Newcomer students bring diverse knowledge, experiences, and cultures to school. School leaders and educators must leverage these strengths and provide them with tools and support for success.
These students, often navigating new cultures, languages, and education systems, require educational materials that not only accelerate their literacy development but also make them feel valued and excited about learning.
4 Reasons Why Districts and Schools Should Invest in Newcomer Resources
Administrators and district leaders play a critical role in ensuring that Newcomer students receive the support they need. Investing inJust Right Reader’s Newcomer Libraries means giving students engaging, high-quality, evidence-based materials that support their success on a new educational journey.
1. Accelerated Literacy Development Through Evidence-Based Instruction
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of English Language Acquisition’s teaching brief provides evidence-based practices that schools can implement to support Newcomers and multilingual learners. These practices include providing direct and explicit instruction focusing on critical aspects of literacy and giving students opportunities to build content and background knowledge and language competence simultaneously.
Explicit Instruction
Just Right Reader Newcomer books, grounded in the Science of Reading, offer a systematic approach to literacy instruction that is especially effective for students learning English as a new language. These resources provide explicit phonics instruction mapped to a rigorous skill progression, helping Newcomer students quickly develop foundational literacy skills.
Each decodable book is accompanied by a complete gradual-release lesson plan, perfect for small-group instruction. This ensures effective instruction while saving teachers time during planning.
2. Resources That Resonate With Older Students
Newcomer books are designed with older students in mind. They feature engaging graphics and formats that appeal to upper elementary, middle, and high school students. These materials also include diverse characters and relatable stories that reflect students' experiences, helping them feel valued while making literacy instruction more meaningful.
Comprehensive Support
Beyond academics, Newcomer books support students by offering content that promotes a sense of belonging and confidence in learning English. This is important for students adjusting to new social environments, as it helps reduce stress and encourages active participation in classroom activities.
3. Personalized Learning
Our diverse Newcomer decodable collections enable educators to meet students where they are, providing targeted support for their individual reading needs. The various libraries offer the flexibility and personalization necessary to ensure each student receives the proper support to progress at their own pace.
Take-Everywhere Packs offer personalized, impactful practice to accelerate learning in class, at home, and on the go!
4. Long-Term Academic Success
By investing in Newcomer decodable books, schools provide students with a strong foundation for future academic success. Early intervention with high-quality, evidence-based materials can set students on a path toward proficiency, reducing the need for more intensive interventions later on and promoting long-term educational outcomes.
Engaging Families in Literacy Development
Family engagement is critical to the success of Newcomer students. Ourfamily engagement platform helps foster strong school-to-home partnerships that raise student achievement.
Families support their children's literacy journey by scanning the QR code on each decodable to watch a fun phonics lesson. The video lessons are translated into multiple languages, allowing families to engage confidently in their children's literacy journey.
In addition to phonics video lessons, we provide printable caregiver resources, videos, and articles with easy-to-implement strategies to help families stay informed and actively participate in their child's education.
We also partner with schools to host Family Engagement Nights and offer a variety of family-friendly training, from in-person sessions to on-demand videos.
Newcomer Take-Everywhere Packs
OurNewcomer Take-Everywhere Packs are designed to meet the diverse needs of students at different stages of their literacy journey, offering multiple entry points to support each student where they are.
Board Book School Readiness Packs, for ages 0-3, are aligned to developmental milestones to build literacy skills in the first three years of life.
Elementary School Readiness Packs, for Pre-K to 5th-grade students, aim to build a strong literacy foundation in English through activities focused on letter recognition and blending letter sounds.
Middle School & High School Decodable Packs, perfect for Newcomers of all ages learning English, provide multiple entry points to support each student at their current stage of literacy development.
Ready to learn more?
Learn more about our family engagement training options.
Learn more about our phonics videos for multilingual families.
View the U.S. Department of Education’s Newcomer Toolkit here.
Reference
Office of English Acquisition. (2023, June). Newcomer toolkit. U.S. Department of Education.
