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.

Any teacher eligible based on a district's TIA Designation System that has received National Board Certification will automatically earn a Recognized designation for having achieved National Board Certification. That does not mean a nationally certified teacher is not eligible for Exemplary or Master status, it just means they are automatically eligible for at least the lowest amount of allotment in the Designation System.

More than 300 districts either currently have a TIA Designation System in place or are exploring such a program. Districts are divided into "cohorts" based on the year they began the process.

PfISD is considered part of Cohort D among districts exploring or implementing a system that would begin its Year 1 (Data Collection Year) in the 2021-22 academic year. There are approximately 200 other districts in Cohort D with PfISD.

Cohort A & B has 26 districts in 2019-20. Cohort C has 82 districts and implemented their systems in 2020-21.

42 districts across the state of Texas have already implemented TIA Designation Program or are in the process of doing so.

A TIA Designation System would go into effect in phases with the 2021-22 academic year serving as a "data collection year." This would be a year with the designation program's evaluation tools in place and implemented in order to provide data that it is effective in designating teachers within the system.

During the data collection year, the TIA Designation System would be fully in effect for the "Year 1" campuses and teachers in 2021-22. "Year 2" would then be the 2022-23 academic year and the system would be fully in effect at all campuses for eligible teachers. Any other categories of teachers added to the system would be added in Year 3 (2023-24).

Anyone who is coded as a classroom teacher in PEIMS is eligible for a TIA Designation. However, which teachers are considered for the program is dependent on each district and the categories or criteria the district chooses to include in its Designation System.

The TEA requires that:

• The teacher must have a valid SBEC certificate. Eligible types of certificate include: Standard, Professional, Provisional. Eligible classes of certificates include: Classroom Teacher (Chapter 233), Reading Specialist (Chapter 239), Legacy Master Teacher http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/sbecrules/tac/index.html 
• 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.

Currently, PfISD's plan includes the following teacher categories in its Designation System for Year 1.

• Pre-Kindergarten, Kindergarten, 1st Grade
• Grades 2-8 Reading & Math
• 9th Grade English I & Algebra I

The district's TIA Committee has created a spending plan to present to the Board for required approval. The plan follows the statutory requirements in which at least 90% of the funds must be spent on the campus of the designated teacher.

PfISD's allocation gives 90% of the allotment to the teacher who earns a designation of Recognized, Exemplary or Master. The other 10% will be used by the District for administrative costs associated with maintaining the designation system, contributions to TRS and professional development on the awarded teacher's 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. The statute states that allotment funds are not considered a property right. During the system review process, districts will submit their spending and communication plans for TEA review.

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 at the campus at which the teacher for whom the district received the allotment is employed.

TIA Designations are good for 5 years, at which time teachers who meet eligibility for renewal can be automatically submitted by the district for consideration by the state.

Teachers earning a TIA Designation of Recognized, Exemplary or Master will receive their designated stipend for 5 years. Their designation moves with the teacher from campus to campus or to another district should they move campuses or districts until that 5-year period expires.

If a teacher were to receive another designation during their 5-year period, their clock would essentially reset and start a new 5-year countdown of eligibility to receive their TIA allotment.

The TIA requires the teacher to hold a valid state certificate and to be serving in a position as a teacher of record for students. In addition, there is a rigorous two-step application process for districts to be able to designate teachers. This includes 1.) a system review by TEA, as well as 2.) a data validation process conducted by Texas Tech University. In order to ensure PfISD is successful in earning the ability to submit teachers for designation, we are pursuing a phased-in approach. We are beginning with a limited number of teachers serving in grades and subjects that already have established valid and reliable growth measures. PfISD is using the next year to thoughtfully develop the measures to possibly include other teaching assignments in the future.

In the 2021-22 school year, the district's TIA Designation System currently would be to roll out eligible teacher categories of Pre-K through 1st grade, Grade 2-8 reading and math teachers, English I and Algebra I on the campuses designated for Year 1 status (Data Collection: 2021-22).

We plan to add focus groups of teachers throughout the 2021-22 school year in order to determine what a fair, accurate and rigorous system can look like for other teacher categories and to determine if they would be added in Year 2 (2022-23).

Yes, if they are already Nationally Board Certified, they will earn a Recognized designation.

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 stipend.

Yes. You can move up levels within the TIA Designation System during your 5 years after receiving a designation. You are not "stuck" at your level of Recognized or Exemplary. 

Should you receive an evaluation that would qualify you for a higher level within the system, you would then be re-designated at that higher level for 5 years.

Teachers also will not move down a level if they receive a "lower" designation according to the TIA Designation System. They would still receive their larger allotment for the remainder of their 5-year clock from their previous designation.

No. The TIA Designation Program is meant to recognize classroom teachers only. Instructional coaches, librarians, administrators, counselors, etc. are not eligible.

To be eligible a teacher must be coded as Role ID 087 in district PEIMS reporting. 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.

Yes. Any teacher who receives a TIA designation of Recognized, Exemplary or Master will be eligible for the TIA funds associated with those corresponding designations, regardless of how many receive such designations per campus. 

When an allotment schedule is determined by the TIA Committee, it will be provided. Allotments are based on a teacher receiving one of three designations: Recognized, Exemplary, or Master.

Teacher designations have a base allotment. Recognized has a base allotment of $3,000. Exemplary is $6,000 and Master has a base of $12,000. 

The TEA has more information and examples of how allotments may be calculated at this website: https://tiatexas.org/about-teacher-incentive-allotment/allotments/.

Your designation as a TIA Recognized, Exemplary or Master teacher follows you to any other district you may be employed by for the remainder of the 5 years after receiving your designation. If a district you move to does not have its own TIA Designation System, you would still receive the stipend from the state as the funds are provided by the state and not the district.

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 HB3.

The District will calibrate with administrators in order to ensure a fair, accurate and rigorous observation system.

If PfISD chooses to move forward with a TIA Designation System, the parameters of the system that will be implemented will be provided to teachers and staff members when it is approved by district leadership and the Board approves the budget. 

Any Designation System implemented by the District would not include many additional criteria asked of its educators that they do not already do. The system will be designed to evaluate and assess the work teachers are already doing on a day-to-day basis and measuring their students' growth.

The Student Growth requirement is a growth measure and not a proficiency measure, so it is based on a teacher’s ability to have their students meet their growth target regardless of where that student is starting from.

HB 3 was a fully-funded and approved legislative bill. It is expected to continue into the future.

If the District pursues a TIA, there will be detailed guidance at the beginning of each school year explaining what the objective measures will be for us as a district to submit teachers for state designation. Part of this process will be transparent conversations with all staff members on their progress toward tracking the benchmarks for a designation.

The process of requesting a second review would be no different than the current evaluation process.