Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Teacher Incentive Allotment topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
United ISD seeks broader Teacher Incentive Allotment participation; district to pilot expanded categories
Summary
District staff presented an expansion and modification application for the Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA). The application was submitted April 15; district staff described a two‑year TIA cycle, pilot data capture for 2025–26, new eligible categories in some feeder patterns and training and calibration work to support valid data submission.
United ISD staff told the board they have submitted an expansion and modification application for the Teacher Incentive Allotment to the Texas Education Agency and plan a local pilot to capture data for additional eligible teacher categories.
"TIA is a phase‑in program," Lani Hernandez, director of the Teacher Incentive Allotment, told trustees. Hernandez said the district submitted its expansion modification application to the state on April 15 and expects the state to return results on or about Aug. 31. She described TIA as a two‑year cycle: a data‑capture year followed by a data‑submission year and, if validated, a payout year.
Hernandez said the expansion would make TIA eligibility available at all traditional campuses and add specific new categories in phased areas. For lower grades the district plans to use I‑Ready to measure growth; for selected special education units it will use TeachTown. She also said the district will use STAAR transition tables for end‑of‑course and certain grades and that CTE courses will be coordinated with career‑technical leadership.
Hernandez emphasized the district’s internal validation work. Data submitted to TEA are routed to Texas Tech University for validation; "there's 5 domains, 13 checks, 10 of which are scored," she said, and the district must ensure measures, observations and calibrations are aligned so that designations are valid. Hernandez described in‑house pilots to collect data and cross‑calibrations among administrators, and she announced an administrator summit July 30 and a teacher summit July 31 focused on rubric training and vendor tools.
Hernandez also reviewed recent TIA outreach: the district held a May 6 TIA press event that recognized 178 new and higher designated teachers, bringing the district total to 211 designated teachers and reporting $2,922,119 generated through prior designations. She said the district will expand training for principals and instructional coaches, increase calibration frequency and monitor correlations between teacher observations and student‑growth measures.
Board members asked about timeline and workload. Hernandez said expanded eligibility carries more formal observation requirements and high‑quality scripting for summative evaluations; to avoid overburdening campuses the district will phase categories and pilot in select feeder patterns (K–2 reading and math were named as a phased expansion in south feeder patterns). Hernandez said final submission of validated data will follow the pilot and district readiness checks.
The presentation was informational. District staff said they will continue the pilot and report findings back to the board; no formal board action on TIA expansion occurred at the workshop.
