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Background: A Diverse Class and a Teacher Who Knows the Journey
Ms. Hurtado teaches an elementary Emergent Bilingual class in San Antonio, Texas. Her students come from different countries and speak different home languages. Some arrive knowing a few words of English. Others know almost none. Every child needs a different starting point and a different path forward.
Ms. Hurtado knows that path well. She grew up in Mexico and learned English at 25 years old. She shares that story with her students often, and they connect with it. Connect to Literacy™ gives her the tools to build on that trust — meeting each student where they are and growing their confidence in English from day one.
“I tell my students my own story. I learned English at twenty-five years old, growing up in Mexico. I tell them it is not easy, but this program makes it easier. And they really connect with that.”
— Ms. Hurtado, Bilingual Educator, San Antonio ISD
And she does not stop at her students. Ms. Hurtado opens her classroom to their parents too, giving them their own access to the platform and hosting evening engagement sessions that have grown more popular every month.
The Challenge: Too Many Students, Too Little Time, One-Size-Fits-All Materials
Before Summit K12, the biggest challenge was time. There was never enough of it. Teachers built their own materials from scratch and hoped they would be able to deliver what was needed to as many students as possible. But the lessons were one size fits all. They could not stretch to meet a class with so many different needs.
Ms. Hurtado and her colleagues would meet and ask the same question over and over. How are you doing this? The kids are not growing. What do we do? They shared ideas but nothing met the mark in terms of delivering personalized instruction at scale.
The Solution: A Platform That Meets Every Student Where They Are
Ms. Hurtado fell in love with Summit K12 from day one. Training was delivered at the beginning of the year, so she walked into the first lesson already familiar and confident with using the platform.
“It is pretty easy to navigate and all the resources are right there, you know. I fell in love since the beginning. It's very accessible for all of the teachers.”
— Ms. Hurtado
What sealed the deal for Ms. Hurtado was the way Connect to Literacy meets each child where they were and grows with them from there.
“What I love about Summit K12 is that it starts students exactly where they are. Everyone begins at their own starting point and grows from there. Every student was different, and the platform honored that.”
— Ms. Hurtado
She uses it at every gap in the day. When students arrive in the morning and when someone is pulled out unexpectedly. Any quiet moment that used to feel like wasted time. The platform is self-explanatory enough that her students can navigate it on their own — and they do.
Inviting Parents to Join the Learning Journey
For years, parents had been asking Ms. Hurtado to teach them after school. Between tutoring and running clubs, she never found the time. Then she learned that Summit K12 came with complimentary parent licenses. She could not believe it.
She started small. In December, two mothers showed up. They were nervous about the placement test and thought they were going to fail. Ms. Hurtado told them there was no failing — the test was just a way to pinpoint their starting point. Their confidence, she promised, was only going to grow from there.
Word spread fast. Students from other grades began asking if their parents could join too, and by the end of the year she had 6-8 parents at every session. The mood shifted with them. What started as hesitation turned into laughter. They practiced their pronunciation, cheered each other on, and learned together.
“You should see the parents having fun! That's what learning should look like.”
— Ms. Hurtado
Test Preparation: TELPAS Felt Like a Normal Day in Class
When TELPAS came, Ms. Hurtado asked her students how they felt about it. They told her it felt like the same thing they had been doing all year. They knew how to answer and they understood how to structure their writing. They walked in feeling fully confident and equipped to succeed.
“That was the way we saw it in Summit K12! That was the way you taught us how to write.”
— Ms. Hurtado's students reflecting on their TELPAS readiness after using Connect to Literacy™
Ms. Hurtado had built a classroom where every student was encouraged to try, make mistakes, and try again. They were writing and speaking with more confidence every week. She kept reminding them that there was no way to go but up and she saw their confidence soar throughout the year.
Most Impactful Features
- Free family accounts that let parents learn alongside their children
- Personalized Learning Plans that deliver TELPAS-aligned instruction at the right level for every single child
- Self-paced lessons students can replay as many times as they need
- Reports that show each student's strengths and growth areas at a glance
- ClassCade gamification that students discovered on their own — and loved
Impact and Results: 22,000 Minutes, Eight Family Sessions, and a Classroom Full of Risk-Takers
By the end of the year, Ms. Hurtado's classroom had logged approximately twenty-two thousand minutes on the platform. By remaining consistent with their learning, students were noticeably becoming much more confident in school — speaking English with each other, with her, and even with the principal.
The data helped her too. She had one student who was advanced in writing but struggled in speaking. The reports helped her see the gap and address it. She could see exactly where each child was every week.
“They love the immediate feedback. One student told me, 'Miss, I like it because I can click it and listen to the word as many times as I need to until I get it.' The parents said the same thing. Nobody is rushing them.”
— Ms. Hurtado
A Final Surprise: Students Found ClassCade on Their Own
Ms. Hurtado had told her students not to click on ClassCade until they were ready. Three weeks before the end of the year she finally gave them the green light. They came back the next day wide-eyed. “Miss, there are games!” She told them they had earned it after all their hard work.
Why She Recommends Summit K12
Ms. Hurtado would tell any teacher working with Emergent Bilinguals to try it. The platform aligns with the ELPS and the newest TELPAS format. But more than that, she says, it does not teach English in isolation. It teaches English through content. Her students are not just learning a language. They are learning everything they will need for every other class they take.
“We are doing our best over here, and I cannot wait to share the results.”
— Ms. Hurtado, Bilingual Educator, San Antonio ISD
