Only a quarter of Texas eighth graders go on to earn a degree or certificate six years after high school. As a former eighth grade teacher, I can’t help but think of my former students seeing these data. Despite all the support and opportunities I and many others tried to offer, the system failed roughly three out of four of them.
Thankfully, there has been a great deal of systemic reform in Texas since 2014 (the last year for which we have these 11-year longitudinal data). In particular, state lawmakers have taken an innovative approach to how we evaluate and compensate educators that has become a model for other states, and are now taking a similarly strategic approach to teacher preparation.
Teachers are the most influential in-school factor determining student achievement. Unfortunately Texas saw teacher turnover spike following the Covid-19 pandemic (mirroring trends in other states), forcing school leaders to rely upon underprepared and increasingly even uncertified instructors to fill staffing vacancies. It is critical for student achievement that we retain our top talent while also promoting high-quality preparation pathways to young people considering the profession. That’s why I’m thrilled Texas is employing strategies aimed at accomplishing both.
In 2019, state lawmakers created the Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA) as part of the historic school finance reform measure House Bill 3 (86 R). The policy has generated headlines for providing teachers a pathway to a six-figure salary, but in truth its impact runs even deeper than the (sometimes substantial) increases in pay.
To be eligible for increased state funding through TIA, school systems must develop a multi-measure evaluation system for their educators, clearly defining success for novice instructors and veterans alike. This evaluation system must then be validated against state assessment data, ensuring a district’s measure of effectiveness is directly aligned to student outcomes.
Under this system, following an expansion of the program that goes into effect this upcoming school year, the top 50 percent of teachers on participating districts will then become eligible for salary increases totaling thousands of dollars. Critically, these bonus payments are multiplied when these effective educators serve on rural or high-poverty campuses.
Approximately two-thirds of Texas’s over 1,200 public school districts and charter networks have implemented the Teacher Incentive Allotment. Over 40,000 teachers earned a TIA designation last school year, receiving nearly half a billion dollars in salary increases averaging over $11,000 per teacher. These TIA-designated teachers are roughly 10 percent more likely to stay in the classroom than their non-designated peers—and new research suggests that, when they do, student outcomes also improve.
Texas has now built on the success of this program with the creation of an Enhanced TIA model. This policy, also passed last year, provides even more funding to school systems that ensure nearly all educators in a system are eligible, include all principals within the multi-measure evaluation system, and develop a plan to strategically staff top teachers at the academically struggling campuses that need them most. These strategies, informed by recent successes in Dallas, promise to drive continued gains in the school systems that employ them.
But even as we keep more of our best and brightest in the classroom, we must also adequately prepare and support our new entrants to the fields. Right now in Texas, nearly one in eight teachers are uncertified, costing students months’ worth of learning. Last year’s House Bill 2 (89 R) requires all school systems employ only certified teachers in core subjects by the 2027–28 school year, but it also pairs these expectations with support.
The “Preparing and Retaining Educators through Partnerships Program,” or PREP Allotment, provides increased funding for teacher preparation that scales based on the quality of the pathway and demand for the content area. So teacher residencies (a certification pathway highly-correlated to long-term success) receive the highest investment, followed by “grow your own” pathways, traditional university, and alternative certification methods.
These awards are then multiplied for teacher candidates entering hard-to-staff fields such as bilingual or special education. Crucially, these funds can cover the certification costs of teacher candidates entering both of these fields, lowering barriers to entry and encouraging more of our state’s young people to explore teaching as a viable (and, now, well-paying!) career path.
In a recent edition of his indispensable “SCHOOLED” newsletter, Michael Petrilli calls on school leaders and state policymakers to “continue to dismantle policies and practices that impede the recruitment of great teachers, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds.” Reducing barriers to high-quality preparation, providing increased mentorship and coaching (something also supported by the PREP Allotment, though more is needed) and providing realistic expectations for substantial salary increases all promise to do just that.
So if you, too, find yourself inspired by Mike’s words and convicted by student outcomes in your state, I’d encourage you to explore the policies being implemented here in Texas—and to reach out to us here at the Commit Partnership if you’d like to learn more.
Author’s note: To learn more about Texas’ innovative approach to educator policy and Commit’s work supporting implementation, read our recent report: Getting More Great Teachers Into Texas Classrooms.
Abby Mayer Eelsen is the Chief Operating Officer at the Commit Partnership. Prior to joining Commit, she served in the Human Capital Management office of the Dallas Independent School District and as a middle and high school teacher in several Texas school systems. To learn more about Abby and her work at Commit, listen to her recent Honored podcast appearance here.
