The T-Tess rubric is the standard by which your observed lesson will be evaluated. The observer will script the teacher's words and actions and the students' words and actions. The script becomes primary evidence to support various descriptors on the T-TESS rubric. Proficient is the rating of a terrific teacher! Teachers will receive the rating that the evidence supports.

Dr. Davis from Region 7 told principals that across Texas only 2 out of every 200 teachers will receive a final rating above proficient on the rubric. That is a huge paradigm shift in any teacher's thinking who has experience with PDAS, our former evaluation system. Eventually, student growth will be measured and become part of each teacher's rating, but that will not happen this first year of implementation. Local student testing will measure growth for students not in a STAAR grade.

Why is it important to use TEKS Resource System and our district's pacing guides?

How will we use our knowledge of students, both in the sense of their past academic performance as well as on a relational level, to impact student achievement?

What do student-led activities look like and sound like?

To better understand the rubric, we need to know what an accomplished or distinguished teacher looks like and sounds like in the classroom. Study the descriptors on the T-TESS rubric to find out, and listen to each brief video below for a quick introduction to each dimension. In our principals' T-TESS training, we focused on proficient descriptors first and then moved left (student-centered actions) and right (teacher-centered actions) to compare descriptors. Dr. Hickey, from UT Tyler, focuses on the descriptors of a distinguished teacher in the videos below.

The videos below will introduce you to T-TESS Domain 1: Planning. There are four dimensions under this domain.

The TTESS rubric rewards student-centered actions where the teacher is the guide or facilitator. I share some questions for reflection to guide our thinking, learning, and actions as we focus on TTESS Domain 1: Planning.

• How will we know our students and to what level?
• How will we design and plan with the end in mind while creating a culture of student inquiry and relevant engagement?
• How will we empower student autonomy in our classrooms?
• What part does collaboration play in the process, both at the student level and at the teacher/community level?
  
• What tools will we use to improve our competency in the planning domain?