes and students from Google Classroom.
What is the difference between Checkology and Newsreel Classroom?
Checkology is a news literacy curriculum, with lessons and activities that teach skills such as spotting misinformation. Newsreel Classroom is a daily news source from vetted journalists, with a quiz on every story. Many teachers use Checkology to teach a skill and Newsreel to practice it on real news.
What other media literacy tools do schools use?
Checkology and Newsreel Classroom are two common picks, and many teachers add lessons from libraries and news outlets. Our guide to the best media literacy tools for schools compares more of them.
Sources (checked October 25, 2026): newslit.org, Checkology Virtual Classroom (get.checkology.org redirects here). Newsreel facts: Classroom, Classroom FAQ, Teach with Newsreel and Classroom plans.