Background & Context
Ceniza Hills Elementary is a K–5 campus in Del Rio, Texas, located along the Texas–Mexico border. The school serves 629 students, with 16.9% identified as Emergent Bilingual.
The community is dynamic and highly mobile. Families move in and out due to military assignments at Laughlin Air Force Base, careers in border and law enforcement, and cross-border movement between the United States and Mexico.
For Principal Jesus Rogelio Soto — a Del Rio native who returned to serve his hometown — the work is personal. He describes education as a chance to create a ripple effect that extends far beyond the classroom.
"You drop these seeds... and every once in a while, one blooms right in front of you — and it's a beautiful thing."
— Principal Jesus Rogelio Soto, Ceniza Hills Elementary
The Challenge
Students arrive at Ceniza Hills with very different starting points. Some grow up bilingual. Others enter as newcomers with no prior U.S. schooling. Most are navigating both language acquisition and cultural transition at the same time.
For these students, English proficiency is about more than test scores. It builds classroom confidence, expands access to grade-level content, and gives students a stronger sense of belonging. The challenge was making sure language development happened consistently — not just occasionally — for every student, every day.
The campus also needed every grade level staffed with a bilingually certified teacher. Without that foundation, even the best instructional tools would fall short.
The Search for a Better Solution
Campus leaders knew that multilingual learner success required more than compliance-driven test prep. They needed a structured, research-informed system that teachers would actually use every day — one that put language development at the center of instruction, not on the margins.
They also needed visibility. Teachers and administrators wanted to see student progress in real time, not wait months for assessment results to understand where students stood.
That search led them to Connect to Literacy™ from Summit K12.
The Solution
Connect to Literacy™ became a core part of daily instruction at Ceniza Hills — not a supplement, but a structured routine built directly into instructional and intervention blocks. Teachers used the platform with fidelity from the start of the year.
"The teachers are using it with fidelity, and they're invested in those students' future — in their language acquisition journey."
— Principal Soto
Students could track their own growth in real time. Progress was no longer invisible. Teachers and students could see language development unfolding — not just at the end of a testing cycle, but week by week.
One third-grade student arrived with no prior U.S. schooling and very limited English. He was shy and overwhelmed. At first, he relied on simple greetings — the few words he knew. Over time, those greetings grew into conversations. By fourth grade, he was confidently explaining football plays, forming friendships with non-Spanish speaking peers, and initiating conversations on his own.
Language growth did more than improve his academics. It changed how he moved through the world — socially, culturally, and emotionally.
Most Impactful Features
- Real-time progress visibility for teachers and students
- Alignment to TELPAS and STAAR expectations
Ongoing Partnership and Support
As structured language routines took hold, Ceniza Hills extended its momentum beyond the classroom. Bilingual clubs expanded. Teachers secured innovation grants to deepen student opportunities. Language development became embedded in campus culture.
Students were no longer just supported as emergent bilinguals — they were celebrated as multilingual learners. The cultural shift was unmistakable, and the results spoke for themselves: students who arrived with limited English were blooming.
