Unlocking Newcomer Brilliance: From Soft Landings to Lasting Success

As part of ‘Unlocking Newcomer Brilliance’ in the WCEPS Tips and Dips webinar series, Dr. Ryan Rumpf guided educators through actionable strategies to help newcomer students thrive in terms of culture, language, and academics.

Drawing from his book Chasing the Moving Target: Guiding Newcomers Towards Mastery, Dr. Rumpf uses the concept of a “soft landing” to create progress; this means that schools actively remove logistical and cultural barriers for newcomer families. By understanding each student’s personal background, cultural heritage and lived experiences, educators can design learning spaces that promote safety, identity and belonging from day one.

Dr. Rumpf’s approach centers on place attachment, ensuring that both the physical and symbolic elements of a school reflect students’ heritage and stories. This includes classroom exercises such as integrating coins and bills from different countries into math lessons, creating murals that represent the diversity of the student body and replacing traditional orientations with cultural exchanges that affirm identity rather than push assimilation. These efforts foster mutual respect, empower students to share their own stories and create a stronger sense of community connection.

Empowering Students Through Language and Mastery

Educators can empower students through a language-infused, mastery-based learning system that aligns language growth with content mastery. Students move through a clear, step-by-step learning progression, supported by intentional language routines, collaborative practice activities, and tools for accessibility. This system enables educators to regroup students by proficiency level, rather than grade level, ensuring that language barriers never hinder academic progress. Students are encouraged to self-assess, collaborate, and demonstrate their mastery through creative formats. This is true whether they are designing assessments, producing video demos, or engaging in barrier games that make learning both active and meaningful.

Using Assessment to Celebrate Academic Achievement

As part of leading students, educators need to reimagine assessment as a growth-focused process, tracking progress over time and celebrating incremental achievements. When schools combine cultural affirmation with structured, language-rich instruction, newcomer students not only learn to adapt, but also excel. With more sessions and resources on the horizon, this is the moment for educators to join the movement, transform their practice and unlock the full brilliance of every newcomer.