The New Century Reading curriculum provides an individualized approach to developing reading skills, comprehension and higher order thinking skills among both new readers and struggling readers of all ages . Spelling, language usage, and written communication skills are developed in tandem with reading comprehension. Higher order thinking skills are both taught and applied throughout the curriculum.

New Century’s Reading curriculum approach balances phonics and whole language instructional methods. Explicit phonics instruction at the lower levels of the curriculum teaches students to recognize and identify the sound-letter combinations that are present in different words, by listening for the sounds as well as by selecting/ manipulating/recognizing the letter combinations in printed text.  Meaningful text is introduced at the earliest possible levels, supported by the system's human voice audio and realistic graphics.  Students have ample opportunities to practice accurate and fluent reading in decodable stories.  Through New Century’s individualized instruction, each student’s stories and reading selections are directly linked to the letters, sounds, and words that the student is learning at a given point in time.  The system's extensive audio is also utilized to develop the listening skills that are critically needed to function effectively in life and work.

Throughout the curriculum, cross-curricular content (including natural and social sciences and history) provides abundant practice in applying reading skills to other subject areas.  Students are also exposed to a variety of literary forms and authors while expanding their vocabulary and comprehension skills in the program’s multicultural Great Lives and Literature component.