Effective Teachers Initiative

Early in the Effective Teachers Initiative (ETI), HISD prioritized the design and implementation of a Teacher Appraisal and Development System (TADS) that gives teachers, principals, and district officials the information they need to improve instructional practice and make staffing decisions to ensure that every student in the district is learning from an effective teacher. Implemented in the 2011–2012 school year, each teacher is paired with an appraiser who coaches them to become more effective instructors. This is achieved through classroom observations, walkthroughs, curriculum planning, professional development, and assigning student outcome measures to assess overall teaching effectiveness. Effective teaching is determined by three appraisal components:

1. Instructional Practice (IP):
   Effective IP provides teachers research-based strategies that can be easily implemented in the classroom on a daily basis. These include teacher’s skills and knowledge that help promote student learning. The IP Rubric consists of 3 planning and 10 instructional practice criteria for effective teaching. Examples include developing effective lesson plans (PL-3), facilitating higher-level thinking (I-4), communicating content and concepts to students (I-6), and classroom management (I-9).

    
2. Professional Expectations (PE):
   These include teacher’s efforts to meet objective measurable standards of professionalism. There are 9 PE criteria, some of which include complying with policies and procedures at school (PR-1), collaboration with colleagues (PR-5), and participation in professional development and applying it to the classroom (PR-9).
   
   
3. Student Performance (SP):
   Starting in 2012–2013, HISD introduced student outcome measures to hold teachers accountable for their students’ growth over time and to ensure that all students are learning from effective teachers. Research shows that appraisals are more accurate when they combine student learning data with classroom observations. SP ratings are calculated accordingly by grade level, subject, and teacher. They can include value-added growth (e.g., EVAAS), comparative growth on district-wide assessments, and student progress measures. Student progress measures can include district-wide, appraiser-approved, or pre-approved assessments. For more information, please refer to the Student Performance Guidebook.

Teachers are rated on a scale of 1 to 4 along each of these components. These components then are calculated together to provide an overall teacher Summative Rating. The Summative Rating indicates a teacher’s overall effectiveness according to appraiser observations, walkthroughs, and student outcome data. The Summative Rating ranges from ineffective, needs improvement, effective, and highly effective. For greater detail on how summative appraisal ratings are calculated, please see Appendix A (page 29) in the 2013–2014 TADS End of Year Report below.

This page contains all evaluation and program reports concerning the Teacher Appraisal and Development System (TADS).

Effective Teachers Initiative	2021	2020	2019	2018	2017	2016	2015
Teacher Appraisal And Development System (TADS)
Teacher Appraisal And Development Survey Evaluation
Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF3) Looking Back Report 2017
Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF4) Award Payout Report
Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF4) Descriptive Overview
Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) Comparison Analysis of Math and Science STAAR Scores
Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF4) Human Capital Approach