2024-25 ESSA Title I Plan Requirements

To reach the goal of every Texas student prepared for success in college, a career, or the military, school systems must ensure all students have access to the most effective teachers. Title I, Part A, Sec. 1112(b)(2) of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires all school systems that receive Title I funds to create plans describing how they will decrease gaps as it relates to low-income students and students of color being taught by inexperienced, out-of-field, and ineffective teachers at higher rates than other students (the “Equity Plan”).
 
Based upon stakeholder feedback, the state’s approach to this federally required planning was revised so that only a subset of school systems would be required to submit plans to the Texas Education Agency (TEA) so that those school systems could receive more meaningful support in developing their plans and pursuing strategies.
 
In the 2024-25 school year, TEA has identified school systems that have gaps greater than 10 percent in two of the last three years in access to effective teaching by using the “meets or exceeds growth target” percentages for the same student groups identified in the Texas Equity Toolkit (minority students and economically disadvantaged students).
 
The school systems identified are required to create and submit a plan via Intervention, Stage, and Activity Manager (ISAM) to address the aforementioned gaps. The window for submission will be between March 30, 2025, and May 30, 2025.
 
Details on planning templates, exemplars, strategies, implementation, state data, resources and Equity Lead contact information can be found on the Toolkit for Federally Required Texas Equity Plans webpage. 
 
In addition to the Texas Equity Plan Toolkit, all education service centers (ESCs) are ready to support school systems with training on plan development, implementation, and monitoring throughout the two-year cycle of your school system plan (school years 2025-2026 and 2026-2027).

For More Information
 

For questions or additional information on these plans, please contact your local ESC Equity Lead and/or Dixie Binford, Coordinator for the Texas Educator Equity Center, at dixie.binford@esc13.txed.net.