Teacher Incentive Allotment

• Teacher Incentive Allotment Guidebook (2022-2023)
• Find more information on the Texas Education Agency website and the TIA Texas website.

 LEAs must verify that each teacher meets the following eligibility requirements before submitting them for a designation:

• The teacher must be coded as 087 (Teacher) per the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) description of codes for 90 days at 100% of the day (equivalent to four and one-half months or a full semester) or 180 days required at 50–99% of the day and compensated for that employment.

Designated teachers who move to a Role ID other than 087 will maintain their designation. However they will not generate annual allotment funding if they are not in a 087 teaching role for that year of service.

Designated teachers who move to a role other than 087 (teacher), maintain their designation, however, they are not rewarded with funding.  While the designation is tied to the teacher, funds are NOT tied to their employing district/campus. Allotment funds are awarded to the district where the teacher was employed in late February. The district will receive funds for that school year and those supporting teachers will be eligible for their 30% share.

Unlike certificates, designations are general. The designation will be placed on the teacher’s SBEC certificate and will not specify a certification area or subject/grade level. A teacher may change teaching assignments and will still generate allotment funding. The same applies to National Board Certified Teachers (NBCTs).

Teacher designations are valid for five years. Within the five-year period, teachers may be put forth for a higher designation if their performance qualifies them, but they cannot be submitted for a lower designation. La Vega’s plan reduces the percentage of allotment for the designated teacher IF student growth falls below the Recognized designation level by 10%.

Yes. Working with the district, the teacher has TWO options:

1. The teacher could create SLO for one subject (geometry OR precalculus)
   OR
2. Use a pre-test/post-test option using the item bank resources from the TEKS Resource System

Working with the district curriculum department, student growth targets would be set to establish below yearly growth, expected yearly growth, and exceeded yearly growth rates.

Designated teachers who meet performance standards and district qualifications can be put forth for a new designation in their final year of designation. Once the designation expires, it will be removed from the SBEC certificate (if applicable) and allotment funding will no longer be generated.

La Vega ISD used the T-TESS appraisal system.

Once per year.

• At the campus level, teacher appraisers calibrate 2 times in the Fall semester and 2 times in the Spring semester. The focus is on ensuring dimensions are rated consistently within the campus team.
   
• At the district level, teacher appraisers calibrate 2 times per year. Here, the focus is on ensuring observations throughout the district are  consistent."

The campus and district leadership meet annually to review the congruence of teacher observation data with student growth data. The district utilizes domain 2 (anticipated growth) of the T-TESS system and compares it to the appropriate student growth measure. Pre/Posttests, STAAR student progress measure or Renaissance STAR growth goals will be utilized depending on the grade and content level. It is anticipated that a proficient teacher will have 55% of students achieving growth, an accomplished teacher will have 65% of students achieving growth and a distinguished teacher will have 75% of students achieving growth.

• The district selected two student growth measures, "Pre-Test/Post-Test" and "Other". The rationale behind the choice was guidance from the stakeholder meetings, the alignment to state standards and approval by the TEA as an approved assessment. 
   
• "Pre-Test/Post-Test" student growth measures was selected for PreK, Kindergarten, Grades 1-3 for reading and mathematics. The selected assessment measures are currently being used by the district to guide instruciton and are on the list of Commissioner's Approved assessments. (eCIRCLE, TPRI, Tejas Lee, Star Renaissance Math and Reading). Stakeholders recommended that the continued use of the assessments are reliable and valid measures that yield data that is actionable. 
   
• The content and grade levels lacking an approved status on the TEA will be district created assessments utilizing the Texas Formative Assessment Resource (TFAR), state interim assessments and released test questions from former STAAR Assessments.  These assessments will be for Grade 5 and 8 Science, Biology, English 1, Grade 8 Social Studies and US History, "Other" student growth measures were selected by stakeholders and leadership at grades 4-8 in reading and mathematics, English 2, and Algebra 1. The TEA generated academic growth data provided in Domain 2 of STAAR Assessment Performance Reporting will be used to determine individual growth.

• "La Vega ISD held multiple stakeholder meetings in developing the student growth measures for the TIA application. Discussion of the various methods for measuring student growth was discussed as well as currently used assessments in place at the district. Commissioner’s Approved Assessments were reviewed, and it was the district teachers and campus administrators that selected to use 3rd party vendors growth measure for Pre-Kindergarten children administered the Commissioner’s Approved assessment, CIRCLE developed by CLI ;  Kindergarten growth measures provided from TxKEA assessment, and 1st and 2nd student growth percentiles provided for mathematics and reading from the vendor Renaissance Star.  For each of these assessments, beginning of each year professional development includes the administration and data analysis from the assessment. Additional professional development will be provided to all teachers of grades 1 and 2 on student growth percentile score used by Star Renaissance. Explanations of these assessments and the results generated from the vendors for these assessments are provided to all staff and placed on the LVISD teacher district and campus websites for review and access.  Quarterly review of student growth is revisited at the close of each assessment window with teachers and campus leaders. 
   
• District-wide classroom teachers and administrators supported the use of the STAAR/EOC growth measure as a valid and reliable determination of individual student growth for grades 4-8 reading and mathematics, Algebra I and English II. The district committees determined that the TEA statistical analysis over prior year data, assessment alignment with state standards and the use of student growth in determining campus and district accountability were reasons to utilize the state generated data. LVISD will provide training during professional development prior to the start of school each year on the process surrounding test security, test administration, protocols/procedures, and test scoring and campus ratings.  
   
• Individual student raw scores, scale scores and performance by category are shared with teachers for incoming students. Professional development will be provided by each Campus Testing Coordinator using TEA approved materials. Campus Testing Coordinators will provide all teachers with a review of how student growth measures are calculated for each student using the TEA approved material and the Accountability Manual as guidance. The LVISD Superintendent will provide a review of the district STAAR/EOC data at the district Convocation.
   
• As results become available throughout the year, the District Testing Coordinator will provide the data to district and campus administrators and will provide a longitudinal review of performance for comparison purposes. Teachers are provided individual and class group data through DMAC and the state testing vendor.

The greatest support for teachers wishing to earn a designation in our local system is simplicity of the sytem and it's reliance in the first year on performance measures that are already largely in place. Additionally, a single point person at each campus will be available to teachers who have questions about the system or need support in their efforts at achieving a designation. The system also includes support for teachers who wish to earn a designation by achieving National Board Certification by providing scholarship opportunities to participate in an NBCT cohort sponsored by ESC Region 12.

• 60% percentage of allotment going to designated teachers.
• 30% percentage of allotment going to other teachers on the campus.
• 10% percentage of allotment going to LEA (Max 10%).

Compensation to designated teachers and other supporting teachers will be made in one lump sum payout in August.  The TIA compensation is TRS-eligible per HB 1525.  The district will report the compensation and TRS contributions will be made on the full amount.

Each teacher and supporting staff will receive the lump sum payout in a separate check through direct deposited in the same manner as their monthly salary.

All teachers, including the designated payouts in August. This payout time includes the designated teacher, who will receive  60% and campus designated teachers who will receive 30%, less TRS and other withholding costs.

La Vega’s plan specifies each designated teacher will receive their 60% TIA.  The remaining 30% allotment is to be split among campus staff according to the teacher teams that support the same students as the designated teacher.  Each teacher that receives TIA compensation will be based on the appropriate weighting for teacher performance and student growth.

A student is credited to a teacher based on a roster verification process. The student must be on the teacher’s roster on the Fall “Snapshot” day (October) and on the teacher’s roster on Winter PEIMS Submission (February) and assessed to be used in calculating student growth. While the district realizes attendance is correlated to student achievement, the state does not allow students to be removed from state assessment based on poor attendance. These rules apply to teachers in core contents and the same stringent rule will be applied to teachers in other content areas for calculating designation in the La Vega Teacher Incentive Allotment calculations.