According to the TIA website, the Teacher Incentive Allotment was created by the Texas Legislature as part of House Bill 3 to provide a realistic pathway for top teachers to earn six-figure salaries and to help attract and retain highly effective teachers at traditionally hard-to-staff schools.
Officials noted through the program, teachers can make an additional $3,000-$32,000 dollars a year, depending on the teacher’s achievements as well as the school's location and socioeconomic status. However, 10% of the additional income a teacher would make would go back to the district to be used to help support the initiative.
According to Rick Gardner, HISD associate superintendent of human resources, the district will initially run the TIA initiative as a pilot program that will only include title- and title-eligible schools and teachers of record, which refers to educators who have been assigned the lead responsibility for a student’s learning in a subject with aligned performance measures, such as the PSAT and the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness.
Gardner noted teachers of record will include reading teachers at the elementary level; English language arts and math teachers at the middle school level; and English language arts, math, science and special education teachers at the high school level.
Factoring the 10% of additional funds that would go to the district, eligible teachers will have the opportunity to make between $3,196-$20,422 extra through the program, district officials said.
“It’s designed to provide top teachers with the potential of earning a salary that is six figures,” Gardner said. “It’s also to help the school district in its recruiting, attracting and retaining of highly effective teachers, specifically in those hard-to-staff schools.”
According to Gardner, eligible teachers will have the opportunity to achieve one of three designations—recognized, exemplary and master—with financial compensation increasing with each tier.
Teachers participating in the program will be measured based on three components: teacher observation, student growth and teacher attendance.
Gardner noted the first component will be determined by multiple observations of the teachers while they are in classroom settings, with a 3.7 score earning the recognized designation, a 3.9 score earning an exemplary designation, and a 4.5 score earning a master designation.
The student growth component will be determined by the yearly progress students achieve in a given subject. Teachers with students achieving 55% year-over-year growth will earn a recognized designation; teachers with students achieving 60% growth will earn an exemplary designation; and teachers with students achieving 70% growth will earn a master designation.
The final component will be determined by teacher attendance, with a 95% attendance rate earning a recognized designation, a 97% attendance rate earning an exemplary designation and a 99% attendance rate earning a master designation.
Moving forward, Gardner said the district will submit its application to participate in the program to the Texas Education Agency in April.
If approved, the district will capture data related to teacher observations, student performance and teacher attendance in the 2022-23 school year. Eligible teachers who earn one of the three designations would receive their additional compensation at the start of the 2024-25 school year.
