Teacher Incentive Allotment

House Bill 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" (www.tiatexas.org).

Joshua ISD’s vision is to be a highly acclaimed model of educational excellence. JISD recognizes we have outstanding teachers in our district and desire to implement TIA to support and reward highly effective teachers.

TIA aligns with JISD’s District Improvement Plan by supporting the efficient management of resources to promote student success, meeting or exceeding a score of 90% in accountability in Domain 2: Student Progress, and 95% or greater teacher retention rate. Implementing TIA will allow us to remain competitive with other districts in recruitment and retainment of teachers.

Joshua ISD is part of Cohort E. Joshua ISD provided multiple presentations throughout the 20-21 and 21-22 school years, and used stakeholder feedback from the presentations to develop the district TIA plan.

Our initial TIA plan included PK-12th grade reading and math teachers at all the campuses as eligible to earn a designation. The 2022-2023 school year was their first data capture year. Based on data collected throughout the district, eligible teachers who met the criteria will be put up for a designation during the data validation process through Texas Tech University on October 19, 2023. The district will receive final approval and notification of our designated teachers in the spring of 2024.

The initial allotment will be paid to the designated teachers as a stipend in the summer of 2024. Teachers will hold their designation title for 5 years.

In April 2023, Joshua ISD submitted an Expansion/Modification application as a follow up to our initial application. The approval we received of this application adds 3rd-12th grade science, 6th-12th grade social studies, and high school CTE teachers as eligible to earn a designation. The 2023-2024 school year will be their first data capture year.

Cohort Timelines

Cohort E Timeline: Phase 1

✓ 20-21 and 21-22 school years: JISD plans phase 1 of Teacher Incentive Allotment

✓ April 2022: JISD submits the Teacher Incentive Allotment application

✓ June 2022: Joshua ISD’s TIA Plan was accepted by TEA

✓ August 2022-May 2023: First data Capture for PK-12th grade reading and math teachers.

✓ August-September 2023: Beginning of the year training for eligible teachers

✓ October 2023: Teachers notified of being recommended for a designation & data and teacher designation recommendations submitted to Texas Tech University (TTU) for data validation

✓ Late February 2024: Final Approval and Notification from TEA and TTU

✓ April/May 2024: Final Designation and Allotment Notification

Summer of 2024: Allotments are paid out to designated teachers in a summer stipend check

Cohort E Timeline: Phase 2

✓ October 2022-April 2023: JISD begins to plan phase 2 of the district’s TIA plan

✓ April 2023: Submit the Expansion/Modification Application to add eligible teachers

✓ May 2023: Joshua ISD’s TIA Expansion/Modification Plan was accepted by TEA

✓ August-September 2023: Beginning of the year training for eligible teachers

✓ August 2023-May 2024: Second data Capture for PK-12th grade reading and math teachers, first data capture year for 3rd-12th grade science teachers, 6th-12th social studies teachers, and 9th-12th grade CTE teachers

October 2024: Teachers notified of being recommended for a designation & data and teacher designation recommendations submitted to Texas Tech University (TTU) for data validation

Late February 2025: Final Approval and Notification from TEA and TTU

April/May 2025: Final Designation and Allotment Notification Summer of 2025: Allotments are paid out to designated teachers in a summer stipend check

Cohort E Timeline: Phase 3

✓ October 2023-April 2024: JISD begins to plan phase 2 of the district’s TIA plan

✓ April 2024: Submit the Expansion/Modification Application to add eligible teachers

✓ May 2024: Joshua ISD’s TIA Expansion/Modification Plan was accepted by TEA

August-September 2024: Beginning of the year training for eligible teachers

August 2024-May 2025: Third data Capture for PK-12th grade reading and math teachers, second data capture year for 3rd-12th grade science teachers, 6th-12th social studies teachers, and 9th-12th grade CTE teachers, and first data capture year for elementary interventionist and teachers who have students that take STAAR Alt 2 English 1 and 2.

October 2025: Teachers notified of being recommended for a designation & data and teacher designation recommendations submitted to Texas Tech University (TTU) for data validation

Late February 2026: Final Approval and Notification from TEA and TTU

April/May 2026: Final Designation and Allotment Notification Summer of 2025: Allotments are paid out to designated teachers in a summer stipend check

JISD TIA Resources

Joshua ISD TIA Spending Plan

TEA video: About the Teacher Incentive Allotment

TEA website: TIA Website

TEA TIA 2022-20s3 Allotment Funding Map: 22-23 TIA Funding Map

JISD Teacher TIA Resources

JISD TIA Frequently Asked Questions

When is the earliest a teacher might see payment from the TIA?

Would there be a district calibration for administrators to attend to assist in the equity of expectations regarding each of the domains and dimensions that comprise T-TESS?

If a designated teacher moves campuses from one school to the next, will the allotment that teacher generates be recalculated? What if the teacher leaves in the middle of the year?

While designations are tied to the teacher and not their employing district or campus, allotment funds are awarded to the district where the teacher was employed in late February. The district employing the teacher in February will receive funds for that school year and must spend the allotment funds by August 31. The percentage of allotment awarded to the designated teacher varies by district. Districts are not required to forward funds if the teacher resigns or retires before August 31. If a designated teacher moves to a new district or campus between school years, the allotment for the next school year will be recalculated in April based on the new campus’s rural status and level of socioeconomic need.

If a teacher that receives the incentive leaves the district, where does the % of the incentive that others shared go?

If I am not a math or reading teacher, but pursue the National Board Certification will I receive a designation and incentive pay more quickly.

Beginning in January 2021, eligible National Board certified teachers (NBCTs) who are employed as teachers will earn a Recognized designation. The designation will expire in conjunction with the National Board certificate. Allotment funding for eligible NBCTs will be calculated annually in April. Districts may view the NBCT directory to begin determining if they employ NBCTs.

What does it take to be a National Board Certified teacher?

The certification process is designed to collect standards-based evidence of accomplished practice, and on average takes one to three years to complete. To become a Board-certified teacher, eligible candidates must demonstrate advanced knowledge, skills and practice in their individual certificate areas by completing four components: three portfolio entries and a computer-based assessment. The content knowledge component is a computer-based assessment taken at a testing center; the other three are portfolio-based and are submitted through an electronic portfolio system.

Also you have said student growth is a component, not student performance. If the students are already at a commended level it becomes pretty hard to show marked growth. What are your thoughts on this?

If a teacher becomes national board certified do they get the allotment even if they are not in the subjects that JISD is doing?

A teacher that has earned a National Board Certification automatically earns a “Recognized” designation.

To be eligible for the Recognized Teacher Incentive Allotment designation, NBCTs must:

Be listed as a Texas teacher in the NBCT directory. NBCTs with an out of state directory listing must update their information by January 31st to be eligible for a designation that school year.
Be employed as a teacher by a Texas school district or public charter (coded as 087 Role ID in PEIMS/TSDS).
Hold an active National Board certificate.
Teachers with a Recognized designation must be employed as a Texas teacher (087 role ID in PEIMS) and complete a creditable year of service to generate funding for that year. The Recognized designation generates anywhere from $3,000 to $9,000 for the NBCT’s district. The total amount depends on the socioeconomic status of the campus’s students and the campus’s rural status.
Follow the JISD TIA Spending Plan

How will it work for SPED/Inclusion/non-core content teachers?

Is teacher incentive allotment optional or required?

Do the teachers that earn any recognition get a say in how the incentive allotment is used for the school/district?

Have we looked at any other assessment measuring tools besides Renaissance STAR? What are other districts in Texas using as their primary measuring tool?

Ones that provide a differentiated 'action plan' that auto populates questions/skills the students can learn, practice, be assessed on and the teacher can view as far as data to help the growth. A plan that is continuously adapting to the students weaknesses and strengths on a magnitude of skills/concepts/TEKS.

The following assessment measuring tools have been chosen for the following reasons.

TX-KEA was developed by the Children's Learning Institute at the University of Texas Health Science Center. The state provided the assessment and it is on the Commissioner’s Approved Assessment list. The assessment was reviewed for content validity, scored with a state-approved rubric. It is research-based, technology driven, and ensures that at-risk children receive targeted instruction in critical school readiness skills.

CIRCLE was developed by the Children's Learning Institute at the University of Texas Health Science Center. The state provided the assessment and it is on the Commissioner’s Approved Assessment list. The assessment was reviewed for content validity, scored with a state-approved rubric. It is research-based, technology driven, and ensures that at-risk children receive targeted instruction in critical school readiness skills.

Renaissance Learning continually investigates the correlation or statistical link between scores on STAR Reading and Math Enterprise and scores on other recognized, established measures of different aspects of reading achievement. These measures include survey achievement tests, diagnostic reading measures, and state accountability tests.

Research of other districts show that there are a variety of student growth measures that are being used: istation, mclass, STAAR, Renaissance, Circle, TX-KEA, MAP, SLOs, portfolios, and rubrics.

Who will be monitoring the initial growth measure. If this is our baseline, I feel it should be uniformly given and mandated by the same person.

Once this program progresses and opens up to more subjects (ie. social studies, science, etc...), would all "student growth" measures (testing) need to be conducted similar to how we do a star test; test training's, shut down campus, etc...?

Since some teacher assignments have students with high populations of special education, 504, BE, and difficult behavior students, while other teachers have fewer of those students, is there a way to "level the playing field?"

Some teachers on our campus have a high percentage of students who might never show growth, and that might be the majority of their classes, year after year after year. This has very little, if nothing, to do with the teacher and more to do with the disability or attitude or trauma of the student. How can this be handled or calculated so that those teachers get compensation after dealing with the most difficult students on the campus? Those teachers deserve to be able to receive compensation, as well, even if their students do not show as much growth as 40% or 50%.

Each assessment used for the student growth component has student growth calculated with various achievement levels in mind. Refer to the Joshua ISD Teacher Incentive Allotment Handbook.

The varying needs of the students will not factor into the teacher student growth indicator.

Part of Domain 2 is Dimension 2.4, which states, “The teacher differentiates instruction, aligning methods and techniques to diverse student needs.” In addition Dimension 2.5, which states, “The teacher formally and informally collects, analyzes and uses student progress data and makes needed lesson adjustments.

Testing protocols for the pre and post-tests will also include providing accommodations based on students’ IEPs and 504 plan based on the pre/post-test instrument.

We cannot control how many students we have in our classroom, how can we be graded the same if we have way more students?

How is the observation checklist going to be used to score or assign points?

To score the Classroom System level checklist:

Teacher would self-evaluate the identified sections of the checklist.
The teacher is responsible for gathering evidence to support their self-evaluation.
The teacher’s appraiser would evaluate and verify considering the teacher's evidence.
- The teacher and appraiser will review and rate the teacher’s system checklist for the final score.
- Sections 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 5.2, 6.1, 6.3, 7.1, and 7.2 of the Classroom System Level Check will be used to score the third component.
- Using 8 sections of the checklist, each section can be worth up to 1.25 points to equal 10 points.
  - 0 points are earned for ratings of Not yet or Progressing
  - 1 point is earned for a rating of Proficient
  - 1.25 points are earned for a rating of Advanced
  - The maximum points a teacher could earn in this component is 10.

To be considered for designation, a teacher must earn at least an 8.75 on the Classroom System Level Check. This means the teacher should earn at least 4 “advanced” ratings and no “not yet” and/or “progressing” ratings.

Other districts have included fine arts in this program. Have we looked into how to show measurable growth in these subjects?

Fine arts are considered an important part of a students education in the state of Texas and the impacts on students through this type of education is astronomical in many ways, including a direct impact on academic achievement. Are we figuring this out?

After the initial year of Joshua ISD’s local designation system, the district will research other student growth measures for other content areas. Feedback opportunities will be given to teachers prior to making decisions.

Electives are not tested by the state. How will they be given the opportunity to make the income the teachers who are tested are able to receive?

What if teachers now stop working together because they want the money and they don't want to share what they are doing with other teachers. Will this affect collaboration?

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