PED Announces Return of Level Up Reading Challenge

Program strives to inspire a passion for reading.

The New Mexico Public Education Department’s Level Up Reading Challenge is returning for the 2024-25 school year, with the aim of inspiring a passion for reading and improving literacy rates for K-5 schoolchildren throughout the state.

The Challenge began a year ago and seeks to engage students in literacy development, plus inspire confidence in both reading and writing.

The program will center on Superhero Teachers and Superhero Readers, who will work together to improve monthly scores through data-driven instruction. An emphasis will be placed on differentiating core instruction, focused interventions, and differentiating work stations.

Istation will remain the required interim assessment for grades K-2, though the Level Up concept will apply to interim assessments for grades 3-5.

Look for Ralph the Reader and Ricky the Roadrunner, the mascots of literacy, to promote the challenge. Each month, two students with the most significant growth will be named Superhero Readers of the Month and will earn the privilege of displaying Ralph or Ricky on their desks – and wearing a Superhero Reader cape.

Each K-5 classroom will receive a Level Up Challenge Superhero kit. In it are:

• A bilingual picture book entitled, “This is New Mexico/Esto Es Nuevo México.”
• Ralph the Reader and Ricky the Roadrunner figures and stands.
• A classroom  poster to document monthly Superhero Readers
• Class stickers
• A sheet with a QR code linking charts, a recorded read-aloud version of the book, the Level Up Reading Challenge blog, and a video explaining the challenge.