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TIA FAQ's

Frequently Asked Questions about the Teacher Incentive Allotment

1)      Why is Crandall ISD applying for the Teacher Incentive Allotment?

As a school district, we want to reward highly effective teachers who get results. We must ensure our students learn from great teachers doing amazing things and experiencing better-than-average growth. It is essential to allow highly effective teachers to earn more without leaving the classroom.

2)      How Does TIA Work?

TIA is an incentive pay system that may award additional compensation to teachers based on predetermined effectiveness criteria. The district's most effective teachers can earn additional compensation, and the District will carve out a growth trajectory for developing teachers to achieve the same goal.

3)      TIA Eligibility

At a minimum, the teacher must be coded 087 (Teacher) per Public Education Information.
Our goal in three years is for all teachers to have the opportunity to participate in the Teacher Incentive Allotment. Our initial application included a subset of teachers, and we are continuously adding teaching assignments each year.

CISD’s Teacher Incentive Allotment plan will be phased over three years. This innovative approach to differentiate compensation is designed to direct additional pay to teachers who qualify for the three tiers:

Master – Top 5% of the state
Exemplary – Top 20% of the state
Recognized – Top 1/3 of the state

4)      TIA Teacher Effectiveness Criteria

Based on TIA requirements, the evaluation criteria must include teacher observation and student growth components. We created our process for assessing observations and student growth and will follow the state’s established guidelines for measuring exceptional effectiveness that we must adhere to.

Currently, the mechanisms we are using to assess teacher observations and student growth will be T-TESS, STAAR, NWEA/MAP, and Circle.

5)      Designations and Performance Incentives

Using the criteria to measure teacher effectiveness, e.g., observations and student growth, is using multiple measures. For every TIA-eligible teacher, we will track progress against these measures over the school year. Detailed TIA Texas Designation System Requirements are available on tiatexas.org.

  • Teachers will receive regular development, feedback, and progress updates to keep them abreast of their TIA status.
  • TIA-eligible teachers will receive multiple T-TESS observations for the school year and follow standardized student assessment protocols. 
  • When a full year of data, e.g., T-TESS observations and student growth scores, is collected, that information will be used to calculate a composite score for each eligible teacher. Each teacher will be assigned a potential designation based on the composite score (if meeting the minimum requirements and score thresholds). 
  • Teachers may receive performance-based incentives based on their designation. The designation details and funding allocation are determined annually. Refer to this tool from TIA Texas to determine how much each Crandall ISD campus can receive. Note that the final amount allocated to each campus depends on many variables, including our CISD TIA Spending Plan in our TIA Guidebook.

6)      TIA Timeline and Process

The work we are undertaking to secure TIA funding for the district is a multi-year process. TIA Texas established a rolling application process whereby districts can apply in one of many cohorts. Crandall ISD initially applied in Cohort F. The high-level timeline for the first application and Phase 1 designations is noted below and could be subject to change:

Cohort F:

  • System Application Posted: Nov. 1, 2022
  • System Application due to TEA: April 15, 2023
  • System Application Result Final Notification: August 15, 2023
  • Data-Capture Year for Applicable Teaching Assignments: 2023-2024
  • Data Review due to Texas Tech University: Fall 2024
  • Final Approval Notification: Spring 2025
  • Final Designation and Allotment Notification: May-June 2025
  • Initial Payout with Reimbursements for Approved Systems: August 2025

7)      TIA Activities Happening This School Year (2023 - 2024)

Regarding TIA, this school year will be another data capture year for Phase 1 teaching assignments. Phase 2 teaching assignments will begin developing a plan to measure student growth with the intent to apply for an expansion of our Local Designation system. The expansion application we submit in April 2024 will reflect the preferences and priorities of Crandall ISD teachers and leaders.

8)      Stakeholder Engagement and Communication in Crandall ISD

Best practices indicate that including teachers, campus leaders, and district leaders in planning and reviewing a local teacher designation system results in a more robust system with more buy-in. The committee members were responsible for seeking input from the groups they represented and sharing communication with the committee.

●        TIA Committee:

○        Teacher and Leader representatives from each campus and district department

○        Equitable representation (secondary vs. elementary)

○        The majority of Committee members were Teachers

○        HR, C&I, Business, and other Department representatives invited to participate

●        Committee met six times in person starting in September 2022 through March 2023

●        Members were responsible for communicating with campus and departments and gathering stakeholder feedback/input

○        TIA Committees provided multiple TIA overviews on campuses

○        Surveys were sent out