United ISD

What is the Teacher Incentive Allotment?

HB 3 established the Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA) to recognize effective teachers on three different levels, recognized, exemplary, and master. These teacher designations generate additional teacher-focused allotment funding for districts in order for them to reward their top performers.

Teachers earn designations through two different routes. First, National Board Certified teachers are eligible to earn a Recognized designation. Second, districts may designate their effective teachers when they are approved for a local teacher designation system. The approval process is multi-step and includes the submission of a system application to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and then a data validation process through Texas Tech University.

United ISD - Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA)

$5,400- $8,500

$9,700 - $17,000

$18,100 - $30,000

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Teacher

TIA Manual

TIA is being made available to school districts across the state of Texas.

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COHORT D TIMELINE

Important TIA dates for the data submission school year.

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DISTRIBUTION OF ALLOTMENT

A teacher’s designation level determines a range of allotments.

Spending Plan

WHY DID THE DISTRICT DECIDE TO PARTICIPATE?

United ISD looked at teacher demographic data, student demographic data and student performance data to determine what schools would initiate the Teacher Incentive Allotment program. It was evident through the data, that our campuses with the highest need: greatest number of teachers with 1-5 years of experience, highest percent of low socio economic students, highest percent of Limited English students, highest mobility, and lowest performance in all STAAR tested areas, particularly the writing, would be our starting point for this recruitment and retention program.

The schools in the Lyndon B. Johnson feeder pattern would be the schools designated to pilot the program. Historically the schools in this feeder pattern are our hardest to staff. Moreover, many of our teachers start off at these schools. They receive excellent training and as soon as they are eligible for a transfer, they move to schools closer to their residence. Therefore, these schools experience a high mobility rate when it comes to teaching staff especially in the area of English language arts.

The district is very confident the TIA will help us retain effective teachers in these schools since only these campuses will be eligible during the first year for this allotment. United ISD opted to participate in TIA not only to recruit, retain and compensate teachers, but also to remain competitive as a district that also offers this program to our staff. The goal for our district in implementing TIA is to retain teachers at our most difficult to staff campuses so that our effective teachers will impact overall student achievement. This initiative will be at the forefront of our District Improvement Plan, and it addresses our goal 3: Processes and Programs that ensures employee recruitment, professional growth, which leads into the retention of effective teachers, principals and other instructional and support staff, impacting consistent quality face-to-face/ virtual instruction for all students.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Allotment & Spending Questions

Is the allotment for the teacher or the campus?

Funding for teachers designated as Recognized, Exemplary, and Master under TIA will flow to districts, which in turn must spend at least 90% of the funds on teacher compensation on the campuses where the designated teachers work.

Pursuant to Texas Education Code (TEC) Section 48.114(i)(1)(A), a district shall annually certify that funds received under this section were used as follows: At least 90% of each allotment received was used for the compensation of teachers employed on the campus at which the teacher for whom the district received the allotment is employed.

If a district does not have a local designation system as part of the Teacher Incentive Allotment, but employs designated teachers, will the district receive allotment funds for those teachers?

Yes. Districts that employ teachers who have earned designations will receive funding for those teachers based on the TIA formula, even if the district does not have an approved designation system in place. For example, a district that does not have a designation system in place could employ a teacher that earned a designation in another district or a teacher who automatically earned a Recognized designation for having achieved National Board Certification. Districts will need to develop a plan for how to spend allotment dollars that they receive, in accordance with the rules of HB 3.

If a designated teacher moves campuses from one school year to the next, will the allotment that teacher generates be recalculated?

Yes. There will be set points in time at which TEA will calculate the allotment for a teacher based on the teacher’s designation and school characteristics (socio-economic tiers and rural status).

Local Teacher Designation Systems Questions

Can a district phase in different groups of teachers over time?

Yes. Districts have local flexibility to develop their local designation systems. For example, a district may choose to include only math and reading teachers in year one, and then expand to include science and social studies teachers in year two, etc. System expansion will require the district to submit and be approved through the two-step application process.

Can a district apply for TIA only at specific campuses in their district and not others?

Yes. Districts specify the campuses on which they want to designate teachers under TIA. However, any campus in the district that has designated teachers working on it will generate TIA funding to be spent on teacher compensation on that campus.

System & Data Submission Review

What is the time frame to apply, and what happens after a district’s local designation system is submitted for review?

Time frames to apply are based on the data capture year a district plans to use when submitting the teacher observation and student growth data for the purposes of TIA. Please note there will be a two-step review process: (1) local designation system review by TEA and (2) data submission review by Texas Tech University. For details on the timelines and next steps for each cohort, please review the Cohort Next Steps and Timelines documents on the TIA website.

Once approved districts submit their data in the fall following their data capture year, will they be required to submit teacher observation and student growth data for all teachers in eligible teaching assignments for the next four years, or can they submit only some teacher observation and student growth data and have other teachers in eligible teaching assignments on appraisal waivers?

After the data capture year, districts are encouraged to submit as much teacher observation and student growth data as possible for every year during which they want to put forth new teachers for designations or designated teachers for higher designations. For TEA/TTU to verify data submission, we recommend there be teacher observation and student growth data for as many teachers in eligible teaching assignments as possible.

Many districts allow eligible teachers to waive an annual appraisal. Will an annual appraisal be required for teachers to earn a designation?

Districts must have observation and student data from the data capture year for all teachers in the district’s system. If fully approved, teachers not submitted for designation are not required to have an annual observation although if a teacher is put forth for a higher designation, teacher effectiveness data is required. Once a teacher has earned a designation, opting out of his/her annual appraisal will be a local decision. Appraisals must comply with §21.351 and §21.352.

Exactly what data will schools be required to submit for the data review process?

At minimum, districts will be required to submit data on teacher effectiveness, which will include teacher observation data and the teacher’s student growth rubric rating. TEA will communicate specifics around what other data might need to be submitted as part of the data review and approval process.

Will districts have to submit data every year?

Districts will submit data for all teachers in eligible teaching assignments each year that they put forth new teachers for designation.

What if a system is not approved? Can a district resubmit the following year?

TEA will work with districts throughout the step one system review with the goal of approving systems with a high likelihood of passing the step two data validation. Systems that fail to pass the system review or data validation may resubmit the following year.

Stakeholder Engagement Questions

When should districts begin communicating with teachers about their local designation systems?

Districts are encouraged to communicate with teachers early in the process and throughout the development and implementation of their local designation systems. The TIA Readiness Checklist includes a section on community and teacher communication. The Readiness Checklist is available here.

What stakeholder groups should be included in developing the local teacher designation system?

Best practices indicate that including teachers, campus leaders, district leaders, and community members in planning and reviewing a local teacher designation system results in a stronger system with more buy-in. In addition, school board input and approval are recommended. Please refer to the TIA Readiness Checklist for additional best practices in stakeholder engagement.

Teacher Incentive Allotment