Our primary purpose for participating is to utilize this program as a means of recruiting and retaining excellent teachers in our classrooms. We know that compensation is a key factor in a teacher’s decision to select or remain in education. Therefore, we want to take every opportunity to give our teachers the pay they deserve for the work they do with our students.

All campuses except for Summit will have teachers that are eligible to earn a designation.

Phases were determined by those in which a valid growth measure was available and the high-need areas for the district based on academic performance. Content areas without a valid growth measure were moved to later phases to give the district time to select, create, and train staff on valid growth measures that meet state requirements. 

There is not an opt-out provision for the Teacher Incentive Allotment program. Teacher observations, walkthroughs, and student growth data will be collected for all teachers. 

According to TEC 21.051(a), a “Teacher of Record means a person employed by a school district who teaches the majority of the instructional day in an academic instructional setting and is responsible for evaluating student achievement and assigning grades.” 

Teachers must meet the minimum student growth and teacher observation requirements to earn a designation. See the chart below.

The Texas Teacher Evaluation and Support System (T-TESS) will be used to measure teacher performance. Domains 2 and 3 will be weighted by 20%, and domain 4 will be weighted at 10%. 

To earn a designation, a teacher must meet the minimum performance standards for T-TESS domains 2 and 3, T-TESS domain 4, and their student growth measure. The T-TESS domains will be weighted at 30% and student growth will be weighted at 70% to obtain an overall score. The minimum scores are outlined in the table below:

A teacher’s designation will last for 5 years and can only be improved upon. A designation can not be eliminated or lowered during the timeframe set forth. 

No. There are no consequences if a teacher's performance does not earn a designation. Teachers will still be eligible to receive the standard compensation increases as determined by the Board of Trustees.

Teacher observations will be conducted by the campus administrators who are certified as official T-TESS appraisers. Teacher appraisers are required to norm on scoring using T-TESS either by conducting in-person observations or video scoring multiple times during the school year. Appraisers participate in calibration activities every 9 weeks. During this time, participants will observe teachers; score them individually;  and then come together to discuss the evidence they collected during the observation and final scores given. If the observation scores of individual raters are vastly different, then the district continues to practice this process until there is an agreement or inter-relator reliability among evaluators.