New York, NY — July 15, 2026 — Newsela, the leading data, instruction, and assessment system that transforms fragmented data into meaningful actions for every student, announced today that Balanced Assessment by Formative and Newsela Social Studies have been named 2026 CODiE Award Winners in the categories for Best Formative Assessment Solution and Best Social Sciences/Studies Instructional Solution, respectively.
The CODiE Awards recognize the most innovative products, platforms, and services across technology and education. Winners are selected through a rigorous evaluation process led by independent industry experts who assess each solution based on innovation, functionality, market impact, and overall value.
Selected from 228 finalists across 75 categories, the 2026 CODiE Award winners represent the solutions setting new standards for excellence and innovation.
"The 2026 CODiE Award winners represent some of the most innovative and impactful solutions in the industry," said Jennifer Baranowski, President of the CODiE Awards. "These organizations are solving meaningful challenges, delivering measurable outcomes, and helping shape the future of technology."
Newsela offers a full-spectrum suite of research-backed solutions to support districts’ needs for high-quality instruction, as well as assessment and analytics solutions that encourage a data-driven district culture and accelerate student growth. Newsela products are proven to be effective for all learners by rigorous studies aligned to ESSA tiers for evidence.
For curriculum and instruction needs, Newsela Learning Suite’s robust library offers over 18,000 pieces of classroom-ready, multimodal content and activities that can be easily differentiated and assigned—digitally or through printed articles—with minimal prep. In addition to social studies, Newsela offers resources for ELA and STEM as well as a cross-curricular writing practice solution to support literacy and skills development across subjects.
Newsela Social Studies is the solution for real-world, relevant, responsive social studies instruction. Teachers can help students build essential background knowledge and real-world connections while supporting cross-curricular literacy for every student. The solution’s engaging, standards-aligned content includes differentiated primary sources, biographies, maps, and current-events articles to support critical thinking and include diverse perspectives in any lesson. In addition to nearly one additional year of growth in social studies achievement, Newsela Social Studies users can expect to see significantly improved ELA scores, according to an ESSA Tier II study assessing the product’s efficacy.
Balanced Assessment by Formative unifies district assessments and delivers real-time, standards-aligned insights, empowering leaders to evaluate initiatives, scale instruction, and accelerate student growth. Educators can create end-to-end lessons and rigorous assessments with Balanced Assessment by Formative. With over 20 tech-enhanced item types and live response data, teachers can pivot instruction the moment they see students responding.
Beyond individual classroom use cases, Balanced Assessment by Formative scales instruction and assessment for district-wide coherence, empowering teachers and Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) with shared best practices, common assessments, and Luna AI-enabled tools that build consistency across classrooms. The platform also offers valuable test prep to students, according to ESSA Tier II criteria for evidence. Regular student usage of Balanced Assessment by Formative has been linked to approximately a 75% boost in ELA achievement, as well as greater math achievement, by the end of the school year.
"We are honored to receive this recognition from the CODiE Awards," said Pep Carrera, Chief Executive Officer at Newsela. "These awards reflect our team's dedication to bridging the gap between assessment and instruction to ensure students can achieve measurable learning growth—while cultivating a sense of curiosity and confidence. We remain committed to helping educators deliver meaningful classroom learning to every student, every day, through innovative technology and exceptional user experiences."
With a new school year on the horizon, Newsela continues to build and refine high-impact solutions for educators and students. The company’s latest product updates are designed to help educators return to school with a clear path for intentional, streamlined instruction, assessment, and data insights to kick-start measurable student learning.
A complete list of 2026 CODiE Award winners is available at https://codieawards.com/winners
About Newsela
Newsela transforms data into meaningful actions that remove barriers and accelerate growth for every student, every day. By unifying behavioral and learning science across its integrated suite—including Newsela, Balanced Assessment by Formative, Schoolytics, and EveryDay Labs—the company provides a single, evidence-based solution to accelerate student growth through the power of connected instruction, assessment, and data. To learn more about Newsela, visit the company’s website.
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