Strategic Compensation

This cross-functional committee provided leadership and guidance during the development of Irving ISD's Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA) application and Strategic Compensation system launch.  Committee members worked collaboratively to establish goals, review system design components, and support successful implementation planning. Members of this committee included teachers, campus administrators, and district stakeholders. 

This committee of Principals, School Leadership, and District Support Professionals collaborated on components, completed a market analysis for campus administrators in DFW, and developed initial plans and implementation phases for Principal Measures of Effectiveness.

Assistant and Associate Principals from across Irving ISD partnered with district leaders to provide valuable input on Strategic Compensation design, implementation considerations, and leadership effectiveness measures.  Their feedback helped inform system improvements and strengthen alignment between educator support and student success. 

Academic Specialists representing diverse campus and programmatic perspectives collaborated to provide feedback on effectiveness measures, implementation practices, and Strategic Compensation initiatives.  Their contributions helped ensure the system reflects the important role specialists play in supporting teaching and learning at every grade level.

Irving ISD extends its sincere appreciation to the educators who contributed their expertise, insights, and feedback throughout the development of the district's Teachers' Measures of Effectiveness (TME) framework. 

Representatives from campuses across the district, spanning all grade levels, pathways, programs, and content areas, collaborated to help design a comprehensive and equitable system focused on educator growth, student achievement, and campus success.  Participants included educators representing Core Content, Career and Technical Education (CTE), Electives, Enrichment, Fine Arts, Library Services, Languages Other Than English (LOTE), Physical Education, Pre-Kindergarten, Special Education,  and other specialized instructional roles. 

In addition to monthly committee meetings, the Strategic Compensation Design Team received questions, recommendations, and feedback from hundreds of campus staff members through the district's TIA FAQ process.  This ongoing collaboration continues to strengthen the transparency, effectiveness, and sustainability of Irving ISD's strategic compensation initiatives.

Principals representing elementary, middle, and high school campuses are collaborating with district leaders and central office professionals to refine and strengthen the implementation of the Irving Measures of Excellence (IME) system. 

Through regular touchpoints, monthly collaborative sessions, and focused program objectives, this stakeholder group provides valuable feedback that supports consistency, continuous improvement, and successful implementation across all campuses.

Per TEA rule, to be eligible, a teacher must be coded as 087 (teacher) per the Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) description of codes for 90 days at 100% of the day (equivalent to four and one-half months or a full semester) or 180 days required at 50–99% of the day and compensated for that employment. Additionally, the teacher must work directly with students in a way that student growth can be tied back to that work. Because of state law and TEA rules, this excludes some elementary librarians, all middle school and all high school librarians, counselors, nurses, paraprofessionals, diagnosticians and others.

Irving ISD developed an in-depth application for submission to Texas Education Agency (TEA) and submitted the application by the 2025 deadline. Application assistance, visioning, and support was provided by administration and the Strategic Compensation and Teacher Incentive Allotment "Steering Committee" which had district-wide representatives, including teachers and other instructional leaders.  In August 2025 TEA approved Irving ISD's application to continue the pursuit of TIA funding; progressing the district into Data Capture Year for 2025-2026. 

Irving ISD submitted a TIA Expansion and Modification Application in April 2026 to expand eligible teaching categories and include courses across nearly all teaching assignments, grades, contents, and programs. 

Irving ISD submitted an Enhanced TIA Application to TEA during the 2025-2026 academic year; which is a critical element in Strategic Compensation and implementing a robust system to recruit, retain, and reward effective classroom educators and campus leaders.

T-PESS and T-TESS continue to be the official appraisal instruments at Irving ISD for the four roles within Irving Measures of Excellence and Strategic Compensation. Principals' Measures of Effectiveness, Assistant/Associate Principals' Measures of Effectiveness, Academic Specialists' Measures of Effectiveness, and Teachers' Measures of Effectiveness are all aimed at rewarding excellence in education by correlating and calibrating measures of student achievement to professional success.

There are specific data points, rubrics, and measures calculated for each group of qualifying individuals. Principals will receive individual scorecard information annually from their Executive Director, along with the Principal Strategic Compensation System Guidebook for 2025-2026, an Irving ISD-specific document that includes "Understanding Performance-Based Compensation" and "Strategic Compensation Effectiveness Level Calculation." 

The equivalent guidebook for Teachers, Academic Specialists, and Assistant/Associate Principals will be made available online.

Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA) is a Tier 1 allotment through the Foundation School Program (FSP), the system through which the state provides funding to districts. This system, grounded in the Texas Education Code, creates a sustainable funding source for districts implementing TIA. Qualifying districts receive annual allotment funds when they employ eligible designated teachers. These funds are then used for teacher compensation on the campus where the designated teacher generated those funds. 

Compensation bands for Principals within the 2025-2026 guidebook are categorized by effectiveness levels: Unsatisfactory, Progressing, Proficient I, Proficient II, Exemplary, and Master. 

Compensation bands for Assistant/Associate Principals, Academic Specialists, and Teachers reflect the same 6-performance tiers: Unsatisfactory, Progressing, Proficient 1, Proficient 2, Exemplary, and Master.  

Stakeholder Engagement at Irving ISD will include presentations at school board meetings, professional development workshops and discussions, dissemination of information at campus-based faculty meetings, maintaining a strategic compensation question intake and feedback form, the distribution and review of electronic surveys, a TIA Teacher Toolkit on our intranet for the 2026-2027 academic year, and various public-facing Q&A forums where our students, staff, and community have the opportunity to ask questions and give real-time feedback. 

Assessments, scorecard components, and measurement tools will be public information and focused on student growth. 

Who (does this initiative impact): Principals, Assistant/Associate Principals, Academic Specialists, and Teachers 

What (are the program names): Irving Measures of Excellence, Strategic Compensation (StratComp), Principals' Measures of Effectiveness (PME), Assistant/Associate Principals' Measures of Effectiveness (APME), Academic Specialists' Measures of Effectiveness (ASME) and Teachers' Measures of Effectiveness (TME) and Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA).

When (is this process active): 2024-2025 original TIA application submission, 2025-2026 Data Capture for Category 1 Circle & Category 2 MAP Reading & Math Teachers as outlined in original TIA application submitted April 2025, 2025-2026 Principals' Measures of Effectivenss Data Capture and earned effectiveness ratings for 6-tier performance and compensation impacts for the 2026-2027 academic year for Principals, TIA Expansion and Modification Application submission April 2026, 2026-2027 System Expansion via Data Capture for nearly all teachers and courses across all grades and subjects at Irving ISD; to include PreK 3 trough 12th grade. Data captured during the 2026-2027 academic year will be calculated and applied to the 6-tier effectiveness levels for Teachers, Academic Specialists, and Assistant/Associate Principals and will determine TME, ASME, and APME compensation in 2027-2028.  Principals are one year ahead in the system implementation, meaning PME is on year 2 and principals will receive compensation in 2026-2027 based upon performance data collected in 2025-2026. 2026-2027 is a held-harmless year for principals regarding compensation adjustments. Please see HR for details.

Where (are students and staff being measured) : Across 34 campuses at Irving ISD 

Why (implement this initiative): Irving ISD is pursuing TIA funding through TIA Expansion and Modification and Enhanced TIA.  Irving ISD is developing a Strategic Compensation model to recruit, retain, and reward educational professionals, with a focus on student achievement.

The Teacher Retention Allotment (TRA) is a state-funded program expanded under House Bill 2 (HB 2) during the 89th Texas Legislature. Its purpose is to provide districts with additional funding to support the recruitment, retention, and recognition of effective classroom teachers. During the 2025-2026 school year, Irving ISD distributed TRA funds as an HB 2 Alternate Salary amount of $2,500 for eligible teachers with 3-4 creditable years of service and $5,000 for eligible teachers with 5 or more creditable years of service.

Irving ISD’s legal authority to manage and distribute TRA funds comes from Texas Education Code (TEC) §48.158.

Per the Texas Education Agency (TEA) guidance, Irving ISD has filed its official Letter of Intent (LOI) to become an Enhanced Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA) district. Filing this LOI satisfies the requirements under TEC §48.158, legally granting the District the full authority to spend the Teacher Retention Allotment on increases to classroom teacher salaries based directly on performance.

TRA funds will not be allocated as a flat allotment based on tenure. Instead, they will be distributed based on individual T-TESS performance, aligned with the Irving ISD salary schedule and compensation plan approved during the June 2026 school board meeting.

By structuring the allotments around performance metrics, Irving ISD ensures that funding rewards the excellence and growth demonstrated in our classrooms.

The Board-approved TRA distribution structure supports Irving ISD's strategic compensation vision of attracting, retaining and rewarding highly effective educators.

Throughout the 2025-2026 school year, Irving ISD engaged teachers, campus leaders, district leadership and stakeholder groups in strategic compensation planning focused on recognizing educator effectiveness, strengthening student outcomes and supporting the recruitment and retention of outstanding educators.

For the 2026-2027 school year, the Board approved a performance-based TRA distribution model using the teacher's 2025-2026 T-TESS Summative evaluation score. Under this model, approximately two-thirds of eligible employees are projected to receive a higher TRA allotment than they would have received under the previous distribution structure.

TRA funding is provided by the State of Texas and is subject to future legislative action. Any future TRA distribution structure is also subject to Board approval and the District's adopted compensation plan.

This updated system significantly expands the reach of incentive funding. Under the new compensation plan approved by the board, approximately two-thirds of Irving ISD eligible employees will receive a higher TRA allotment than they would have under previous structures.

No. The TRA allotment (typically $5,000 or $2,500 under the original, flat tenure-based pay model) is separate and distinct from your base pay. Your base salary will NOT decrease. Your base salary will actually increase on a year-to-year basis based on your creditable years of service increasing. Your TRA allotment, which shows as your “HB 2 Alternate Salary” on your paycheck, may increase OR decrease depending on your performance.

For the 2026-2027 school year, eligible classroom teachers receive TRA funds as an alternate salary based on their 2025-2026 T-TESS Summative evaluation score. Consistent with Irving ISD's participation in the Enhanced TIA framework, performance determinations are based on T-TESS Summative evaluation results.

The performance-based allotment funding and local compensation adjustments aligned to Irving ISD's Enhanced TIA system will take effect beginning in the 2026-2027 school year.

No. The Teacher Retention Allotment (TRA) funds distributed through the Board-approved 2026-2027 TRA model are allocated to eligible classroom teachers through the HB 2 Alternate Salary structure. TRA funds are not being used to provide raises to administrators. Eligible classroom teachers receive TRA funds through the Board-approved performance-based distribution model outlined in the 2026-2027 salary schedule.

No. Irving ISD is not withholding TRA funds from eligible classroom teachers. TRA funds are distributed through the Board-approved performance-based compensation structure outlined in the District's salary schedule.

Performance results for eligible employees are reviewed across the district and grouped into performance tiers to promote:

• Consistent expectations across campuses;
• Fair and comparable outcomes for teachers serving in similar campus types; and
• Clear distinctions between levels of effectiveness.

Scores were determined by assigning a numerical value to each T-TESS summative dimension and calculating an average across each domain. 

Scores were then arranged in descending order by campus type. Performance thresholds were then established based on the distribution of scores within each grouping.

The cutoff for the top 50% was determined at the midpoint of the distribution. If multiple employees shared the same score at the cutoff value, all individuals with that same score were included in the top performance group, even if the resulting percentage exceeded 50% of all scores within the applicable grouping.