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Cityscape Schools is committed to growing staff, in order to provide a quality education to all students. For that reason, in 2022, district leadership created its own program to assist participants in obtaining their teacher certification, titled “Cityscape Empowering Rising Teachers (CERT). The CERT program was also a result of Cityscape facing a teacher shortage, as many other ISD’s and charter schools in the state and country were facing. The CERT program is a partnership between Cityscape Schools, TEACHWORTHY (an alternative teaching certification program) and Indiana Wesleyan University (for those participants without a bachelor’s degree).  Cityscape Schools offers this program to participants with or without a bachelor’s degree as a pathway to teacher certification in the state of Texas. Participants are able to work as teachers while earning a competitive salary. There were 18 participants in the program the first year. In order to complete the program, all participants must complete five local (Cityscape) courses taught by Cityscape district leaders, which equals 15 semester credit hours at Indiana Wesleyan University. The requirements to be a participant in this program are:  Cohort for non-degreed participants: Must have 30 college credit hours from an accredited institution Starting salary at $41,000 Complete 8 Teachworthy modules for 10 college credit hours Complete 5 Cityscape courses for 15 college credit hours Complete remaining hours for bachelor’s degree with Indiana Wesleyan University Pass respective teacher certification exams Upon successful completion of all certification requirements, salary will increase to $58,000 Must commit to 3 years of employment at Cityscape Schools  Cohort for degreed participants: Must have bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution Starting salary at $51,000 Complete 8 Teachworthy modules for 10 college credit hours Complete 5…

During the district’s TIA steering committee meetings, input was gathered on the development of the TIA spending plan. The steering committee is comprised of the superintendent, district chief officers, principals, assistant principals, instructional coaches, and teachers, who all played an important role in decision-making processes. While each district makes its own determination on how to distribute TIA funds to teachers, Texas Education Code 48.112 specifies “at least 90 percent of each allotment be used for compensation of teachers employed at the campus at which the teacher for whom the district received the allotment is employed.” The remaining 10 percent may be used by the district for “costs associated with implementing (TIA), including efforts to support teachers in obtaining designations.” Districts will make individual decisions regarding how the TIA funds will be distributed between the teacher earning the designation and the other teachers assigned to his or her campus.  Cityscape's TIA steering committee determined that 90 percent should be provided directly to the teacher of record, who will earn their TIA distinction through a rigorous formula of excellence in the classroom combined with excellence in student achievement.  Therefore, Cityscape Schools will provide 90 percent of the TIA funds directly to the teacher who earned a TIA designation and reserve the remaining 10 percent of the funds to support the TIA initiative at the district level.  As the law dictates, district TIA funds will only be used for costs associated with implementing the TIA, including efforts to support teachers in obtaining designations. The steering committee wanted to utilize the entire 10 percent to financially support appropriate training, professional development, measurement tools, and all other necessary components to assist teachers in reaching a…

For the 2023-2024 academic school year, Cityscape’s Teacher Incentive Allotment (TIA) plan now covers all Reading, Math, Science, and Pre-K teachers, grades Pre-K through 8.  Both certified and uncertified teachers are eligible to qualify for a TIA designation. Cityscape’s district plan is comprised of: Student Growth – 50 percent Teacher Observation – 50 percent Attendance - prerequisite Our measurement for Student Growth is MAP (for grades K through 8) and CIRCLE (for our Pre-K teachers). Our measurement of Teacher Observation is T-TESS (for all grades):  Domains 2 & 3 To learn more about Teacher Incentive Allotment, see the Texas Education Agency Resources (https://tea.texas.gov/texas-educators/educator-initiatives-and-performance/educator-initiatives/teacher-incentive-allotment) Exciting News! The scoop of the dayCityscape home to 16 TIA Designees for the 2023-2024 School Year! For the first time in district history, Cityscape Schools is home to 16 teachers who have earned designations through the state’s Teacher Incentive Allotment program. Nine teachers are veteran Cityscape teachers and the remaining seven teachers had already earned their designations at other districts when they came to Cityscape for the current school year. The following teachers are in their second year (or higher) with Cityscape Schools: Acuña, Sol – ECC - RecognizedCupido, Carlos – EGP – RecognizedEsquivel, Margarita – BP - ExemplaryFranco, Alva – EGP – RecognizedGarcia, Maria – EGP – RecognizedHoward, Naima – BP – ExemplaryMiles, Lindsey – EGP – RecognizedOrnelas, Juan – EGP – RecognizedRodriguez, Angel – EGP – Recognized And a huge Cityscape welcome to the following teachers who are new this year, but earned designations through their previous districts: Arellano, Rosa – EGP – ExemplaryCabra, Diana – EGP – RecognizedCamarillo, Gabriel – EGP – MasterChilds, Samantha – EGP – MasterDe Fex, Raul – EGP –…

Attendance Awareness  Cityscape Schools acknowledges the importance of showing up every day! September is known as Attendance Awareness Month and we are dedicated to helping our families understand how being in class every day impacts their children’s learning. Recent surveys have shown that some of the reasons that  students are absent include: 48%, short-term illness, 10% chronic illness, 2% bad weather and 1% unreliable transportation.  A research made by Attendance Works stated that 10% of missed school days missed due to absence for any reason, even if it’s excused or unexcused, can translate into students having difficulty learning to read by the third grade, achieving in middle school, and graduating from high school.  Students at Cityscape Schools are required to not miss more than 28 school days, that includes both excused and unexcused absences. In addition, our campus leadership team is responsible for applying those consequences to those students who don't meet the required days of attendance, those consequences may result in expulsion, suspension or required summer school.  Over the past few years, the misconception on chronic absenteeism has created a division between families and schools. While for some administrators absenteeism can be easily confused with lack of interest in education by families, research has shown to them that the difficulty to connect with schools is among the top reasons why students are absent.  We Are Here To Help! Our team at Cityscape Schools prides itself on staying connected with families and keeping that communication intact as it’s the first sentence of our Mission Statement, “Cityscape Schools exists to work in an educational partnership with families.” Chief officer of Culture and Climate, Dr. Billy Ferrell says Cityscape knows the importance of keeping…