More than 75,000 kindergarten-through-third-grade students across New Mexico are set to receive more than 750,000 books this school year, part of a new statewide push to get reading materials directly into kids' homes. The books will come bundled with individualized family literacy plans built from each student's own classroom assessments, and the first packs are expected to start reaching families in November.
According to KRQE, teachers will use student assessment and progress information to build a personalized literacy plan for each K-3 student, and families will get updates on that plan, their child's reading progress, and a Take-Everywhere Literacy Pack four separate times over the course of the school year. New Mexico school districts are expected to begin distributing those packs in November 2026, per the same report.
What's Actually Inside the Packs
Each literacy pack includes books selected to match a student's developing reading skills, along with writing activities and video phonics lessons accessible through QR codes, the station reports. Those video lessons are available in English, Spanish, and more than a dozen additional languages, giving families multiple ways to reinforce reading skills together at home.
New Mexico Public Education Secretary Mariana D. Padilla framed the effort as a way to make reading support more accessible outside the classroom. The station quotes Padilla saying the family literacy plans connect the information teachers share with books and activities families can use together, and that reading at home should feel welcoming and possible for every family.
A Smaller Pilot Already Ran in Bernalillo
The format echoes a smaller rollout that already played out in central New Mexico last year. The Rio Rancho Observer reported that Bernalillo Public Schools partnered with Just Right Reader to send Take-Everywhere Literacy Packs to K-3 students, with each pack containing 10 decodable books chosen specifically for that student based on assessment data the district already had on file. The books included QR codes linking to instructional videos, and the district called it a one-year pilot meant to evaluate the company's effectiveness before deciding whether to continue.
Tied to a New State Law on Reading Instruction
The statewide rollout is connected to Senate Bill 37, known as the High-Quality Literacy Instruction Act. According to the Office of the Governor of New Mexico, the bill establishes statewide requirements covering high-quality K-3 literacy instructional materials, K-12 literacy interventions, structured literacy, consistent assessments, family communication and educator support. The New Mexico Legislature's own description of the bill says public schools must provide literacy assessments to students in kindergarten through third grade and interventions for students identified as having a reading difficulty. The governor's office noted the bill had cleared both legislative chambers and was headed to the governor's desk for signature as of its February announcement.
The push comes amid state officials touting recent gains in reading scores. The governor's office said reading proficiency in New Mexico has climbed 10 percentage points since 2022, with the largest post-pandemic literacy gains across grades 3 through 8 showing up in the spring 2025 assessment results. Officials there also pointed to gains by specific student groups over that period: Native American students posted 13 percentage point gains, economically disadvantaged students improved by 12 points, Hispanic students gained 10 points, and English learners gained 8 points.
The literacy packs themselves were developed by Just Right Reader, a company founded in 2019 that produces reading materials and resources designed to support literacy development using methods aligned with the science of reading — an approach grounded in research on how children learn to read. Families looking for more detail on the program can find additional information through the New Mexico Public Education Department's read-at-home plans page, according to the station's report.
