Pathways helps administrators and evaluators organize evaluation activities across the school year. It defines required milestones such as observations, summative evaluations, self-evaluations, and growth plans. This article explains how Pathways works and how to set up, assign, and track progress.
Overview
Pathways is a feature within Lebra Ascend that allows you to create structured evaluation timelines for staff. A Pathway includes a sequence of milestones with due dates and required quantities.
Each pathway helps standardize evaluation workflows, track completion, and ensure all required activities are completed on time.
Note: Pathways are assigned per framework role. Most people hold one role, but a person can also hold a secondary role — and each role gets its own pathway, evaluator, and milestone tracking. See Staff Who Hold Two Framework Roles.
How Pathways Works
A pathway includes three main components:
Pathway name - A label for the plan (I.e., "Tenured Teacher" or "New Hire")
School year dates - A Start date of Pathway and End date of Pathway that define the timeline
Milestones - Evaluation activities with a type, due date, and quantity.
Milestone types include:
PDP — Set the teacher's goals, focus standards, and action steps for the year.
Self-Evaluation — Teacher rates themselves against district standards and submits supporting evidence.
In-Person Meeting — Structured conversation to discuss progress and document next steps.
Walkthrough — Brief, informal classroom visit to capture focused evidence.
Formal Observation — Formal classroom visit with ratings, feedback, and action steps against the full rubric.
PDP Update — Teacher documents mid-cycle progress on PDP goals.
PDP Year End — Year-end review of PDP goals, capturing outcomes and reflections.
Summative Evaluation — Year-end synthesis of all evidence into final ratings and written feedback.
Note: If your organization uses a custom name for PDPs, that name will appear throughout the platform.
Note: Additional milestone types, such as Walkthrough and In-Person Meeting, may be available depending on your organization's settings. If your organization does not use self-evaluations, that milestone type will not appear.
Each assigned Pathway tracks progress using these statuses:
On Track - All milestones are current
Overdue - One or more milestones are past due
Completed - All milestones are finished
Tip: Hover over a status badge to see why a person is in that state — an overdue badge names the specific milestone that's past due and its due date, and an on-track badge shows what's next.
Note: Milestone progress is counted per role. An observation completed under one of a person's roles counts toward that role's pathway milestones only.
Pathways and the School Year
Every pathway belongs to a specific school year. This keeps each year's timelines separate, so last year's pathways stay intact as a record while you build the new year's.
On the Settings > Pathways page, a school year dropdown sits next to the search box. It opens on your organization's current school year; change it to view pathways from another year. Years are shown in the format 2026-27.
Note: A pathway's start and end dates must fall within the school year dates set in Settings > Ascend > General. If your dates are rejected, check that setting first — only administrators can change it.
How Pathways Connects to Evaluations and Reporting
Pathways organizes evaluation activities across the platform:
Observations and Evaluations
Observation milestones define how many observations are required and when they are due. Evaluators can track these from the Evaluator Dashboard.
Summative Evaluations
Summative milestones set deadlines for final evaluations based on collected evidence.
Self-Evaluations and PDPs (Growth Plans)
Evaluators can request self-evaluations and PDPs directly from the Evaluator Dashboard. These are tied to Pathway milestones to track completion.
State Reporting
Pathway progress and evaluation data feed into the State Reporting page in Ascend.
How to Access Pathways
To configure Pathways (administrators):
Navigate to Settings > Pathways
To view and track progress:
Evaluators: Go to Ascend > Evaluator Dashboard
Administrators: Go to the Pathways page
How to Create a Pathway
Navigate to Settings > Pathways
Confirm the school year dropdown shows the year you're building for
Click Add Pathway
Enter a Pathway name
Select the Start date of Pathway
Select the End date of Pathway
Under Timeline, click Add Milestone
For each milestone:
Select a type (Formal Observation, Summative Evaluation, Self-Evaluation, PDP, and others depending on your settings)
Set a due date (must fall within the school year range)
Set the quantity (minimum of 1)
Repeat to add additional milestones as needed
Click Add Pathway
Note: You can add multiple milestones of the same type with different due dates (I.e., one observation in September and another in March).
Edit a Pathway
On the Pathways tab, locate the Pathway
Click the three-dot menu
Select Edit
Update the Pathway details
Click Save Changes
If you close with unsaved changes, you will be prompted to confirm.
Duplicate a Pathway
On the Pathways tab, click the three-dot menu
Select Duplicate
Update the name if needed
(Optional) Select Add one year to new pathway
This option shifts all dates forward one year for the duplicate Pathway — the quickest way to roll a pathway into the next school year
Click Duplicate Pathway
Delete a Pathway
On the Pathways tab, click the three-dot menu
Select Delete
Confirm the deletion
This removes the Pathway, its milestones, and its data from all assigned users.
Assign a Pathway to Staff
The Assignments page is where you set up your year: pathways, evaluators, reviewers, and framework roles for everyone at once.
Pathways and evaluators are assigned per framework role: each role a person holds gets its own pathway and its own evaluator. Reviewers are per person and are not affected by roles.
Assigning a pathway doesn't send anything to staff. It sets the person's milestones and due dates and starts tracking their progress, but no request or email goes out when you assign it. To ask someone to start a PDP or self-evaluation, use Request PDP or Request Self-Evaluation (see Row actions below), or send task reminders from the Pathways page.
Navigate to Settings > Pathways > Assignments
Select one or more staff members
Click Bulk Assign Primary (N) or Bulk Assign Secondary (N), where N is the number of people selected
The button you click sets which role slot the assignment targets: Primary or Secondary. Everything in the window applies to that role for each selected person. When assigning to the Secondary role, people without a secondary role are skipped, unless you also assign a secondary role in the same window.
Select a Pathway (you can search the list)
You can also assign a framework role, an Evaluator, and a Reviewer from this window. Leave any field empty to skip it. Reviewers are per person, so the role slot choice doesn't apply to them.
Click Assign
Assigning framework roles in bulk
Framework roles are set from the role field at the top of the same Bulk Assign window. The field you see depends on which button you clicked:
Primary role (in Bulk Assign Primary) — reassigns each selected person's primary role. If a person already holds the chosen role as their secondary, the two roles swap; otherwise the current primary is replaced.
Secondary role (in Bulk Assign Secondary) — sets each person's secondary role, replacing their current one. People whose primary is already that role, or who have no primary role, are skipped.
You can also assign evaluators, reviewers, or roles from individual row actions. For the full two-role model, see Staff Who Hold Two Framework Roles.
Finding staff who are missing something
Three cards above the Assignments table count the people who aren't fully set up. Select a card to filter the table to exactly those people — the fastest way to close gaps before the year starts.
Not assigned an evaluator
No pathway assigned
No framework role assigned
Select the card again to clear the filter.
Tip: Work these three cards down to zero at the start of the year. Anyone missing an evaluator, pathway, or framework role can't be moved through their evaluation workflow. For staff with two roles, remember each role needs its own pathway and evaluator.
Filtering and sorting the Assignments table
The table shows Framework Role, Pathway, Evaluator, and Reviewer for each person. Anything unset reads Not assigned. For a person with two roles, the Framework Role column lists both roles (primary first), and the Pathway and Evaluator columns show each role's own assignment.
Open the filters to narrow the list. Each filter is multi-select, so you can combine several values at once, and each has its own search box for long lists:
Group, Pathway, Framework Role, Secondary Role, Title, Position, Status, Evaluator, Reviewer
Other controls:
Choose Unassigned within a filter to find people missing that attribute
Use Sort by to order the list by First Name (A-Z or Z-A), Last Name (A-Z or Z-A), or Title (A-Z or Z-A)
Use Rows per page to show more or fewer people at a time
Click Reset filters to clear everything
Note: When filters are active you'll see a Filtering · clear indicator, so it's always obvious you're looking at a subset rather than your whole staff.
Assigning across every matching person
When you select rows, you'll be offered Select all matching results. This extends your action to every person matching your current filters — not just the ones on screen — so you can set up a whole building or role in one action. Use Clear selection to start over.
Row actions
Each row's ⋯ (more) menu includes:
Assign Pathway and Unassign Pathway — Assign Pathway opens a searchable checklist of pathways. Check the one you want, choose which framework role it applies to, and click Assign.
Assign Evaluator and Unassign Evaluator
Assign Reviewer and Unassign Reviewer
Assign Role
Unassign Role — removes a role from the person. Evaluations completed under that role are kept (they stay visible under "All roles" on the person's page), but the role's pathway assignment, progress tracking, and evaluator are removed. Removing someone's primary role promotes their secondary role to primary.
Request PDP — emails the person a request to start their PDP. If they already have one, this reads Request Progress on PDP. If your organization uses a custom name for PDPs, that name appears here.
Request Self-Evaluation — emails the person a request to complete a self-evaluation (shown when your organization uses self-evaluations)
Add to Group
Archive — remove someone from active assignment views without deleting their records
Note: The request actions need the person to have an email address and a framework role.
Archive, unassign, or deactivate: what happens to access
Action | What happens |
Archive (row menu, or Archive person on the person's page) | The person leaves active views, but their evaluation records are kept. Their assigned evaluator can still open their past evaluations. You can restore them later. |
Unassign Evaluator | Removes that evaluator from the person (for the role on that row). The evaluator can no longer open the person's evaluations unless they are an administrator or one of the person's reviewers. |
Deactivate (Settings > Team) | Turns off a login. That user can no longer use the Lebra web app, so they lose access to everyone they evaluated or reviewed. It doesn't archive anyone's employee record. |
Tip: Changing someone's evaluator but want the previous evaluator to keep seeing their evaluations? Assign the previous evaluator as a Reviewer before you unassign them.
Sending Task Reminder Emails
Rather than chasing people individually, you can email a batch of staff about the tasks they still owe you.
Steps
From the Pathways page, select the staff you want to remind.
Click Send Reminder (N). The Send task reminders window opens.
Review the tasks it covers. Each employee gets a reminder for every one of these tasks that's still waiting on them:
Professional Development Plan (PDP)
Observation reflection
Summative report reflection
Self evaluation
Select Send Reminders.
Note: Employees with no outstanding tasks won't receive an email, so it's safe to select a whole group without worrying about reminding people who are already done.
Staff only receive reminder emails when you send them — Lebra doesn't email staff automatically as their milestones come due. The one automatic pathway email is a weekly digest sent to evaluators, listing the people they evaluate who have an overdue milestone or one due in the next two weeks.
Manage and Track Progress
From the Pathways page (administrators):
Navigate to the Pathways page
Use summary cards (Staff Assigned, On Track, Overdue, Completed) to filter
Review the table for Pathway details, including status and due dates
Use search, filters (Group, Pathway, Status, Evaluator), and sorting
Click Reset filters to clear filters
Reading the dashboard at a glance
The dashboard is built so you can triage without opening each person's page.
One row per role — a person with two framework roles appears once per role, with their primary role marked (Primary). Each row tracks that role's own pathway, milestones, and status independently.
Timeline column — a visual view of where each person sits in their pathway. Select a milestone pill to open that item directly, rather than navigating to the person's page and finding it.
Formal Observations column — how many formal observations each person has, so you can spot who's behind on observation count.
Status badge tooltips — hover a badge to see the reason behind it:
Overdue names the specific milestone that's past due and its due date
On Track shows the next milestone coming up
Completed confirms all milestones are complete
Evaluator filter and "View assigned" — evaluators are assigned per role, so these match the rows for the roles that evaluator covers. A two-role person shows up under each of their evaluators' views with the matching role's row.
View assigned / View all employees — switch between only the people assigned to you and everyone you have permission to see.
Timeline pills vs. status
Timeline pill colors are a visual summary, not proof that an item was submitted. Milestones before a person's current milestone are shown as completed because of where they sit in the sequence. If Lebra can't tell which milestone is current, pills fall back to due dates, so a milestone whose due date has passed can show as completed.
To confirm whether something was actually done, check the Status badge (On Track, Overdue, or Completed) and open the item's own tab on the person's page — for example, Self Evaluations.
Best practices
Set up Pathways before the school year begins
Confirm your school year dates in Settings > Ascend > General first, since pathway dates must fall inside them
Use duplication for year-over-year consistency
Clear the three flag cards on the Assignments page to zero before the year starts
Assign evaluators at the same time as Pathways
For staff with two framework roles, set up both roles' pathways and evaluators — each role tracks separately
Monitor the Pathways page regularly for overdue items, and use task reminders instead of chasing individually
Ensure staff profiles include a valid email and role
Use Groups to organize and filter staff
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can create or assign Pathways?
Administrators can create, edit, duplicate, and delete Pathways from Settings > Pathways and assign them from Settings > Pathways > Assignments.
Does assigning a pathway notify the staff member?
No. Assigning a pathway sets milestones and tracks progress; it doesn't send a request or an email. Use Request PDP or Request Self-Evaluation from the row's ⋯ menu, or Send Reminder from the Pathways page, when you want staff to act.
Can Pathways be edited after assignment?
Yes. Changes apply to all staff currently assigned to the Pathway.
I can't find a pathway I created. Where did it go?
Check the school year dropdown on the Pathways page. Pathways are grouped by school year, so a pathway built for a different year won't appear until you switch to it.
Can a person have two pathways?
Yes, if they hold two framework roles — each role carries its own pathway. A single role has exactly one pathway. See Staff Who Hold Two Framework Roles.
Two administrators need access to the same teacher's evaluations. Should I give the teacher a secondary role?
No. Assign one administrator as the teacher's Evaluator and the other as a Reviewer. A secondary framework role is only for staff who actually hold a second position evaluated on a different framework — adding one creates a second pathway and evaluation cycle. See Staff Who Hold Two Framework Roles.
What happens if a staff member is missing required information?
If a staff member is missing an email or role, certain actions cannot be completed. The system will display the reason, and the profile must be updated before retrying.
How does Pathways impact evaluations or reports?
Pathways defines timelines and expectations. Milestones determine when evaluation activities must be completed, and statuses reflect progress.
Can Pathways be reused across school years?
Yes. Use the Duplicate feature and select "Add one year to new pathway" to shift the dates forward.
What does "Not Assigned" mean in filters?
It shows staff members who do not have a Pathway assigned.
Can I assign a Pathway to multiple staff at once?
Yes. Select multiple staff on the Assignments page and assign the Pathway in one action. To go further, use Select all matching results to apply your assignment to everyone matching your current filters.
How do I remove a pathway or evaluator from someone?
Use the row's ⋯ menu and choose Unassign Pathway, Unassign Evaluator, or Unassign Reviewer. For staff with two roles, the unassign applies to the role shown on that row.
What happens to someone's evaluations if I remove one of their roles?
Evaluations completed under the removed role are kept and stay visible under "All roles" on the person's page. Only the role's pathway assignment, progress tracking, and evaluator assignment are removed.
What does Archive do?
Archiving removes a person from active assignment views without deleting their evaluation records. Their assigned evaluator can still open their past evaluations.