PLP Comprehensive Redesign
The PLP engine that powers Connect to Literacy is sharper, more consistent, and more connected to your calendar than ever. This year's updates deepen personalization, give district leaders more control, and give teachers a clearer picture of how every student is progressing.
Overview
PLP-1 placement now pulls directly from official state ELP raw scores instead of broader proficiency bands, so every student starts the year right where their data says they should. This removes the manual setup steps districts have had to manage and keeps state assessment data directly connected to daily instruction.
Why this Matters
Because scale scores are continuous, they capture growth even within a single proficiency level — not just between levels.Two students can both score at the Moderately Developed level on the ELPAC, yet be at meaningfully different points in their language development:
Student A: Raw score 1,410 — Moderately Developed
Student B: Raw score 1,505 — Moderately Developed
A proficiency level descriptor alone would treat these students the same. The scale score doesn't.Connect to Literacy uses that precision to build a PLP learning pathway tailored to each student's unique Second Language Acquisition needs.
What You'll Love
- More accurate placement using raw scores
- Less manual setup at beginning of year
- Daily instruction directly tied to state ELP data
- Students start on a path that reflects where they left off
Overview
Summit K12 has added enhanced metadata tags to more than 50,000 ELD items and activities across multiple dimensions—including estimated completion time, linguistic complexity, cognitive complexity, interaction complexity, domain alignment, standards alignment, and more—through a new Task Demand Framework.
This expanded tagging gives the personalization engine a far more sophisticated foundation for sequencing instruction, calibrating pacing, and ensuring students experience intentional progression across the PLP pathway.
What You'll Love
- 50,000+ items tagged with rich, multi-dimensional metadata
- Skills sequenced to build language demands gradually
- Smarter pacing based on completion time and complexity
- Aligned to CA ELD standards, ELA/Lit standards, and ELPAC task types
- Balanced coverage across listening, speaking, reading, and writing
Overview
Each PLP now has a clearly defined instructional window and recommended usage model, creating more consistent implementation across districts and classrooms. Using the enhanced tagging system and Task Demand Framework, the platform can now balance instructional time across language domains, alternate activities strategically, and ensure tasks become progressively more challenging throughout the pathway.
What You'll Love
- Clearly defined instructional windows
- Balanced time across all four language domains
- Task demands increase gradually throughout the pathway
- Steady, manageable pacing for students
- Shared usage model for consistent implementation across classrooms
Standardized PLP Duration 2026-2027
PLP 1 = 8 weeks
PLP 2 = 10 weeks
PLP 3 = 6 weeks (after state ELP test),
OR
A2L-SB PLP = 6 weeks SBAC aligned in 3rd–8th & 11th grades
Overview
Districts can now define instructional and non-instructional days directly within the Connect to Literacy platform, and the system uses that calendar to continuously track student progress against expected pacing within the PLP pathway. Together, these two components—the district calendar and the new pacing line reporting view—give teams a more accurate, real-world picture of where students are and where they should be, even as schedules shift throughout the year.
What You'll Love
- Define instructional and non-instructional days directly in the platform
- Pacing targets automatically recalibrate when the calendar changes
- All edits logged with timestamps, user details and change descriptions
- Expected and actual completion shown side by side
- Color-coded bars for quick reads on student status
- Completion, pacing, and performance combined in one view
Overview
By leveraging the Task Demand Framework, enhanced item tagging, proficiency data, and domain combinations, the system can now generate approximately 2,400 unique starting pathways within each grade-level band. This means students are far more likely to begin on a pathway shaped by their specific language profile—and the system continues to adapt as their needs evolve throughout the year.
What You'll Love
- ~2,400 unique starting pathways per grade-level band
- Pathways built from multiple layers of proficiency and language data
- System continuously adapts as student needs evolve
Overview
The platform now includes a color-coded performance indicator that compares each student's PLP performance against their proficiency level and expected learning trajectory. This gives educators a quick read on not just whether students are completing activities, but whether they're engaging with them in a meaningful way—flagging potential issues like guessing or rapid clicking before they add up.
What You'll Love
- Measures quality of engagement, not just completion
- Color-coded status from Ahead down to At Risk
- Early warning for low-quality practice patterns
- Concrete data for discussions about effort and engagement
Overview
Partners asked for more control over how PLPs are structured, prioritized, and accessed—and we're delivering! A new district-level admin panel gives administrators the ability to prioritize domains, lock earlier PLPs, and deactivate specific domains, putting key decisions about PLP structure, pacing, and access directly in the hands of district teams.
What You'll Love
- Reorder domains so students start with their most critical needs
- Lock earlier PLPs to keep students focused on current work
- Deactivate domains to ensure priority areas are completed first
- All controls in a single admin settings view
Overview
When a student completes PLP-2 ahead of the projected pacing timeline, the system now automatically deploys a Bonus Trek (PLP-2B) with fresh learning experiences that maintain appropriate rigor—no repeated content and no gaps in instruction leading up to the state assessment.
What You'll Love
- Fast-moving students keep going with new, meaningful activities
- Bonus Trek deploys automatically—no teacher setup needed
- Same level of rigor and personalization as the core PLP
- System now adapts for acceleration, not just intervention
Overview
PLP-3 has been reimagined as a focused 6-week pathway that unlocks after the state English language proficiency assessment, giving districts a purposeful plan for the final weeks of the school year. Districts can choose between a traditional ELD-focused pathway or a new Accelerate to Smarter Balanced (A2L-SB) option that emphasizes the Claims and Targets of reading, writing, listening and research of the Smarter Balanced Assessment.
What You'll Love
- Purposeful instruction continues after testing is over
- Choose traditional ELD or Accelerate to Literacy Smarter Balanced pathways
- A2L-SB emphasizes reading, writing, listening and research for grades 3-8 and 11
- Unlocks automatically based on assessment window timing
New Products
Connect to Literacy continues to grow across the full K–12 multilingual learner journey—with new pathways for the youngest learners, fresh starting points for newcomers, and stronger accountability tools for district teams.
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K–1 Trailblazers is a brand-new pathway inside Connect to Literacy, built specifically for the youngest multilingual learners. Guided by Benny the Bear, the experience pairs foundational literacy with oral language development from a child's very first day on the platform. Every screen is designed iPad-first and touch-first so children learning to read can engage with confidence—no reading ability required.
What You'll Love
- Audio and visual-guided — no reading ability required
- iPad-first, touch-based interactive experience
- Benny the Bear guides students through lessons and navigation
- 9 themes, 28 trails, 24 activity types in a consistent 8-lesson flow
- Teachers can assign, monitor, and review within the same platform
- Encouraging by design — no red X's, just supportive feedback
Essentials is a new Connect to Literacy pathway built for newcomers and students with very limited English proficiency, focused on the real-world communication skills students need to settle into school. With age-appropriate content for grades 2–5, 6–8, and 9–12, Essentials gives newcomers a welcoming on-ramp that flows naturally into the rest of the C2L experience as they grow.
What You'll Love
- Focused on social and conversational English to help newcomers settle in
- Age-appropriate content for grades 2–5, 6–8, and 9–12
- Structured lesson flow with retry and supportive feedback built in
- Lives inside PLP-1 pathways for a seamless C2L experience
- Assign full lessons or target specific activities
- Track attempts, progress, and mastery in one view
Sample Essentials 2-5
Click to view
Sample Essentials 6-8
Click to view
Sample Essentials 9-12
Click to view
Overview
A2L Smarter Balanced is a new product for grades 3–8 and 11 that brings together a screener, personalized instructional pathways, and a standards-aligned item bank—all built around the Smarter Balanced ELA blueprints. Every component includes embedded language support so multilingual learners can access grade-level content while building the skills they need for state assessments and reclassification.
What You'll Love
- Screener modeled after SBAC ELA blueprints with embedded language support
- Personalized pathways across Reading, Writing, Listening, and Research/Inquiry
- Grade-level rigor with built-in scaffolds for language learners
- Flexible item bank for custom, standards-aligned assignments
- Connects language development and ELA test readiness in one experience
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Summit 360 brings Connect to Literacy and Summit Insights together into one connected ecosystem—so instruction, compliance, and student data all live in the same place for the first time. Instead of managing EL programs across disconnected systems, district teams get a single platform where daily instruction feeds directly into compliance records, progress monitoring, and reclassification workflows.
What You'll Love
- Instruction and accountability connected in one system
- Student progress flows automatically into compliance dashboards
- SIS, ELPAC, and C2L, and LPAC data unified in one student record
- Supports the full EL journey from identification to reclassification
- Every workflow customized to CA requirements
- Dedicated partnership team of former educators behind every district
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Summit Insights is the accountability and intelligence layer inside Summit 360, available as an add-on for Connect to Literacy partners. It replaces the disconnected spreadsheets, manual compliance documents, and after-the-fact reporting that most districts rely on today—bringing ELPAC & RFEP monitoring workflows, predictive reclassification, and real-time Title III & LCAP dashboards into a single platform that stays connected to daily instruction.
What You'll Love
- Digital RFEP management with e-signatures, and audit-ready documents.
- Parent letters in 90+ languages generated and sent in minutes
- Year-round proficiency signals instead of waiting for annual ELPAC results
- Predictive reclassification and early-warning months before testing
- Role-based dashboards for administrators, program directors, and teachers
- Every document timestamped, signed, and tied to instructional data
Product Enhancements
These updates improve the workflows your teachers and students already use every day, based on partner feedback about how the platform can save more time and provide better insights.
Overview
The AI inside Connect to Literacy keeps getting sharper. Scoring has been further calibrated against real human-scored responses at each proficiency level, and new tools help students actually understand and act on their feedback—not just see a score. Dynamic audio reads feedback aloud, revised responses show students an improved version of their own work, and a clean three-tab teacher view makes reviewing and overriding scores faster than ever.
What You'll Love
- AI scoring better aligned to human grading
- Dynamic audio reads specific feedback aloud with one click
- Revised responses based on the student's own work, not generic examples
- Teachers can override any AI score — changes reflected automatically
- Rubric, feedback, and revised response organized in a clean three-tab view
- Faster scoring accuracy means less waiting for students and teachers
Overview
Until now, getting the full picture on a student meant jumping between multiple systems. The new Student Profile Page changes that—putting everything teachers, administrators, and EL coordinators need into a single view so they can spend less time searching and more time making decisions that help students.
What You'll Love
- PLP progress, pacing, time spent, growth data, and accommodations in one view
- Walk into any meeting fully prepared
- District-wide student search from a new top-level Students tab
- View-as-Student button to see exactly what the student sees
- Assign On-ramp treks directly from the profile
- One unified view the whole team works from
Overview
Several of the most common teacher workflows have been streamlined based on direct partner feedback. Actions like assigning across multiple classes now happen in a single flow instead of repeating the same steps for each section—giving teachers real time back for planning, feedback, and working with students.
What You'll Love
- Assign to multiple classes and reset attempts easily
- Fewer repetitive clicks—meaningful time back each week
- Streamlined workflows make onboarding new staff easier
- Less time on logistics, more time on students
Overview
The platform now catches rapid guessing more effectively and requires students to complete quizzes before a PLP can be marked done. These updates build on earlier guardrails and reflect partner feedback about wanting reports that truly represent real student effort.
What You'll Love
- Updated Avalanche Warning catches rapid guessing earlier
- Quiz completion required before a PLP counts as done
- Reports reflect real student effort, not just click-through
Overview
Connect to Literacy now gives students a second chance to show what they know. Instead of a one-and-done model, the system sets a 50% PLP mastery threshold—and if a student doesn't reach it on the first try, a structured second attempt automatically unlocks. The higher score is the one that counts. Mistakes are part of learning, and students deserve a clear path to show their growth.
What You'll Love
- 50% mastery threshold with a built-in second attempt
- Highest score is the one that counts
- Smart guardrails ensure the retry is a real learning opportunity
- Reinforces a growth mindset through the platform itself
Overview
The onramp experience for newcomers and Level 1 students has been strengthened with additional scaffolds, visual supports, and confidence-building moments—all inside a focused 4-week trek. These updates reflect how important those first few weeks are for students just starting their English language journey, and make sure they feel supported and successful before moving into the broader PLP pathway.
What You'll Love
- Focused 4-week trek with a clear, manageable starting point
- Additional visual scaffolds and confidence-building activities
- Welcoming, approachable first experience on the platform
- Flows naturally into PLP-1 without disruption
Content Enhancements and Professional Learning
Content across the platform has been expanded to better connect language development to grade-level learning—shaped by ongoing collaboration with nationally recognized experts and organizations in multilingual education.
Overview
Summit K12’s instructional and assessment systems are continuously refined through collaboration with nationally recognized experts and organizations to ensure our solutions reflect current research, real classroom implementation needs, and evolving understandings of multilingual learner success.
What Our Partnerships Bring
Collaboration with Dr. Margo Gottlieb, co-founder of WIDATM
- Assessment Blueprint
Partnership with the English Learner Success Forum (ELSF)
- Research-informed instructional design
- Stronger coherence across instruction and assessment
- Focus on language functions and features across content
Overview
Summit K12 helps districts operationalize Content-Based Language Instruction through coherent systems that connect language development, academic content, instructional scaffolds, assessment, and classroom practice. Summit creates solutions and equips teachers and leaders with practical tools, implementation guidance, and instructional routines that help emergent bilinguals actively engage in rigorous academic learning across disciplines.
What You'll Love
- Embed language functions within grade-level content
- Strengthen speaking, writing, reading, and collaboration
- Scaffold instruction without reducing rigor
- Use formative evidence to guide instruction in real time
- Build instructional consistency across classrooms
Overview
Professional Learning has been refreshed and expanded to cover every new pathway, PLP update, and AI tool rolling out this year. New role-based sessions for teachers, coaches, and administrators make it easier for districts to get everyone up to speed quickly—with practical strategies your team can put to use right away.
What You'll Love
- Tailored sessions for teachers, coaches, and administrators
- Covers Trailblazers, Essentials, PLP updates, AI tools, reporting, and more
- Available on-demand and live to fit any district calendar
- Support stronger implementation with less internal lift
Overview
Summit K12 moves beyond generic MLL strategies by providing differentiated instructional support tied to grade-level bands, proficiency levels, language domains, and standards frameworks.
What You'll Love
- Grade-band differentiated support
- Instructional guidance differentiated by proficiency levels
- Interactive Flipbooks and Implementation Guides
- Real-time instructional moves for teachers
- Practical instructional strategies for immediate classroom use
Overview
Summit K12 integrates the Science of Reading, Science of Learning, and Science of Instruction through a multilingual learner lens. Rather than separating language development from literacy instruction, Summit integrates both into one coherent instructional system aligned to how multilingual learners actually learn.
What You'll Love
- Explicit foundational literacy instruction
- Oral language and academic discourse development
- Vocabulary and comprehension support
- Structured scaffolds and purposeful interaction
- Integrated language and literacy instruction
- Learn Videos for Teachers provide short, actionable instructional guidance
Reports, Analytics, and Dashboards
Reporting across Summit K12 has been refined this year to provide clearer insights, support faster decisions, and match how partner districts actually use their data day to day.
Overview
Teacher and class reports now make it easier to spot what matters fast—with color-coded scoring, clearer visibility into second attempts, and hover tools that surface deeper data without crowding the main view. Less time reading reports, more time acting on them.
What You'll Love
- Color-coded scoring at a glance
- Orange cells flag second attempts with full details on hover
- Interactive hover tools surface deeper data without cluttering the view
- From data to action, faster
Overview
Usage reporting now gives leaders a sharper view of how students and classes are actually engaging with the platform—going beyond raw minutes to show the patterns and wins that connect usage directly to growth.
What You'll Love
- Engagement patterns, not just raw minutes
- Strong classrooms and grade bands surface for easy recognition
- Usage and growth signals connected in one view
- Sharper data for coaching and accountability conversations
Overview
PLP pacing reports now track each student's progress against expected pace—and automatically adjust when your district calendar changes. Color-coded visuals make it easy to see at a glance who's on track, who needs support, and who's ready for more.
What You'll Love
- Expected pace recalculates automatically with calendar changes
- Color-coded pacing lines and bars for quick reads
- Spot off-pace students before gaps grow
- Campus and district-wide pacing visibility at a glance
Overview
New Performance Indicator reports show how students are growing over time—not just where they are right now. Color gradients translate movement from starting scores into a visual story anyone can read, giving teachers and leaders a clearer view of momentum across students, classes, and grade bands.
What You'll Love
- Shows how far students have moved, not just where they are
- Red-to-green color gradients make growth immediately readable
- A clearer way to share student growth with families
- Growth patterns across classrooms guide coaching focus
Overview
Grouping reports now do more than sort students into clusters—they include suggested instructional strategies for each group. Based on partner feedback, these reports are designed to drive instruction, not just describe it, turning grouping into a built-in planning tool for small-group teaching.
What You'll Love
- Each group comes with suggested instructional strategies
- Faster small-group planning with a clear starting point
- Built-in strategy support for newer teachers and coaches
- More consistent differentiation across classrooms campus-wide
Overview
Administrator dashboards now give campus and district leaders a clearer picture of what's happening across every school—with the ability to drill down from the district level to individual students. The focus isn't just on showing data, but on making it easier to see what needs attention next.
What You'll Love
- Full district view with drill-down to campus and student level
- Dashboards highlight what to act on next
- Standardized views for consistent oversight across schools
- Shared, easy-to-read data for stronger campus conversations
Overview
New District Success Dashboards bring the metrics that matter most to leadership teams into one visual view—tying usage, growth, pacing, and outcomes together in a way that supports board reporting, strategic planning, and program advocacy.
What You'll Love
- Usage, growth, pacing, and outcomes in a single dashboard
- Designed for board and cabinet-level conversations
- Side-by-side campus comparisons for benchmarking
- Full district-wide visibility behind every strategic decision
Student Engagement, UI/UX Updates
The student and teacher experience has been improved across the platform to support more focused learning, more efficient teaching, and a stronger sense of belonging for every student.
Overview
The student experience now puts learning front and center with a center-stage activity view, smooth horizontal navigation, and a guided growth path that unlocks future lessons as students are ready. Students spend more time learning and less time figuring out where to click.
What You'll Love
- Current activity front and center the moment students log in
- Horizontal carousel for smooth navigation between lessons
- Future lessons unlock as students are ready
- Less clicking, more time on task
Overview
Connect to Literacy now runs on a unified design system—consistent headers, reusable components, and the easier-to-read Lexend font across the entire platform. No more visual whiplash when moving between sections, so the tools teachers rely on most are easier to find and faster to use.
What You'll Love
- Consistent look and feel across every screen
- Lexend font designed for easier on-screen reading
- New staff can find what they need without relearning each section
- Familiar patterns let teachers focus on students, not the interface
Overview
Students now meet a wider, more inclusive cast of characters and avatars across Connect to Literacy and the new K–1 Trailblazers experience. In Trailblazers, Benny the Bear leads the way, and students earn avatar accessories as they progress—building a sense of identity and belonging from the start.
What You'll Love
- Guided by Benny - mascot led navigation through lessons
- Students earn avatar accessories as they progress
- More inclusive cast so every student sees themselves
- Visual identity and fun woven throughout the experience
Overview
Classcade and PBIS Rewards now recognize first-attempt success and connect daily effort inside Connect to Literacy to schoolwide reward systems. Celebrating both growth and positive behavior in one place supports the academic and culture-building goals districts already have in motion.
What You'll Love
- Classcade Points celebrate first-attempt success
- PBIS rewards tied directly to daily work inside Summit
- Built-in recognition supports culture-building without extra effort
- Students, teachers, and families see wins in real time
Overview
Top Charts have been refreshed to spotlight effort, growth, and participation alongside top scores—giving every student a chance to be recognized, not just the highest performers. This reflects partner feedback about wanting healthy, motivating competition that reaches a wider range of learners.
What You'll Love
- Effort, growth, and participation spotlighted alongside top scores
- More students have a clear path to recognition
- Easier for teachers to celebrate progress at every level
- Refreshed visuals give students something to look forward to
Major California Updates
Overview
A2L Smarter Balanced is a new product for grades 3–8 and 11 that brings together a screener, personalized instructional pathways, and a standards-aligned item bank—all built around the Smarter Balanced ELA blueprints. Every component includes embedded language support so multilingual learners can access grade-level content while building the skills they need for state assessments and reclassification.
What You'll Love
- Screener modeled after SBAC ELA blueprints with embedded language support
- Personalized pathways across Reading, Writing, Listening, and Research/Inquiry
- Grade-level rigor with built-in scaffolds for language learners
- Flexible item bank for custom, standards-aligned assignments
- Connects language development and ELA test readiness in one experience
