TIA Designated Teacher Spotlight
What's the Scoop on TIA
Score Card Update
Student Perception Survey Administration
TIA Component Focus: Student Growth
In this Issue
TIA Designated Teacher Spotlight
In each edition of the TIA Tuesdays newsletter, we will shine a light on a TIA designated teacher in Alief ISD. This special section will provide an opportunity for designated teachers to share their unique experiences with TIA.
This month, we are thrilled to shine a spotlight on Cristina Valdes, an exceptional Kindergarten Teacher at Outley Elementary School. Ms. Valdes is a committed educator to her students. She has a big heart when it comes to providing quality education to her students. She is passionate about giving her students a top-notch instruction. She also establishes deep and meaningful connections with her administrators, coworkers, families, and most importantly her students. In order to make sure she conveys her message with empathy, Ms. Valdes strategically arranges conferences with her students and tailors conversations.
Ms. Valdes TIA designation was earned due to her passion in ensuring she creates lessons that target all her students to meet their individual needs. She works collaboratively with her team members to share knowledge, best practices, and perspectives to improve instructional strategies, enhance student learning outcomes, and foster professional growth among educators by providing a supportive environment where teachers can learn from each other and collectively address challenges within the classroom.
Ms. Valdes advises teachers who aspire in receiving a TIA designation to always prioritize their students and to understand their "WHY" for all aspect of their teaching career. She advises being receptive to to feedback as feedback helps you to improve your teaching methods, which will ultimately improve the learning outcomes for your students.
We are very thankful for Ms. Valdes's loyalty to our students in Alief ISD. Her dedication inspires curiosity, imagination, and a love for learning to her students.
What's the Scoop on TIA
Know your Teacher Ambassador!
Each campus in Alief ISD has an assigned Teacher Ambassador Representative at their campus. Your Teacher Ambassador plays a crucial role in sharing very time-sensitive and in-depth information to your campus. Each month our TAC meetings provide new information and provide clarity to any misconceptions. After each meeting you can expect to receive updates from your Teacher Ambassador during your regularly scheduled staff meetings. This is a great opportunity to have discussions with your colleagues and to ask any additional questions, wonderings, or simply seek understanding.
What Does TEA Say About TIA?
TIA Scorecard Update
We appreciate your patience throughout the process, and we know that teachers are anxious to review their scorecards. This year, we have a new vendor that helps us collect all the data and arrange it for a polished display. Please be assured that we are collaborating closely with the vendor to guarantee that your scorecard is presented accurately and in an easy-to-read manner. In mid-February, we plan to share the data with campus administrators. Before the end of February, teachers will be able to view their scorecards.
TIA Student Perception Survey Update
Student Perception Surveys will be administered by an external vendor, Thought Exchange, to students in grades 3-12. These surveys represent a best practice in measuring teacher performance, as research shows that data from student perception surveys are strongly correlated with student achievement. Student perception surveys represent a unique opportunity for teachers to gather feedback on whether or not students feel sufficiently challenged, engaged, and comfortable asking for help.
The survey window is from January 27-February 14. Student Perception survey topics include Meaningful Work (Pedagogical Effectiveness, Classroom Rigorous Expectations, Classroom Learning Strategies) and Meaningful Relationships (Teacher-Student Relationships, Classroom Belonging).
Thought Exchange - Survey Coordinators and Admin Training was held on January 8th. The central office TIA team will monitor the survey response rate and send consistent communication with campus survey coordinators to ensure full participation.
TIA Component Focus: Student Growth
Student Learning Objectives (SLOs)
Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) are student growth goals set by teachers to help them plan instruction and drive student learning throughout the year. SLOs are a component of all teacher's TIA scores regardless of the content taught. This year, we have created the SLO Expectation 2024-25 document to support teachers as they implement and collect data. At this point in the year, teachers should have administered Progress Check #1 - #4 for all students and recorded data on their student growth tracker. The window for Progress Check #5 opens, January 21, 2025.
Click below for our previous TIA Tuesdays newsletter!
TIA Contact Information
If you have questions regarding TIA, please email AliefTIAQuestions@aliefisd.net or visit the Alief ISD TIA website linked here.