Much like fashion and music trends, public policy can be cyclical. When reconsidered with fresh eyes, ideas once left for dead can take on new life. In education policy, the latest example is teacher merit pay.
Research demonstrates that merit pay programs are associated with a statistically significant increase in student test scores. They also have the potential to decrease teacher turnover and increase recruitment. That same research, however, indicates that success depends on design and context. If state leaders want merit pay to be successful in Ohio, then getting the details right matters. And since Ohio doesn’t have a teacher merit pay policy, getting things right means learning from others.
Enter the Lone Star State. In 2019, Texas officials began implementing a teacher performance pay program known as the Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA). This statewide initiative provides districts and schools with the option to create and use a local designation system to identify top educators. Employing those teachers generates additional state funding for participating districts, as they receive an annual allotment based on a teacher’s designation level. Designated teachers can then receive sizable pay bumps. (For a more in-depth look at how TIA works, see here.)
Participation in TIA is voluntary and growing exponentially—from 35 districts in 2019 to more than 800 by 2025, roughly two-thirds of all Texas school systems. That level of popularity should pique the interest of Ohio leaders, given previously unpopular efforts to establish merit pay. But it’s the program’s impact on students and teachers that really deserves attention. And according to a statewide analysis conducted by Texas Tech University,[1] the impact has been large and positive.
The analysis assesses the causal impact of TIA on 26 districts in the first cohort of participants. Collectively, they serve more than 414,000 students. Student-level data for the 2013–14 through 2022–23 school years come from the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR), which are annually administered to students in grades 3–8 in math and reading.[2] To measure the impact of TIA, the analysts employ the synthetic control method to construct a control group that mirrors the pre-treatment characteristics of TIA districts. They identify three key takeaways.
First, implementing TIA “moderately and meaningfully” impacted math and reading achievement. Test scores in both subjects dropped in the wake of the pandemic, but TIA districts produced smaller declines than observably similar districts. The authors note that this suggests TIA may have provided a “buffer” against pandemic disruptions. During the 2021–22 and 2022–23 academic years, TIA districts consistently outperformed the control group in math. Reading results were more volatile, but just as they did in math, TIA districts outperformed the control group in reading.
Second, TIA has mitigated teacher turnover.[3] During the 2020–21 academic year, immediately following TIA implementation, TIA districts registered a reduction in teacher turnover of approximately 5 percentage points compared to the control group. In other words, during an unpredictable year in the heart of the pandemic, TIA districts experienced “enhanced stability” among their teaching workforce. In the years that followed, TIA districts generally maintained lower turnover rates.
Third, there are “particularly pronounced” effects for teachers with three to five years of experience. During the 2020–21 school year, TIA districts demonstrated a significant reduction in turnover—approximately 7 percentage points—among this subset of teachers. Moreover, student achievement in the classes they taught showed “more marked improvements” in both math and reading compared to newer and more veteran teachers. According to the authors, these findings suggest that TIA may be most effective at improving stability and performance among early-career teachers.
The upshot? TIA has positively impacted both student achievement and teacher retention in Texas. There are some important nuances and implications, including that the effect magnitude differs across implementation years. But overall, this is compelling proof that TIA is worth the time, effort, and money that Texas leaders have invested. If Ohio leaders are serious about bringing teacher merit pay to the Buckeye State, TIA could well be the blueprint.
[1] Texas Tech plays a crucial role in the implementation of TIA. As part of the application process, districts submit teacher designations and performance data to Texas Tech for validation.
[2] Data from 2019–20 were excluded due to pandemic school closures. The analysis focuses on math achievement for grades 4–7 and reading for grades 4–8. Math achievement for eighth grade students was not evaluated because students enrolled in Algebra I in eighth grade take an end-of-course exam.
[3] Teacher turnover is defined as a teacher leaving Texas public schools entirely.
