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Staff » TIA FAQ from TEA

TIA FAQ from TEA

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.
Allotment & Spending Questions
Yes. 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 requirements of House Bill 3 (HB3) of the 86th Texas Legislature.
Yes. Given that a school’s student enrollment changes yearly, the campus’ socio- economic tier will be recalculated annually. As a reminder, this calculation uses the home address of the student that attends a particular campus.
Yes. There will be set points in time at which TEA will calculate the allotment for a teacher based on the teacher’s designation and school characteristics (socio-economic tiers and rural status).
Local Teacher Designation Systems Questions
Yes. Districts have flexibility in the development of their local designation systems. For example, a district may choose to include only math and reading teachers in year one, and then expand to include science and social studies teachers in year two, etc.
Yes. Districts specify the campuses on which they want to designate teachers under TIA. However, any campus in the district that has designated teachers working on it will generate TIA funding to be spent on teacher compensation on that campus.
System & Data Submission Review
Districts can use locally developed student growth measures, as long as they are valid and reliable. Examples include Student Learning Objectives, pre- and post-tests, and student portfolios. Districts may find the T-TESS Guidance on Student Growth Measures helpful as they consider different student growth measures.
At a minimum, districts will be required to submit data on teacher effectiveness, which will include teacher observation data and the impact of a teacher on student growth. TEA will communicate specifics around what other data might need to be submitted as part of the district’s data review and approval process.
Stakeholder Engagement Questions

District communication with teachers would begin at different points, depending on when they are looking to implement a local designation system. The TIA Readiness.

Checklist includes a section on community and teacher communication. This checklist and additional TIA resources can be found on TEA's HB3 in 30 website. More resources will go live in early spring.

Best practices indicate that including teachers, campus leaders, district leaders and community members in planning and reviewing a local teacher designation system results in a stronger system with more buy-in. In addition, school board input and approval are recommended. Please refer to the TIA Readiness Checklist for additional best practices in stakeholder engagement.
Timelines Questions

Timeframes to apply are based on the data capture year a district plans to use when submitting the teacher observation and student growth data for the purposes of TIA. Please note there will be a two-step review process:

(1) local designation system review by TEA; and

(2) data submission review by Texas Tech University.

For details on the timelines and next steps for each cohort, please review the Cohort Next Steps and Timelines documents.