ESSA Talent Plan Toolkit

To reach the goal of every Texas student prepared for success in college, a career or the military, districts 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 local educational agencies (LEAs) that receive Title I funds to create plans to “address any disparities that result in low-income students and minority students being taught at higher rates than other students by inexperienced, out-of-field, and ineffective teachers."

The ESSA Talent Plan Toolkit has been designed to mirror a continuous improvement process so that this structure allows for two things to occur:

1. The talent planning process fits within a district's annual continuous improvement process.
2. The district's continuous improvement process results in decreased disparities in low income and minority students being taught by inexperienced, out-of-field, and ineffective teachers compared to other students.

Notifications

Newly Identified Cohort C 25-26 School Systems

• For the 2025-2026 school year, newly identified Cohort C school systems will be required to submit an ESSA Talent Plan. If an identified school system had a past plan in place, staff should review their past plan locally, consider opportunities for revision, and implement the identified strategies accordingly using the updated ESSA Talent Plan template.

  
  Download ESSA Talent Plan Template 

• Starting with the 2026-2027 school year, TEA has identified school systems having gaps greater than 10 percent in two of the last three years by using the “meets or exceeds growth target” percentages for the same student groups (minority students and economically disadvantaged students). From that initial identification, TEA chose districts who had 15% or at least four federally identified campuses. 

Currently Identified Cohort A 23-24 LEAs and Cohort B 24-25 School Systems

• Current Cohort A 23-24 school systems will continue to implement the ESSA Talent Plan developed during the spring semester of the 25-26 school year. ESC ESSA Talent Plan Leads will check in on the progress of the plan every 3-4 months.

General Information

• Districts that are identified may be eligible for priority points in various funding/grant programs through TEA (GYO, Principal Residency Grants, Mentorship Allotment, Teacher Leadership grants, etc.) to provide further support in effective talent management.
• The Texas ESSA Talent Plan Toolkit webpage supports the creation of talent plans under this process. ESC Talent Plan teams can provide training on the talent planning process to interested districts.
• For further clarification on the calculation of disproportionate student growth rates between low income and minority students and other students, download the Student Growth Rate Disparity Calculation document.
  View Student Growth Rate Disparity Calculation Document