Next Steps Submitting Data for Validation
Following the initial Data Capture Year, districts with accepted System Applications may submit teacher performance data and proposed designations to Texas Tech every fall.
Districts must submit their first-attempt data file to Texas Tech via TIA online portal by EOD Thursday, October 16 2025.
TEA reserves the right to annually reject new teacher designations if data validation results indicate the district’s system is no longer valid or reliable.
Preparing Files for Data SubmissionPreparing Files for Data Submission
Together with TEA, Texas Tech developed learning modules that offer additional guidance for preparing teacher performance data for districts using DMAC, Eduphoria, or Excel. The learning modules linked below include specific steps for assembling data for TIA data submission.
Excel Modules Data Coordination Modules
Eduphoria Data Coordination Modules
DMAC Data Coordination Modules
How to Send the Data TIA Online Portal and Data Submission File
Districts will complete the District Info tab and confirm their Weighting tab via the secure online portal. Districts will complete their Data Entry in a single Excel file, called the Data Submission File, that corresponds with their appraisal rubric: TTESS, Danielson, Marzano, or NIET TAP. Districts utilizing their own teacher observation rubric must request a custom data submission file from Texas Tech. Districts must submit the most current file template provided by TEA. The correct file template will have the current year listed in the title.
Data Submission Instructions Fall 2025
The data submission file represents a performance data snapshot for each teacher employed in an eligible assignment from the prior school year. This includes teachers who have since resigned, retired, moved assignments, and those who did not qualify for a designation. While they should be included in the submission file, districts may not designate teachers who are no longer employed by the district in a teaching role or did not meet the minimum score of proficient in all observable dimensions.
Once data is submitted and finalized, districts may not adjust their teacher performance data, add or remove teachers, or change teacher designations.
2025 Data Submission File Template for NIET TAP
2025 Data Submission File Template for Danielson
2025 Data Submission File Template for T-TESS
2025 Data Submission File Template for Marzano
Changes to Designation Determination Process Before Data Submission
TEA recognizes when a district begins creating their local designation system, they must outline a process to determine designation cut points without actual teacher performance data. Some changes are permitted. These allowances provide flexibility in the designation determination process while maintaining fidelity of the captured data.
Allowable Changes:
- Changing component weighting
- Removing optional local system components, such as attendance or student surveys
- Consolidating eligible teaching assignments with the same student growth measures and weighting into a single category
- Adjusting the local standard at which a teacher is determined for a designation
- Adjusting or establishing a minimum requirement to earn a designation
Not Allowable:
- Removing observation or student growth as weighted components
- Adding or removing a student growth measure
- Removing eligible teaching assignments or categories
- Excluding teacher observation or student growth when determining designations
Best Practices to Check for Accuracy
Best Practices to Check for Accuracy
Before submitting files, districts should check for data accuracy. These best practices promote collaboration and multiple opportunities to vet data submission:
- Require campus administrators and human resources leads to ensure all teachers in eligible assignments are accounted for in the data capture and submission.
- Allow teachers and/or campus administrators to verify teacher-student rosters before calculating student growth ratings. Districts may set local business rules to determine which students should be included. This may require reviewing student enrollment dates, mid-year class transfers, and teacher assignment transfers.
- Campus administrators verify final observation and student growth scores.
- Provide teacher scorecards with final observation rating, final student growth rating, level of designation, and process for calculating and determining designations.
- Establish an internal appeals process in cases of score discrepancies.
- Ensure data and unique identifiers are correct for all teachers; pay careful attention to teachers with similar names.
- Allow multiple reviews of the final data file to ensure alignment with teacher score cards and Staff Reported in Eligible Teaching Assignments List. This is particularly important if the district uses a third-party vendor or data analyst with fully automated processes. Districts must confirm that the correct information is tied to the correct teacher before submission.
Following Data Submission Review Process Overview
Before Texas Tech can validate the data, TEA will review it in two stages:
- Technical Review: This occurs through the TIA Online Portal after the file is submitted. If there are technical errors, the portal will generate a report, and districts will need to address the feedback and resubmit through the portal. Once all errors are resolved, the file will be accepted. For questions regarding the feedback or technical review, districts can email tia@ttu.edu.
- Technical errors must be addressed no later than EOD Tuesday, October 21, 2025.
- System Alignment Review: After passing the technical review, TEA will review the submission for alignment with the system of record. This review will examine eligible teacher categories, system components (observation and student growth), and any context provided on the District Information tab. Additional details will be shared later in the year. TEA will reach out directly to districts for any clarifications needed and districts should prepare for a short turnaround time for a response.
These reviews are designed to ensure the submitted data file is aligned with the district’s approved System of Record and the Texas Administrative Code. Failure to address this review process may prevent districts from submitting their data.
Following system reviews, if a district’s data is accepted in the data validation process, TEA will notify districts of system approval by early February. Designations and allotments will be processed that spring, during which TEA will also host allotment verification training.
Teacher Designation FeesFollowing Data Submission Teacher Designation Fees
Once data is submitted and reviewed for alignment to the district’s System of Record, districts must submit a $500 per teacher designation fee to TEA. For example, a district proposing 12 teachers for a new or higher designation would submit a fee of $6,000.
Districts will pay these fees via e-check or credit card in SCOMS, the TIA TEAL application. Districts submit fees based on the number of new or higher designations in the final data submission file. No fees are required to maintain existing teacher designations. All fees are reimbursed the following September via the Foundation School Program settle-up.
Designation fees for 2025 Fall Data Submission have been extended to Wednesday, December 3, 11:59 p.m. It is recommended to wait until the submission file has been accepted to finalize fee payment.
2025 TIA Fee Payment Instructions
Data Submission FAQs
Many districts allow eligible teachers to waive an annual appraisal. Will an annual appraisal be required for teachers to earn a designation?
Districts must have observation and student data from the data capture year for all teachers in the district’s system. After receiving full system approval, districts may have teachers on appraisal waivers, but those teachers may not be submitted for proposed designations. An annual appraisal is required for teachers to earn a designation. TEA cautions districts to use waivers sparingly following system approval, as this may impact future data validation and future proposed designations. Appraisals must comply with §21.351 and §21.352.
Once approved districts submit their data in the fall following their data capture year, will they be required to continue submitting data for the next four years?
Districts with a fully approved local designation system can submit data each year they wish to put forth teachers for new or higher designations, however, Texas Tech will still perform annual data validation. It is possible that a district’s designations will not be approved for one or more of the five years if the data no longer reflects a valid and reliable system.
What data will schools be required to submit for the data validation process?
Each teacher in the data file should have one observation score for each dimension and one student growth score. Determining the final score will be a local decision, and the district must report how observation and growth was determined (i.e., higher of two scores, averaged, weighted values for each year) in the District Information tab. Districts may report observation scores with decimals if averaging or weighting multiple observations. Student growth scores must be reported as percentages without decimal points.
Read more about data submission and validation.
Will districts have to submit data every year?
Districts submit data for all teachers in eligible teaching assignments each year that they put forth new teachers for designation.
If a system is not approved, can the district resubmit data the following year?
Systems that fail to pass data validation may resubmit the following year.
Who is eligible to earn a designation through a local designation system?
Teachers employed in eligible teaching assignments may be submitted for designation based on the prior school year’s performance data. Districts may submit teachers for designation if they meet the following criteria:
- Still employed by the designating district in a teaching role
- Meets the district’s performance criteria for designation based on teacher observation and student growth data from the prior school year
- Minimum observation score of Proficient in each observable dimension in the prior school year
TEA will conduct additional eligibility checks prior to awarding designations.
What if a designated teacher moves to a non-teaching role, such as instructional coach, counselor, or administrator?
Designated teachers who move to a StaffClassification (formerly Role ID) other than 087 will maintain their designation. However they will not generate annual allotment funding if they are not in a 087 teaching role. Teachers who move to a non-teaching position prior to formally earning a designation relinquish eligibility.
What if a designated teacher’s performance level changes within the five-year period? Can their designation level change?
Teacher designations are valid for five years. Within the five-year period, teachers may be put forth for a higher designation if their performance qualifies them, but they cannot be submitted for a lower designation. Some district spending plans may include variability based on continued performance levels.
What if a teacher is missing observation and/or student growth data? For example, they waived their appraisal, resigned, or retired before the end of the school year.
Teachers who do not have complete observation and student growth data should not be included in the data file. On the District Information tab, in the Teacher Discrepancy section, please outline any discrepancies in the number of staff reported in eligible assignments compared to the number of teachers reported in the data file.
What adjustments can we make to the Weighting tab from our accepted System Application?
Districts can make the following modifications from their accepted System of Record:
- Change the weighting of approved components. (e.g., the district’s System of Record weighted teacher observation at 30% and student growth at 70%. The district could change the weighting to 50/50.)
- Combine teaching assignments into a single category if using the same weighting and student growth measures. (e.g., district’s System of Record listed 3-5 MAP and 6-8 MAP as separate teaching categories, although they use the same student growth measure and weighting. These can be combined into one category in the Weighting tab.)
- Remove other optional, non-statutory components. (e.g., attendance, student surveys.)
Districts may NOT:
- Add or remove new eligible teaching assignments.
- Add or remove student growth measures.
- Add or remove teacher observation rubrics.
- Exclude teacher observation or student growth when determining designations.
- Exclude one or more eligible teacher groups.
If I select “No designation” for a previously designated teacher on the submission file’s Data Entry tab, does that affect their current designation status?
No, selecting “No designation” in column J for Proposed Designation Level for a teacher that has been designated in prior years will not affect the status of their current designation.
Can teachers who move to a non-eligible teaching assignment or move campuses in 2025-26 year still earn a designation?
Yes. TEA will only verify assignment eligibility for the 2024-25 Data Capture Year. For 2025-26, TEA will verify that the teacher is still employed as a teacher (087 role ID) and meets the creditable year of service requirement before issuing a designation.
Our district uses multiple growth measures and/or conducts more than one scored observation. How do we report multiple scores?
Each teacher in the data file should have one observation score for each dimension and one student growth score. Determining the final score will be a local decision, and the district must report how observation and growth was determined (i.e., higher of two scores, averaged, weighted values for each year) in the District Information tab. Districts may report observation scores with decimals if averaging or weighting multiple observations. Student growth scores must be reported as percentages without decimal points.
What if we discover an error in our data or teacher designations after the data submission deadline has passed and our file has been accepted?
Once the data submission file has been accepted, it is considered final. Therefore, districts will not be able to add or remove teachers, change teacher designations, or edit performance data. This policy is guided by state statute that requires TEA to validate district systems. For further details, please see the explanation below:
- Texas Education Code requires TEA to establish performance and validity standards to ensure that district TIA systems meet requirements for system implementation.
- The agency has an established timeline and procedure to collect proposed designations from districts and to then validate districts’ system for designating teachers. Based on the validation process, proposed teacher designations are accepted. In some cases, districts do not meet validity standards, and the proposed designations are not accepted.
- Because of the timelines required for data analysis, we cannot accept changes to proposed designations, like adding teachers to the designation list, after the file is accepted and the data validation process has started.
Should uncertified teachers be included in the data submission file?
Yes. Uncertified teachers working in eligible assignments must be included in the district’s data capture and data submission. As of 2021, uncertified teachers may earn designations. Some districts have a local prerequisite that limits designations to certified teachers, but they must still collect and report data for uncertified teachers in eligible assignments.