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TOP PICKS | 10 TOOLS
10 Best ELA Tools for High School
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Newsela
Great stories, just-right leveled reading; now mostly by subscription
Bottom line: Up-to-date, high-interest articles will meet students right at their level, and help teachers bolster students' nonfiction reading skills.
Grades: 2–12
Price: Free, Paid Newsela News is free, but Essentials and Core Subjects subscriptions are paid; contact the developer for pricing information for schools and districts.
Writable
Stellar program scaffolds the writing process with peer review and feedback
Bottom line: This is an intelligently structured tool for teaching writing and review that focuses on process as much as product.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free to try 30-day free trial. Classroom subscriptions start at $7 per student per year. School price available upon request.
ThinkCERCA
Well-structured lessons encourage deep analysis, thoughtful writing
Bottom line: This is a ready-to-go, research-backed resource that focuses intently on CCSS-aligned and AP-level critical reading and writing skills.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free, Paid Free Basic version limited to four grade band-based differentiation levels, short reading lessons, and multiple-choice assessments. Paid Premium version adds 10 levels of differentiation (grades 3-12), more in-depth and varied lessons, writing benchmarking, rubrics, data dashboards, and more. Contact for a quote.
CommonLit
Feature-rich literacy resource offers superb support for readers
Bottom line: Access a hefty collection of reliable, ready-to-print, leveled passages that allow you to tailor lessons, assign online reading, and track progress.
Grades: 3–12
Price: Free
Actively Learn
Empowering reader keeps kids actively, independently engaged
Bottom line: Far beyond the average e-reader, this tool helps students connect and stay engaged while teachers easily measure progress.
Grades: 4–12
Price: Free, Paid The free version has 3,000 texts, Google Classroom integration, and simple custom assignments. The paid Prime version adds more data, reporting, and differentiation. There's also an Unlimited plan with addition school and district supports. Contact for a demo and pricing.
Kami
Versatile annotation tool helps users critically connect with content
Bottom line: Kami is an effective way to promote student interaction with texts, authentic documents, and pictures.
Grades: 4–12
Price: Free, Paid Free version includes basic annotation features and comes with in-app advertising. Teacher Plan is $99 per year, which supports 150 students and includes additional features. School/district pricing is available.
ZoteroBib
Fewer clicks and less clutter equal a new go-to site for citing sources
Bottom line: An intuitive site that takes the stress out of citing sources, but students will still need instruction to tweak auto-generated citations.
Grades: 5–12
Price: Free
Grammarly
Helpful tips support the writing process, build confidence
Bottom line: A flexible tool that -- with teacher guidance -- students can use for both quick fixes and more in-depth writing improvement.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free, Paid Grammarly's editor is a free tool. However, a premium version with tools for readability, vocabulary enhancement, and plagiarism detection is available at a monthly ($29.95/month), quarterly ($19.98/month), or annual ($11.66/month) price.
StudySync
Superb ELA resource features engaging activities, stellar support
Bottom line: An exceptional, ever-growing resource for helping your students become close readers, careful writers, and critical thinkers.
Grades: 6–12
Price: Free to try, Paid