Rusk Primary

Texas Educator Excellence Grant

Incentive Program

Purpose

To award educators who demonstrate the ability to achieve higher levels of student academic performance.

Timeline

Rusk Primary Texas Educator Excellence Grant (TEEG) Incentive Program begins October 6, 2006 and ends September 14, 2007.

A proposed timeline of major program activities is as follows:

Major Program Activities	Proposed beginning dates of program activities	Proposed ending dates of program activities
Project period	October 6, 2006	August 31, 2008
Rusk Primary Program period	October 6, 2006	September 14, 2007
Student Assessment Pre-test	October 16, 2006	October 30, 2006
Student Achievement and Performance Monitoring	October 31, 2006	April 20, 2007
Student Assessment Post-test	April 23, 2007	May 4, 2007
Campus Planning Meetings	October 6, 2006	May 4, 2007
Grade-level Planning Meetings	October 6, 2006	May 4, 2007
Rusk Primary TEEG Committee Monthly Meetings	October 6, 2006	May 4, 2007
Preliminary determination of award eligibility and amounts	May 7, 2007	May 25, 2007
Final determination of award eligibility and amounts	September 3, 2007	September 13, 2007
Part I and Part II Payment Date	September 14, 2007	September 14, 2007
Submission of required activity, progress, and evaluation reports	November 15, 2007	September 30, 2008
Submission of required expenditure reports	November 15, 2007	September 30, 2008

Payment

Payment will be made in one lump sum on September 14, 2007 to all eligible employees who continued employment with and are employed by Rusk ISD or Cherokee County Special Education Cooperative on the date of payment. This requirement of continued employment in order to fully earn and receive payment is a retention factor designed to retain quality employees in Rusk ISD.

Eligibility

Eligibility to participate in the Rusk Primary TEEG Incentive Program is determined as follows:

· Eligible employees include teachers, aides, speech therapists, secretaries, counselors, and principals employed by Rusk ISD or Cherokee County Special Education Cooperative and assigned to Rusk Primary, and

· Rusk Primary eligible employees eligible for employee benefits, meaning those who work greater than or equal to 20 hours per week, are eligible to participate in this program dependent on employment date as follows:

Rusk Primary eligible employees who are employed on or before the Fall PEIMS snapshot date, which is the last Friday in October, and remain employed with Rusk Primary for the school year are eligible for the full award amount, or

Rusk Primary eligible employees who are employed after the Fall PEIMS snapshot date but on or before the first instructional day of the second semester and remain employed with Rusk Primary for the school year are eligible for half of the award amount.

Part-time employees who meet all eligibility requirements will be eligible for an award amount that is prorated based on the percent of time employed.

Rusk Primary eligible employees must continue employment with and be employed by Rusk ISD or the Cherokee County Special Education Cooperative at the time of payment in the following school year in order to fully earn and receive the amount to which they are eligible.

Retirees

Eligible employees who retire at the end of the 2006-2007 school year and who are not employed with another school district at the time of payment of the award will be eligible to receive the award.

Plan Design

Funds will be distributed in two parts: Part I-Teacher Incentives (not less than 75% of the award) and Part II-Additional Incentives (not more than 25% of the award).

Part I-Teacher Incentives

Incentives awarded under this part may be used only for classroom teachers. For this part, a classroom teacher means “an educator who is employed by a school district and who, not less than an average of four hours each day, teaches in an academic instructional setting or a career and technology instructional setting. The term does not include a teacher’s aide or a full-time administrator.”

Part I will include two criteria as required by the state: Criterion 1: Improving Student Performance, and Criterion 2: Collaboration with Faculty and Staff. Teachers must achieve either the team or individual objective in Criterion 1 and at least performance level one in Criterion 2 in order to receive any award amount as required by the State. Efforts to achieve both of these criteria will promote and improve student learning for the campus.

Criterion 1: Improving Student Performance

Evaluation Basis

Teachers will be evaluated on a team basis and on an individual basis. Teams will be defined by grade-level and will be composed of grade-level teachers and ancillary teachers that interact regularly with students in that grade-level. The PreKindergarten (PreK) team consists of the five regular PreK-4 teachers, one regular PreK-3 teacher, one PPCD Special Education teacher, and the ESL teacher. The Kindergarten team consists of eight regular Kindergarten teachers, the Kindergarten Literacy Lab teacher, and the P.E. teacher. The First Grade team consists of eight regular First Grade teachers, the First Grade Literacy Lab teacher, the Music teacher, and one Resource Special Education teacher. Ancillary teachers were divided equally among the teams. Using both a team and individual approach will promote student performance in the individual classroom as well as across the campus.

Evaluation Measures and Performance Levels

The Star Early Literacy Assessment was chosen as the primary evaluation measure for Improving Student Performance for several reasons. First, it will test skills aligned with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. Therefore, it will test whether students are learning the foundation skills necessary to be successful throughout their education career. Second, the results of the assessment can be used to help teachers adjust curriculum and teaching to ensure that students are being taught and acquiring the essential skills for success. Third, a common campus assessment will provide consistency throughout the grade levels to track student growth and achievement.

The performance levels for PreKindergarten and Kindergarten are based on a three-year average of Rusk Primary students Star Early Literacy assessment data. First Grade performance levels are based on the analysis of the Kindergarten data adjusted for First Grade scale scores.

Team Basis

Team	Measure	Performance Level
PreK	Star Early Literacy Assessment	A grade-level average percent of growth at 11.90% or greater.
Kindergarten	Star Early Literacy Assessment	A grade-level average percent of growth at 28.74% or greater.
First Grade	Star Early Literacy Assessment	A grade-level average percent of growth at 20.40% or greater.

Individual Basis

Individual	Measure	Performance Level
PreK Regular Classroom Teacher	Star Early Literacy Assessment	A class average percent of growth at 13.09% or greater.
Kindergarten Regular Classroom Teacher	Star Early Literacy Assessment	A class average percent of growth at 31.61% or greater.
First Grade Regular Classroom Teacher	Star Early Literacy Assessment	A class average percent of growth at 22.44% or greater.
Kindergarten Literacy Lab Teacher and P.E. Teacher	Star Early Literacy Assessment	An assigned Kindergarten group average percent of growth at 31.61% or greater.
First Grade Literacy Lab Teacher and Music Teacher	Star Early Literacy Assessment	An assigned First Grade group average percent of growth at 22.44% or greater.
ESL Teacher	Star Early Literacy Assessment	The ESL student grade-level group average percent of growth as follows: PK: at 13.09% or greater Kindergarten: at 31.61% or greater First Grade: at 22.44% or greater
Special Education Teachers	Individual Education Plan (IEP) Goals and Objectives	For all assigned students, 80% or more of the IEP goals and objectives are met.

Awards

The team and individual awards are considered separately. Achievement of one level is not required to be eligible for the other.

A team must achieve the team performance level for each teacher on that team to receive the team award amount of $400.

An individual teacher must achieve the individual performance level to receive the individual award amount of $800.

Additional Measure Information

Student Eligibility under Star Early Literacy

Any student enrolled on the Fall PEIMS snapshot date of October 27, 2006 and who remains enrolled at Rusk ISD continuously through the last day of the post-test period of May 4, 2007 will be included in the student group to be evaluated. Students who are absent on the scheduled day of testing for that group will need to be tested at some other time during the testing window.

Student Eligibility under Special Education Individual Education Plan (IEP)

Any student enrolled and identified as receiving special education services on the Fall PEIMS snapshot date of October 27, 2006 and who remains enrolled at Rusk ISD continuously through the last day of the post-test period of May 4, 2007 will be included in the student group to be evaluated. Every effort will be made to schedule annual ARD meetings for these students on or before May 4, 2007. However, students who meet eligibility requirements and have annual ARDS after May 4, 2007 will be included in the student group to be evaluated.

Student Assignment to Special Groupings

Students will be assigned to the Literacy Lab, Music, and PE teachers after the pre-test administration of the appropriate assessment in a fair and equitable manner agreed upon by all grade-level regular classroom teachers. ESL students will be grouped based on their eligibility as ESL students. All students will be included in their classroom group as well as their special grouping for evaluation purposes.

If an eligible student is identified for special services during the school year, the student will be included in all appropriate student groupings, such as ESL, special education, literacy lab or other assigned student groups, and their classroom group.

Assessment Integrity for Star Early Literacy

Students will be tested in the presence of at least two of the following persons: classroom teacher, literacy lab teacher, literacy lab aide.

Assessment Integrity for Special Education IEP Goals and Objectives

The ARD Committee will review the teacher’s determination of IEP goals and objectives met.

Data Collection and Monitoring

Literacy Lab teachers will be responsible for collecting, monitoring, and sharing data for all administrations of the assessment. The Kindergarten Literacy Lab teacher will be responsible for PreK and Kindergarten groupings, and the First Grade Literacy Lab teacher will be responsible for the First Grade and ESL groupings. Special education teachers will be responsible for collecting and monitoring data for special education students.

For monitoring purposes, students will take the Star Early Literacy assessment one additional time during the fall semester and one additional time during the spring semester. Progress monitoring assessments will be administered by each individual teacher. Reports will be submitted to the appropriate Literacy Lab teacher.

Additional measures that can be used to monitor progress toward the desired goals include the TPRI, benchmarks, and report cards.

Criterion 2: Collaboration with Faculty and Staff

Evaluation Basis

Teachers will be evaluated on an individual basis.

Evaluation Measures and Performance Levels

Measure: Evidence of collaboration revealed through attendance and participation at regularly scheduled weekly campus and grade-level planning meetings as required by assignment and documented by meeting minutes and sign-in sheets.

This measure was chosen to evaluate Collaboration with Faculty and Staff because it will promote the opportunity for teachers and staff to come together to share successful teaching experiences which will result in improved student learning.

Performance Level 1: 80%-94% attendance and evidence of participation

Performance Level 2: 95% or greater attendance and evidence of participation

Awards

A teacher must achieve Performance Level 1 to receive the base award of $200.

A teacher who achieves Performance Level 2 will also receive a supplemental award of $200 for a total award under Criterion 2 of $400.

Additional Measure Information

To be included in the evaluation measure, the meeting must be a regularly scheduled weekly campus or grade-level planning meeting. Meetings called on a last-minute or emergency basis will not be included. The number and type of meetings required are based on the individual teacher’s assignment. The number of required meetings will be determined on an individual teacher basis.

Excused absences for purposes of this program are absences for school-related business such as workshops, fieldtrips, or other campus or district committee meetings and jury duty. Meetings missed due to these excused absences will not count in the total number of required meetings for the teacher.

Data Collection and Monitoring

Each grade-level team will designate one team member to be responsible for collecting and monitoring required meeting attendance data. This person should collect the following information:

listing of all required campus and grade-level required meetings and the appropriate date
information to document the maximum number of required meetings for each individual teacher
signatures documenting attendance at each required meeting
documentation to support excused absences

This person will provide information to individuals upon request regarding their progress toward meeting this objective.

Contingency Plan-Part I

Part I funds not earned as awards due to teachers not being eligible to receive any award or due to teachers not achieving both the team and individual objectives in Criterion 1 and/or not achieving performance level two in Criterion 2 will be divided equally among all teachers who met the individual objective in Criterion 1. This additional amount will be included in the lump sum payment on September 14, 2007.

Part II-Additional Incentives

Incentives awarded under this part will be used to award other eligible campus personnel that contribute to improved student achievement who are not eligible under Part I. Eligible personnel include aides, speech therapists, secretaries, counselors, and principals.

Evaluation Basis

Eligible employees will be evaluated on an individual basis.

Evaluation Measures and Performance Levels

The Star Early Literacy Assessment was chosen as the primary evaluation measure for Part II for the same reasons it was chosen to evaluate Part I Improving Student Performance. First, it will test skills aligned with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. Therefore, it will test whether students are learning the foundation skills necessary to be successful throughout their education career. Second, the results of the assessment can be used to help teachers adjust curriculum and teaching to ensure that students are being taught and acquiring the essential skills for success. Third, a common campus assessment will provide consistency throughout the grade levels to track student growth and achievement. A common campus goal is to improve student learning. Therefore, other eligible campus personnel will be evaluated on this assessment.

Individual	Measure	Performance Level
PK Aide	Star Early Literacy Assessment	Assigned teacher’s individual growth goal.
Kindergarten Literacy Lab Aide	Star Early Literacy Assessment	Assigned teacher’s individual growth goal.
First Grade Literacy Lab Aide	Star Early Literacy Assessment	Assigned teacher’s individual growth goal.
Other Aides, Clerical, Speech Therapist, Counselor, and Principal	Star Early Literacy Assessment	All teams achieve their team growth goal.
Special Education Aide	Individual Education Plan (IEP) Goals and Objectives	Assigned teacher’s individual growth goal.

Awards

An individual must achieve the individual performance level to receive the individual award amount of $350.

Contingency Plan-Part II

Part II funds not earned as awards due to performance levels not being achieved will be divided equally among all Part II eligible personnel who qualified for an award. This additional amount will be included in the lump sum payment on September 14, 2007.

Miscellaneous Provisions

· According to Region VII ESC, Head Start Site Staff, which are employees of Region VII ESC, but housed on the Rusk Primary campus, are not allowed to participate in this incentive program.

· All rounding will follow the guideline of rounding up for half or greater and down for less than half.

· Employee benefits will be paid from TEEG funds.

· Performance awards are eligible compensation for TRS purposes.

· The General Fund will cover any deficit incurred after the final determination of award eligibility and amounts.

Other Required Grant Information

Partnership/Involvement of Others

A meeting was held at the Rusk Primary campus on September 12, 2006 to announce the award of the Texas Educator Excellence Grant and discuss the grant guidelines. This meeting was attended by Rusk Primary teachers, counselor, and principal and the Rusk ISD Superintendent, Finance Director, and Special Programs Director. General consensus of the Primary teachers was to select a nine member committee composed of two teachers from each of the three grade levels, PreKindergarten, Kindergarten, and First Grade, and three ancillary teachers. The campus committee members were selected by nomination and vote. The district Finance Director and Special Programs Director served in an advisory capacity to the committee. The committee was charged with developing an incentive plan with regular communication between the members and the larger teacher population. The committee held numerous meetings and followed grant guidelines in the development of the plan. Criteria were determined, specific measures and performance levels were developed for each criterion, eligibility was determined, and weights and award amounts were set. Members sought input verbally from the larger teacher population continuously during the development of the plan. Collaboration with the district was achieved by referring to the district performance reward plan guidelines when appropriate during the development process. The incentive plan was unanimously approved by the Rusk Primary teacher population by a show of hands and recorded vote on September 26, 2006. The District Education Improvement Committee reviewed and approved the incentive plan on October 2, 2006. The Rusk ISD Board of Trustees will review the plan at its regularly scheduled meeting on October 16, 2006.

Management of Grant Activities

Internal Communications, Coordination, and Reporting

Student performance assessment data for all students excluding special education will be collected and maintained by the two campus Literacy Lab teachers. The Literacy Lab teachers will maintain a roster by teacher of eligible students and scores. Student assessment reports will be maintained to document scores recorded. PreKindergarten and Kindergarten groupings will be maintained by the Kindergarten Literacy Lab teacher, and First Grade and ESL groupings will be maintained by the First Grade Literacy Lab teacher. Pre-test assessment scores and growth percentages will be reviewed and discussed with teachers on an individual, classroom, and grade-level basis during the project period as appropriate. Progress toward the team and individual performance levels will be reviewed continuously in an effort to improve student performance. Special education data will be maintained by the special education teachers. Teacher collaboration data will be collected and maintained by a designated campus committee member from each grade-level team. Grade-level notebooks containing individual teacher sheets will be maintained documenting campus and grade-level planning meetings and attendance. Teachers and other personnel will be made aware of their progress in meeting performance levels during their individual conference periods, at grade-level planning meetings, and at campus-level planning meetings as appropriate. The incentive plan will be available from the campus office and posted on the campus webpage of the district website for public viewing.

Supplement-Not-Supplant

Rusk ISD has applied for all TEEG funds to be used as incentives and does not currently have an incentive plan similar to the one proposed in this application. Therefore, the incentive plan proposed in this application is supplementary as required for this program. Rusk ISD does currently have three district-wide incentive programs in existence as follows, none of which are similar to the TEEG proposed incentive plan. First, the Employee Performance Reward Plan is based entirely on TEA Accountability Ratings. Second, the Teacher Attendance Incentive Program is based entirely on teacher attendance for contract days. Third, the Annual Incentive Program is based entirely on employment at the time of payment. All three of these incentive programs will continue under their current guidelines and funding source. None of these incentive programs are similar to the one proposed in this application. Therefore, the proposed incentive plan to be funded from the TEEG is supplemental and does not supplant any existing incentive program as required by this grant.

Ongoing Monitoring/Correction of Deficiencies/Continuous Improvement

The campus committee will continue to serve throughout the project period as a source of information and point of contact for the larger campus population. This will allow for individual feedback and questions. Campus and grade-level planning meetings will also provide a group forum for soliciting feedback and suggestions for improvement in the operation of the project. Campus committee members and the central administration advisory committee members will meet on a monthly basis for several purposes. First, the committee will verify that activities are being conducted and completed according to the timeline prepared to guide the implementation of the project. They will ensure that all incentive plan activities are in compliance with the plan and grant guidelines. Second, the committee will work to continuously improve the operation of the project using feedback received from the larger campus population. Questions and comments received during the month will be reviewed and discussed with improvements to the operation of the project made as necessary. Third, the committee will review the data collected for the incentive program criteria and monitor the progress toward achievement of the performance levels set. For student achievement, this will include the analysis of data collected after each administration of the progress monitoring assessment. Other measures of student performance will also be reviewed including the TPRI, benchmarks, and six weeks grades. For teacher collaboration, the attendance and participation of teachers will be reviewed on a monthly basis to ensure that teachers are on track to meet the performance levels set. The committee members will be responsible for monitoring the implementation of the plan. Lesa Jones, Executive Director of Finance, will be accountable for the timeline and activities of the grant. Assessment integrity for the Star Early Literacy test will be ensured by requiring that students be tested in the presence of at least two of the following persons: classroom teacher, literacy lab teacher, literacy lab aide. Assessment integrity for special education IEP goals and objectives will be ensured by the fact that the ARD Committee will review the teacher’s determination of IEP goals and objectives met. Rusk Primary does not administer the TAKS.

Qualitative and Quantitative Data Collection Methods

Student performance assessment data for all students excluding special education will be collected and maintained by the two campus Literacy Lab teachers. The Literacy Lab teachers will maintain a roster by teacher of eligible students and scores. Student assessment reports will be maintained to document scores recorded. PreKindergarten and Kindergarten groupings will be maintained by the Kindergarten Literacy Lab teacher, and First Grade and ESL groupings will be maintained by the First Grade Literacy Lab teacher. Pre-test and progress monitoring assessment scores and growth percentages will be reviewed and discussed with teachers on an individual, classroom, and grade-level basis as appropriate during the project period. Progress toward the team and individual performance levels will be reviewed continuously in an effort to improve student performance. Special education data will be maintained by the special education teachers. IEP goals and objectives met during the year will be reviewed at the annual ARD meeting by the ARD committee. Teacher collaboration data will be collected and maintained by a designated campus committee member from each grade-level team. Grade-level notebooks containing individual teacher sheets will be maintained documenting campus and grade-level planning meetings and attendance. Participation of teachers will also be documented by meeting minutes. Teachers and other personnel will be made aware of their progress in meeting performance levels during their individual conference periods, at grade-level planning meetings, and at campus-level planning meetings as appropriate. These progress reports will be documented by TEEG evaluation forms. The final TEEG evaluation form will be completed and discussed with each eligible faculty and staff member by the campus administrator.

List of Campus Committee Members

Teacher Name	Subject Taught	Grade Level Taught	Number of Years with Rusk Primary	Process for Selection
Baker, Elissa	All	PreKindergarten	2	Nomination and vote
Barron, Trina	All	First grade	1	Nomination and vote
Birdwell, Susan	All	Kindergarten	21	Nomination and vote
Goldsberry, Shirley	All	Kindergarten	5	Nomination and vote
Hamilton, Donna (Kathy)	All-Special Education Resource	PK, K, and First	6	Nomination and vote
Jackson, Stefani	Reading	Kindergarten	4	Nomination and vote
Kadlecek, Robin	All	First grade	2	Nomination and vote
Moore, Nancy	ESL	PK, K, and First	22	Nomination and vote
Nowell, Tifni	All	PreKindergarten	2	Nomination and vote