Home – Teacher Excellence Initiative

DTR Ambassador-Led Application Workshops

DTR Ambassador-led sessions will focus on an in-depth understanding of the DTR domains using the 2022-23 DTR Rubric. Teachers will collaborate with peers, brainstorm experiences, expand on those experiences, and begin a draft of their DTR application. Please see Cornerstone for available dates and times.

DTR TEI-Led Application Workshops

TEI will host two versions of the virtual DTR Application Workshops (You must be logged into Cornerstone before clicking on the links below):

The DTR Application Informational Workshop will provide an in-depth overview of the Distinguished Teacher Review Process and provide an overview of the 2022-23 DTR Rubric. It is intended for first time applicants, or teachers wanting to learn more about the DTR Process.
See Cornerstone for dates and times: Click Here.

The DTR Application Writing Workshop will provide an in-depth review of the 2022-23 DTR Rubric and provide teachers with an opportunity to begin a draft of their DTR Application. It is intended for returning applicants, or teachers with an understanding of the DTR Process who are ready to begin the writing process.
See Cornerstone for dates and Times.Register in Cornerstone: Click Here.

2022 – 2023 DTR Dates and Deadlines

Round 1: For Teachers with 2021-2022 TEI Data

September 23 – 2022-2023 TEI Scorecards are released
Thursday, September 29 – DTR Application Opens for Round 1
Friday, October 28 —DTR Application Closes for Round 1 at noon

Round 2: For Teachers without 2020-2021 TEI Data or new teachers to Dallas ISD

Thursday, November 7 —DTR Opt-In Task Opens for Round 2
Thursday, November 18 —DTR Opt-In Task Closes for Round 2
Thursday, February 2 —DTR Application Opens for Round 2
Friday, March 3 —DTR Applications Closes for Round 2 at noon

Distinguished Teacher Review Process

A Distinguished teacher is one who earns an effectiveness level of Proficient II or higher. These teachers achieve high scores in the three components of TEI – teacher performance, student achievement, and student surveys (if applicable). Distinguished teachers also meet additional performance criteria assessed through a central review process called the Distinguished Teacher Review .

We encourage you to watch a short video that provides a high‐level overview of the 2015‐16 Distinguished Teacher Review by clicking on the following link: https://youtu.be/fUopTUewd64. (or this can be embedded on page?)

Based on Dallas ISD’s target distribution goals for teacher effectiveness levels, 20 percent of teachers are expected to carry this distinction, though there is no quota or school-level limit.

To reach Master Teacher Status, a teacher must have been rated at the Exemplary II level for at least two years consecutively and have taught in a Tier 1 school as a distinguished teacher for a minimum of four consecutive years.

DTR- Application Workshops

Tues., Dec. 13

5-6:30 p.m.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dtr-application-workshop-tuesday-december-13-2016-tickets-30035967387

http://tiny.cc/December13

Wed., Dec. 14

5-6:30 p.m.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dtr-application-workshop-wednesday-december-14-2016-tickets-29793391837

http://tiny.cc/December14

Thur., Dec. 15

5-6:30 p.m.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dtr-application-workshop-thursday-december-15-2016-tickets-29792920427

http://tiny.cc/December15

Wed., Jan. 11

5-6:30 p.m.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/dtr-application-workshop-wednesday-january-11-2017-tickets-30036129873

http://tiny.cc/January11

Compensation Calculator

Teacher salaries will not go below their individual salary floor. For teachers who have been with Dallas ISD as TEI was implemented, this would be their 2014-15 salary. For teachers who joined after the 2014-15 school year, their salary floor is their starting salary with Dallas ISD.

Changing compensation systems requires careful consideration of the employee’s context. For this reason, even though some teachers’ initial placement on the new system would suggest a lower salary based on their overall levels of effectiveness, the district will allow these teachers to maintain their 2014-2015 salary for as long as they are continuously employed by Dallas ISD as a teacher.

In order to ensure sustainability of the system during the transition from one compensation system to another, during the 2015-16 school year and 2016-17 school year of TEI implementation, maximum salary increases will cap at $5,000.

Stipends for hard-to-fill areas, such as bilingual teachers, will continue.

Adjustment for inflation or cost-of-living will be reviewed at least once every three years to determine if the scale is competitive.

Performance-Based Compensation

The Dallas ISD’s strategic compensation plan gives teachers overall, and especially those who prove to be effective, the opportunity to significantly increase their salaries in shorter spans of time.
For example, under the former step salary schedule, it takes a new teacher with a bachelor’s degree 10 years to earn a salary of $51,953, regardless of performance. Under TEI evaluation system, a new teacher could begin earning that amount in fewer years as a result of effective teaching. Teachers with more years of experience who have proven to be effective also could earn significantly higher compensation in fewer years.

An effective teacher’s earning potential over time also could be greater under the TEI’s strategic compensation plan.

Under the 2013-2014 step salary schedule, a teacher who has a bachelor’s degree would earn approximately $753,131 over 15 years. With the TEI compensation plan, the average teacher with a bachelor’s degree would earn approximately $861,000 over 15 years. This teacher would earn $107,869 more over the course of 15 years. Teachers who improve at a faster rate would earn more; less effective teachers would earn less.
The concept behind TEI is to pay an effective teacher a significantly higher salary compared to his or her peers in other districts and set high expectations for professional behavior and practice.

DTR Application Portal

2018-19 DTR applicants can view their historical applications by accessing the links below. Additionally, please be sure that you refer to the following helpful tips below when accessing the portal(s):

Use your EAD username (email address without the @dallasisd.org)
Use the correct password (the EAD password, same password used for email or logging into computer)
Caps lock is off and Number lock is off
Preferred browsers include Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox

2014-2015: https://www2.dallasisd.org/dtr

2015-2016: https://www2.dallasisd.org/dtr2

2016-2017: https://www2.dallasisd.org/dtr1617

2017-2018: https://www2.dallasisd.org/dtr1718

Student Experience Survey Items

In alignment with research and in an effort to encourage positive teacher-student relationships, students will have the opportunity to give feedback on their classroom experience with their teachers through student perception surveys.

The survey will be administered to students in third through 12th grades and be available in English and Spanish. Teachers in Category B and D do not have a student survey.

Learn more about the Measures of Effective Teaching project and student experience surveys.

View sample student experience survey questions here.

Student Learning Objectives

The purpose of this measure is to capture information on student learning growth based on assessments that are important and meaningful but are not standardized measures already used in the achievement template. The intent is to focus professional conversation on student learning in order to support teachers in reaching the learning targets. The SLO is established at the beginning of the year with the approval of the teacher’s evaluator and is assessed at the end of the year using a rubric.

Findings from Community Training and Assistance Center’s (CTAC) four-year study show that elementary, middle and high school students whose teachers had high quality Student Learning Objectives outperformed their peers on state and national standardized tests.

Learn more about Student Learning Objectives on the district’s Curriculum Central site.

Research

Research Links

Increasing teacher quality has a greater impact than any other educational investment. With the growing recognition of the direct impact of teachers, there has been an increased focus to qualify and quantify what constitutes effective teaching, how effective teaching can be measured, and what decisions and actions should result from these measurements.

A recent report by the Equity and Excellence Commission concluded that “America’s K-12 education system, taken as a whole, fails our nation and too many of our children.” Much of the report focuses on the need to provide students with access to high quality instruction and on improving teacher capacity to teach all children well. According to the authors of the report, “states must re-examine and align their systems of recruiting, retaining, preparing, licensing, evaluating, developing and compensating effective teachers.”

http://www2.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/eec/documents.html

The majority of teacher evaluation systems currently do not distinguish among teachers in terms of their effectiveness at raising student achievement, so districts don’t provide the meaningful development and support to help low and moderately performing teachers grow and also fail to recognize exemplary educators. According to The Widget Effect, “The core purpose of evaluation must be to maximize teacher growth and effectiveness, not just document performance as a prelude to dismissal.”

The Widget Effect

The Measures of Effective Teaching study, conducted by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is perhaps the most comprehensive and thorough investigation into which measures most accurately and consistently identify effective teachers. Conducted over three years, the MET study included more than 3,000 teachers in six different districts across the country, including Dallas ISD.

The MET study provided clear evidence that an approach to teacher evaluation that incorporates multiple measures will consistently identify effective teachers. The three measures identified by the study are classroom observations, student achievement data, and student surveys.

www.metproject.org

As early as the 1950s, education leaders and policy makers were calling for changes in the way that educators are compensated, aligning pay more closely with the actual impact of a teacher on student learning. Over the last 20 years, studies have consistently found that teachers with master’s degrees are no more effective than teachers who hold only a bachelor’s degree; yet, school districts use a degree as a factor in determining a teacher’s salary.

The Texas Teaching Commission recommends that with the exception of cost of living adjustments, all raises should be tied to teacher effectiveness.

http://www.edtx.org/uploads/general/pdf-downloads/teaching-commission/Report-EducateTexas_CFT-web.pdf

What is TEI?

TEI defines and evaluates excellence through three lenses: performance, student achievement and student surveys, that encourage and reward excellence in the classroom and beyond.

TEI Infographic Link

Defining Excellence

Understanding Your Compensation

Scorecard Needed! (from staff resource list)

Teacher Performance Rubric

The rubric describes in detail the teacher and student behaviors of excellent teachers as well as the performance levels along the continuum for each indicator. The rubric is comprised of 19 indicators of teacher practice across four domains

Domain 1: Planning and Preparation

Does the teacher develop standards-based lessons incorporating content knowledge, students, data, and assessments?

Domain 2: Instructional Practice

Does the teacher check for understanding while engaging students in clearly presented, objective-based rigorous work?

Domain 3: Classroom Culture

Does the teacher maintain high student motivation, a welcoming environment, and well-allotted instructional time?

Domain 4: Professionalism and Collaboration

Does the teacher engage professionally with students, families, community, and professional colleagues?

Throughout the school year, campus administration will conduct frequent 10-to-15-minute observation walk-throughs, as well as one extended observation in which administrators observe teachers during instruction. These visits will inform a teacher’s summative performance evaluation. The score received on the summative is used to determine the points awarded for the performance component of their TEI Evaluation.

RUBRIC

See How Dallas ISD is:

Defining Excellence

Supporting Excellence

Rewarding Excellence