(a) All school districts have two choices in selecting a method to appraise teachers: a teacher appraisal system recommended by the commissioner of education or a local teacher appraisal system.
(b) The commissioner's recommended teacher appraisal system, the Texas Teacher Evaluation and Support System (T-TESS), was developed in accordance with the Texas Education Code (TEC), §21.351.
(c) The superintendent of each school district, with the approval of the school district board of trustees, may select the T-TESS. Each school district or campus wanting to select or develop an alternative teacher appraisal system must follow the TEC, §21.352, and §150.1007 of this title (relating to Alternatives to the Commissioner's Recommended Appraisal System).
(d) The commissioner may designate a regional education service center to serve as the T-TESS certification provider for the state. The designated regional education service center may collect appropriate fees under the TEC, §8.053, from school districts and open-enrollment charter schools for training and certification.
(e) Sections 150.1002 through 150.1006 of this title apply only to the T-TESS and not to local teacher appraisal systems.
(f) The statutorily required components of teacher appraisal are defined as follows.
  (1) The implementation of discipline management procedures is the teacher's pedagogical practices that produce student engagement and establish the learning environment.
  (2) The performance of teachers' students is how the individual teacher's students progress academically in response to the teacher's pedagogical practice as measured at the individual teacher level by one or more student growth measures.

Source Note: The provisions of this §150.1001 adopted to be effective July 1, 2016, 41 TexReg 2957; amended to be effective October 10, 2017, 42 TexReg 5439