TIA Monthly Newsletter - December 2020

[Stephanie Kucera]

TIA Monthly Newsletter

December 2020

Just-In-Time Tip This month we share a “just-in-time” tip by posing a few key questions: Are we pursuing the TIA to retain or recruit? What is the difference? What message does this send? What are we doing to grow our teachers?  Do we have a teacher ambassador to help build TIA buy-in on each campus? When engaging stakeholders in your LEA, how often is appropriate? Monthly? Quarterly? How can we use existing meeting structures? How can small schools use existing structures when they don’t have extra central office staff to support efforts in curriculum, data analysis, teacher observation, HR, finance, etc? When answering the questions on the application, are you answering every component of the question? (Thank you to TEA for adding clarifying details in every question beginning with Cohort D!)

Action Items Cohort D (and planning ahead for Cohort E) Determine an approach to strengthen calibration - Focus on domains 2 and 3 of the T-TESS rubric. Plan formal opportunities for calibration walks. Consider best practices for feedback. Create an action plan. Identify student growth measures and calculations - Determine which student growth measure your LEA will use for each group of teachers brought forward for designation (ex: K-2 will use SLOs, 3-8 will use pre/post-tests, CTE will use portfolios, etc). Likewise, determine the weight of teacher observations and student growth measures (ex: 50/50, 40/60, 35/65, etc).  Consider optional components beyond teacher observation/student growth - What is valued in your local community? Examples might be attendance, PD, student perception surveys, etc. Determine potential overall calculation for designation - Determine how your LEA will consider designating teachers at all 3 levels of the TIA system. Consider stakeholder feedback. Develop HB 3 compliant compensation plan - TEC 48.112 stipulates the spending requirements of the TIA program. Remember the 90/10 rule meaning 90% of the funds for designated teachers must be provided to teachers on the campus. Stay in close contact with your TRS Reporting Entity as you work through this piece. Develop a communications plan - What existing structures are in place to communicate with stakeholders? Who can develop and maintain the TIA website on your LEA website?  Continue budget development - Remember the 90/10 rule meaning 90% of the funds for designated teachers must be provided to teachers on the campus. Will you need funds to provide PD for teachers or school leaders? Will you expand MAP testing? TIA stakeholder update - Get dates on the calendar to update stakeholders (either before or after Winter Break). Use existing structures in your schedule to find a time that works for your LEA. Cohort D Application - Begin exploring the application. Determine how you will divide the sections for completion and monitor the process. Who will be responsible for each section? When will your team meet to discuss the answers and compare them to the scoring rubric?

Resources Cohort D Application and Instructions Be sure to pull the current application from the TEA TIA website. Note: The application that was posted has been updated with minor revisions. Pre and Post Test Options Check out the list of pre and post test options if your LEA is considering this route for measuring student growth. TEA TIA Webinars Check out the most recent TEA TIA webinars.  Introduction to stakeholder engagement Using weights to determine designations Overview of student growth measures Cohort D application and resources

Hot Topics / FAQs Will smaller districts be asked to submit teacher observation videos? Beginning with Cohort D, LEAs with less than 15 teachers or less than 3 observers on campus have the option to submit teacher videos to Texas Tech. This can only be beneficial to the LEAs submitting the videos as it gives additional validation. We anticipate this will result in valuable feedback for districts as they work to strengthen teacher observation calibration practices.  Is it true there could be a pause in TIA funding?  Per TEA, the funding for TIA is funded as long as the authorizing statute is in place in TEC 21.3521 and 48.112.  Those portions of the bill were not passed with time-bound in mind. How will Texas Tech validate the data? First, the teacher observation data being used is 2018-19 statewide T-TESS data. Next, the student growth data is 5 years of STAAR data using the statewide VAM (value-added model). Texas Tech will be looking for alignment between the data submitted by the districts and the statewide data. The performance standard charts and the graphic below help make sense of this complex step.  Student Growth Performance Standards  Teacher Observation Performance Standards

Upcoming Dates TEA Mini-Presentations with Q&A The material is the same as the November Q&A session content. Topics include general application support and stakeholder engagement, teacher observation, student growth measures, and spending/funding. Please use the following link to sign-up.  Participants will be sent a zoom link after registering.   The time slot for each date is 3:00-5:00 p.m. December 2 - all districts December 3 - small/rural districts December 9 - all districts December 10 - small/rural districts SLO Training with ESC Region 12 January 28, 2020 | 9-11:30 am, lunch, then 1-3 pm | Session #235531 March 25, 2020 | 9-11:30 am, lunch, then 1-3 pm | Session #235169

Contact Us Questions or Concerns? Stephanie Kucera 254-297-1212

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Stephanie Kucera
Field Service Agent
Education Service Center Region 12
Ofc: 254-297-1154
Cell: 254-498-6371
Fax: 254-666-0823