Q: What is the Teacher Incentive Allotment (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 will 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. In the first year, the district included 9 elementary Title I campuses.

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

The district expanded TIA in 2024-25 to the other elementary Title I campuses, along with 3 Title I middle schools. Additional teaching assignments were also included. We will continue to roll TIA out to include more campuses and teaching positions over the next three to five years, subject to application approval from the Texas Education Agency (TEA).

Q: Who is eligible for TIA?

A: Only district employees PEIMS coded as “classroom teacher” (Role ID 087) are eligible for TIA designations. District leadership, supported by the TIA steering committee, determines which teacher categories or criteria to include in the Designation System. TEA requires that:

• The teacher must have a valid SBEC certificate.
• The teacher must be coded in PEIMS 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 Steering Committee supported rolling out the program in phases across the district while also ensuring that priority areas were included 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 in 2024-25 based on their 2023-24 data.

The district was approved by TEA to expand its designation systems for the 2024-25 school year. This expanded the total number of TIA campuses to seventeen while also including middle school Mathematics teachers at Title I campuses in the local designation system. The district will be submitting a further expansion application in April 2025, which, if approved, would include additional campuses and teaching assignments in the local designation system at all levels (elementary, middle, and high school).

Approval notice is expected by the time teachers return to work in August. If approved, 2025-26 would be the data collection year for any newly included campuses and teaching positions.

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 toward 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 to another district should they move campuses or districts until that five-year period expires.

Teachers in TIA positions are submitted for designation each year that they remain in an eligible position. Designation levels can increase from year to year but cannot decrease during the five-year period after initial designation.

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/mClass 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.

Student growth for middle school Mathematics is 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.

If the next expansion application is approved, for teaching positions the STAAR test would be used when STAAR is included at that grade level in for that content area. For Pre-kindergarten 4, the Circle Reading Diagnostic Tool would be used to assess 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 no longer be eligible for TIA, not generate any TIA funding, and would therefore not receive 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 has developed very intentional appraiser calibration processes. T-TESS and student growth data are analyzed frequently, and appraisers receive intensive training to ensure the observation system is fair, accurate, and rigorous.

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. Through using pre-test and post-test approaches, the district has established objective criteria that can be measured and monitored.

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.