Registration opens for summer reading program
Registration is open now for New Mexico's state-sponsored 2025 summer reading program.
The free initiative — a joint effort by the New Mexico Public Education, Early Childhood Education and Care and Higher Education departments — will serve 15,000 students from incoming kindergartners to incoming ninth graders, sharpening their reading skills through small-group instruction in June and July.
'The state's Summer Reading Program is essential for equipping students with vital literacy skills over the summer, ensuring they continue to advance their knowledge,' Higher Education Secretary Stephanie Rodriguez said in a statement.
She added, 'We invite New Mexican families to take advantage of this program to develop literacy and comprehension skills that will enhance their children's academic success and future.'
This is the second year New Mexico will provide free summer literacy programming to students. In 2024, the state served nearly 10,000 students through a similar program as part of a statewide push to bolster students' reading progress using structured literacy, a teaching model based in explicit and systemic instruction of elements essential to reading.
Plus, keeping kids' noses in books during the summer will combat summertime learning loss, said Public Education Secretary Mariana D. Padilla.
'When students lose reading skills over the summer, it can make the start of the school year more challenging," Padilla said. "The 2025 Summer Reading Program helps students return to school confident and prepared to succeed in the classroom."
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