Teacher Incentive Allotment

TIA is funded by the State of Texas as part of House Bill 3.  As a result, the state has established specific criteria and guidelines regarding how the funds can be earned and distributed.

The allotment funding available from TEA varies by the designation of, and campus where, the designated teacher works. Allotment funding is updated annually by TEA and can be accessed through the Funding Map page of TEA's TIA website.

The exact amount of allotment funding per teacher is determined by a formula that considers the level of socioeconomic need at a campus, whether the campus is rural, and the teacher's designation level (Recognized, Exemplary, Master).

Designations are portable. Therefore, if a designated teacher moves campuses within a district or to a campus in a different district from one school year to another, the allotment the designated teacher generates will be recalculated based on the new campus (captured at Class Roster Winter submission) tier funding status. 

Yes. Given that a school’s student enrollment changes yearly, the campus’s socioeconomic tier will be recalculated annually by TEA.

As a reminder, this calculation uses the home addresses of students who attend a particular campus.

Allotment funds for each designated teacher will be based on the campus, not the individual students, assigned to the designated teacher.

Allotment funding is updated annually by TEA and can be accessed through the Funding Map page of TEA's TIA website.

TIA compensation is an annual allotment provided by the state and subject to availability of state funding allocations.

TIA designated teachers will receive TIA compensation annually based on their TIA designation and the District's TEA-approved Spending Plan.

Funding for their designation will be determined based on the designated teacher's campus of record at time of Class Roster Winter PEIMS submission (late February).

Texas City ISD TIA compensation will be paid as a lump sum stipend, by August 31st, upon verification of the designated teacher’s return to work. 

TIA compensation in Texas City ISD does not affect a designated teacher's salary. It is given in the form of a single annual stipend, based on the District Spending Plan criteria being met by the teacher.

TIA stipends are awarded with the intent for designated teachers to stay with the District, in the classroom. In exchange for the receipt of the TIA stipend payment at the end of August, an employee, in good faith, is expected to remain employed through the end of their employment contract absent extenuating circumstances approved by HR.

TIA compensation is TRS eligible. Salary increases in the last three or five years (depending on a TRS member's tier) before retirement are counted only if they are no more than 10% of the previous year’s allowed salary or $10,000, whichever is greater (the “10%/$10,000 limit”). These details can also be found under "Conversion and Salary Increases in Final Years Before Retirement" in the TRS Benefits Handbook which can be downloaded from the TRS website. A TIA designated TRS member is encouraged to contact a TRS Benefit Counselor when they are ready to retire to determine if this limit will impact their retirement annuity calculation.

A designated teacher's allotment is sent from TEA to the district which the designated teacher worked at Class Roster Winter submission (late February).

For example, if an actively designated teacher worked in Flower ISD for the 2023-24 school year then transferred to Texas City ISD for 2024-25, the generated allotment (for the 2023-24 school year) went to Flower ISD. The actively designated teacher will need to check with Flower ISD regarding their payout for the 2023-24 school year.

Once a designated teacher is employed with, and captured under Texas City ISD during Class Roster Winter submission (last Friday in February annually), TEA will generate funding for that teacher based on the Texas City ISD campus they were captured.

Per Texas ISD’s Spending Plan, new hires who hold an active verified TIA designation will receive the funding generated for the District by TEA based on their Texas City ISD Class Roster Winter submission campus by August 31st of the year following allotment confirmation pending verification of employment and confirmation that minimum local requirements were met.

See Humble ISD's Spending Plan for more details.

The state mandates that Teacher Observation and Student Growth or Performance be utilized to determine TIA designations.  In addition, other components may be considered.  

In Texas City ISD, a teacher’s overall TIA score is calculated using the following components:

• Teacher Observation (T-TESS Summative): 30%
• Student Growth: 70%

Additional eligibility criteria for TCISD include:

• The teacher must be certified by the last day of school in the data collection year.
• The teacher must not exceed 10 absences from duty.

Once the overall score is calculated:

• The top 30% of teachers are designated as Recognized.
• The top 15% are designated as Exemplary.
• The top 5% are designated as Master.

Yes. All teachers assigned to an eligible teaching role must have their TIA data collected and submitted to Texas Tech University as part of the district’s annual TIA submission.

With student performance, there are variables that cannot be controlled.  For example, one teacher may teach all Advance Placement (AP) courses while another may be assigned a caseload working with on or below level students.  This would cause concerns with the verification of the system being reliable and valid.  With student growth, reliable and valid statistical measures are utilized to mitigate the variance in teaching assignments.  Therefore, Texas City ISD will utilize a growth measure for the Student Performance/Student Growth component of the TIA.

Student Growth Calculations vary based on the assessment that students take:

• NWEA MAP Growth
  • The district uses the "Fall to Spring Met Projected Growth" from the NWEA data file.
  • Students marked as “Yes” or “Yes*” are considered to have met growth.
• STAAR Growth
  • The STAAR Transition Table is used to determine if students have “Met” or “Exceeded” growth.
  • Growth is awarded to students who fall within areas marked “Yes” on the transition chart below:

• ​STAAR Alternate 2
  • Growth is determined using the STAAR Progress Measure from the STAAR Alternate 2 data file.
  • Students who meet the TEA-defined progress measure are considered to have met growth.
  • Teachers must have at least 6 participating students for growth to be calculated.
• Pre/Post Tests (including Released STAAR to Spring STAAR, Precision Exams, TEKSready, and MusicFirst)
  • The district uses a quartile/quintile method:
  • Students are grouped based on their Beginning-of-Year (BOY) pretest scores.
  • Growth expectations are calculated using the average posttest score for each group.
  • A student is considered to have met or exceeded growth if:
    • Their score increase meets or exceeds the expected growth for their group, or
    • Their posttest score is equal to or higher than the group average.
• AP Exams
  • Students take a modified released AP test during the BOY window.
  • Based on pretest percent scores, students receive a 1–5 rating.
  • Growth is awarded to students who fall within areas marked “Yes” on the AP Growth Chart.

AP Pretest Scale Score Chart	AP Growth Chart

All administrators who appraise teachers were provided three days of training with Region IV certified instructors.  At the end of this training, all participants were required to participate in a certification test in order to earn their credentials as a certified T-TESS appraiser.  This state-wide certification exam must be taken and passed annually for at least the first three years an appraiser utilizes the T-TESS appraisal system.

All district and campus appraisers participate in T-TESS professional development during the summer, which includes calibration exercises to align evaluation practices. Throughout the school year, district and campus administrators also conduct calibration walks to ensure consistency and alignment across campuses and grade levels.

An active TIA designation "badge" is displayed on the teacher’s SBEC certificate with an expiration after five years. See below:

To search your SBEC certificate, click HERE.

Likewise, teachers can search for their designation in the TIA Designated Teacher Registry which updates annually in late May. Click HERE to search.

Designated teachers who meet performance standards and district qualifications can be put forth for a new designation in their final year of designation if on a TIA-eligible campus and in a TIA-eligible teaching assignment.

Once the designation expires, it will be removed from the SBEC certificate and allotment funding will no longer be generated.

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 as an 087 PEIMS coded classroom teacher per TEA at the time of Class Roster Winter PEIMS Submission (last Friday each February).

The district employing the teacher in February will verify designation/allotment in April/May. The district is required by statute to spend the allotment funds by August 31 per the local Spending Plan criteria.

See Texas City ISD's Spending Plan for details regarding designated teachers who resign adn or retire prior to the start of the new school year folloiwng annual designation verification.

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 087 PEIMS coded classroom teaching assignments and will still generate allotment funding.

However, if a teacher moves out of an 087 PEIMS coded role, an allotment will not be generated. This includes those actively designated teachers who move to roles such as Librarian, Instructional Specialists, Counselor, Assistant Principal, Campus Principal, Diagnostician, etc.

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 at a TIA-eligible campus in a TIA-eligible teaching assignment, but they cannot be submitted for a lower designation.

In Texas City ISD, annual designated teacher TIA stipend payout is contingent upon attendance and return-to-work verification.

See Texas City ISD's Spending plan for details.