WOODVILLE – Several faculty members at Woodville ISD have something to celebrate as of Monday evening.
The district recognized its recipients for the statewide Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA) program. TIA was established, according to an info sheet from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) in the 86th Legislature in 2019 with the goal of providing outstanding teachers “an accessible pathway to a six-figure salary.”
The program is funded through a Tier 1 allotment through the Foundation School Program, which is the system the state uses to provide funding to school districts.
Through TIA, districts are able to identify and designate worthy teachers based on growth and classroom observation. Jimmy Tucker, Woodville ISD Board of Trustees President, said that since the program began, WISD has had 27 teachers to earn the designation.
Tucker said that the program recognizes three tiers of teachers: recognized, exemplary and master teacher.
The recipients who were honored on Monday evening at the regular WISD board meeting were: Stefanie Bonds; Lara Williams; Ashlyn Tucker; Kelly Dillard; Clara Cowart; Jason Drake and Masha Watts.
The designation also allows recipients a five-year stipend of $6K-$30K, annually.
Performance report given
The WISD board held a public hearing on Monday evening to review the district’s annual performance review.
Curriculum director Ashley Weatherford spoke about the assessment, which came from 2024-25 metrics, and covers “everything and more that you probably would like to see” in terms of school performance, Weatherford said.
The review, which includes STAAR participation and performance; growth; student assessment by campus; attendance and graduation rates, among other metrics, will be published online to the district’s website, Weatherford said.
“We’ve been looking at this data since June and have been using it to drive our strategic plan,” said WISD Superintendent Lisa Meysembourg.
After the closing of the hearing for the performance review, campus principals and instructional coaches for the district presented a performance monitoring update for the middle of the year. This review covers “where we are, where we’ve been and where we’re going,” Weatherford said, and shows different student performance metrics, district-wide, from the beginning of the school year until the middle of the year.
Much of the information presented showed how students have adapted to the Bluebonnet Learning curriculum, which was adopted in 2025 for mathematics instruction.
Meysembourg said the performance metrics in this report came from 10-minute observations, weekly, for each class, from which administrators and instructional coaches have a variety of traits to look for.
The overall metrics showed positive growth in mathematics in grades K-6, with a decline in the seventh grade, which Woodville Middle School principal Andrew Ireland said is the “hardest math year,” typically, statewide.
Meysembourg said the district’s instructional coaches have been meeting with teachers every nine weeks to gather information on what to work on.
“Every student, teacher and class is monitored for growth,” Meysembourg said.
In terms of STAAR test numbers, Meysembourg said that if every student meets the district-aligned goals, WISD should see a two-letter grade rise in TEA accountability ratings.
