Q: What is TIA?

A: HB 3 established the Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA) to recognize effective teachers on three levels, Recognized, Exemplary, and Master. These teacher designations generate additional teacher-focused allotment funding for districts to reward their top performers.

Teachers earn designations through two different routes. First, National Board Certified teachers (NBCTs) automatically 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 submitting a system application to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and then a data validation process through Texas Tech University.

Any teacher eligible based on a district’s TIA Designation System who holds National Board Certification will automatically earn a Recognized designation through TIA. That does not mean a NBCT is not eligible for Exemplary or Master status. It means they automatically qualify for at least the Recognized level in the Designation System.

Q: When would TIA go into effect for Round Rock ISD?

A: The district’s TIA Designation System is being implemented in phases. This process began with the 2023-24 academic year, which served as a “data collection year” for the first cohort of TIA-eligible teachers.

Data collection allows the district to ensure the system is set up optimally, with the appropriate evaluation tools in place. Supporting data that is then used to recommend designations for eligible teachers within the system.

The district plans to expand TIA in 2024-25 at selected campuses and to continue to roll out over the proceeding three to five years, subject to application approval from the Texas Education Agency (TEA).

Q: Who is eligible for TIA?

A: District employees PEIMS coded as a classroom teacher are eligible for a TIA Designation. The district TIA committee determines the teacher categories or criteria to include in the Designation System. TEA requires that:

• The teacher must have a valid SBEC certificate. Eligible types of certifications include Standard, Professional, and Provisional. Eligible classes of certificates include: Classroom Teacher (Chapter 233), Reading Specialist (Chapter 239), and Legacy Master Teacher.
• According to the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS), the teacher must be coded as a 087 (Teacher).
• The teacher must have been employed and compensated (or will be by the end of the school year) in a teaching role for 90 days at 100% of the day (equivalent to four and one-half months or an entire semester) or 180 days at 50-99% of the day.

The district’s TIA Planning Committee recommended rolling out the Program in phases across the district, while also ensuring that prioritized areas be rolled out first. The initial cohort of TIA-eligible teachers were those serving at one of nine Strategic Support campuses, in grades Kindergarten through 2nd grade. These grade levels were selected to reflect the district’s Board Goal 1 regarding Early Literacy. Teachers in these assignments would be eligible to receive a designation based on their 2023-24 data.

The district has submitted an expansion application for the 2024-25 school year that, if approved, would expand the total number of campuses to seventeen, while also including middle school Mathematics teachers at Title I campuses in the local designation system.

Final approval notice is expected by the time teachers return to work in August. If approved, 2024-25 would be the data collection year for not only middle school Math teachers at Title I campuses, but also for any Kindergarten through 2nd grade teachers who serve at a Title I campus that was not part of the initial cohort of Strategic Support campuses.

Q: Are other staff eligible? Instructional coaches? Administrators? etc.?

A: No. The TIA Designation Program recognizes classroom teachers only. Instructional coaches, librarians, administrators, counselors, etc., are not eligible. Teacher eligibility is designated by district PEIMS reporting code Role ID 087.

Role ID 087 includes teachers of record, assistant teachers, and support teachers. Interventionists, reading specialists, inclusion teachers, etc., are generally coded as 087. Districts must check with their PEIMS specialists and payroll personnel to ensure that teachers meet eligibility requirements before submitting them for designation.

Q: What is Round Rock ISD’s plan for the allocation of the funds?

A: Funding for teachers designated as Recognized, Exemplary, and Master under TIA will flow to districts. In turn, the district must spend at least 90% of the funds on teacher compensation on the designated teachers’ campuses.

Texas Education Code (TEC) Section 48.114 (i)(1)(A) says: 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 at the campus at which the teacher for whom the district received the allotment is employed. The statute states that allotment funds are not considered a property right.

Q: Does this impact my base pay?

A: No. The district’s salary scale determines your base pay. TIA compensation is in addition to your already approved salary.

The district is also using part of the 10% reserved from TIA funds received to ensure that TIA compensation is TRS-eligible, so it can be counted towards TRS income for retirement purposes.

Q: How long does a TIA Designation last for a teacher?

A: TIA Designations are good for five years once earned. Designated teachers may be put forth for a higher designation within the five-year window if they meet the district’s performance criteria. In these cases, the higher designation replaces the lower designation, and the five-year clock restarts.

Teachers earning a TIA Designation of Recognized, Exemplary, or Master will receive their designated allotment for each of the five years, for the amount generated based on the campus at which they work during each year.

Their designation moves with the teacher from campus to campus or another district should they move campuses or districts until that five-year period expires.

Q: Can Teachers earn Recognized designation if they are National Board Certified?

A: Yes. Teachers will automatically earn a Recognized designation if they are already Nationally Board Certified. They can move up in designations if they receive a higher designation through the local designation system.

Q: What does Student Growth look like for Round Rock ISD?

A: For the initial cohort of TIA-eligible teachers, student growth is calculated using mClass data/ mCclass is a TEA-approved alternative free Reading Diagnostic Tool for Kindergarten and as one of the free options for Grades 1 and 2.

Student growth is measured as the percentage of students who either increase a minimum of one level (Well Below Benchmark, Below Benchmark, At Benchmark, Above Benchmark), or maintain at the highest two levels (At Benchmark, Above Benchmark) from their beginning-of-year to their end-of-year result.

If the district’s expansion application is approved, student growth for middle school Math would be measured based on the STAAR test, specifically the percentage of students who met or exceeded their expected growth target will be calculated as the percent of students who attained 1 point for student growth.

Q: Why do we have to use T-TESS observations as part of this process?

A: Teacher Observation (T-TESS Domains II and III) is one of the two required components of the Teacher Incentive Allotment.

The other required component is the Student Growth measure as determined by the district’s TIA committee and final approval by TEA.

Q: What are the other “optional” components for TIA?

A: In addition to the TEA required components of Student Growth and Teacher Observation, there may be Optional Components that play a role when evaluating the overall impact of teacher performance. Examples of this include:
T-TESS Domain 1,
T-TESS Domain 4,
teacher attendance,
student surveys, and any other options the TIA district committee feels would be helpful.

None of these options are a part of the local designation system currently, but could be implemented in the future if the committee believed the addition of those, or other components, would be beneficial to the system overall.

Q: What if I become a principal or AP after receiving a TIA designation?

A: The TIA is designed to recognize and reward high-performing teachers. As the TIA requires eligible teachers to be coded as classroom teachers by PEIMS, if a designated teacher were to move into an administrative role, they would lose their TIA designation and TIA compensation.

Q: Can multiple teachers on my campus receive a designation? If so, is there a limit to how many?

A: Yes. Any teacher in an eligible position who receives a TIA designation of Recognized, Exemplary, or Master will qualify for the TIA funds associated with those corresponding designations, regardless of how many receive such designations per campus. There is no limit to the number of those who can receive a designation.

Q: How will I know that the evaluation process is fair?

A: The district will calibrate with administrators to ensure a fair, accurate, and rigorous observation system.

Q: How can I be sure the system is fair concerning assessing student growth?

A: The student growth requirement is a growth measure and not a proficiency measure. Regardless of where students start from, the student growth target measures the teacher’s ability to have their students meet their growth targets.

Q: What is the process if I disagree with my administrator’s evaluation of my performance regarding TIA?

A: Requesting a second observation remains the same as the current evaluation process.