Renee Ward is a master teacher with TAP™: The System for Teacher and Student Advancement at Delhi Charter School in Delhi, within Louisiana’s Richland Parish. Ward is an innovative instructional leader who encourages teamwork and camaraderie. Staunchly dedicated to shaping young minds, Ward is also a firm believer in educators continually nourishing their own minds in order to nourish others. As a former first-grade teacher at Delhi, Ward’s classroom was a safe, theme-centered environment for children with frogs everywhere—a first grader’s dream. Among her creative communication tools was the FROG book, which leapfrogged with students from school to home and back, allowing parents to track their children’s progress and stay on top of assignments and activities. Ward was known for her attention to student data as a vehicle to monitor and guide future learning.
Now as a TAP master teacher, Ward trains colleagues during regularly scheduled “cluster” groups in techniques of data evaluation, with lessons then planned to promote individual student growth. Ward field-tests and models lessons to teachers, and provides feedback based on trained classroom observations for a comprehensive system of professional development.
Ward is National Board Certified. Delhi’s principal selected her to serve on the leadership team for a Learning Intensive Networking Communities state grant that linked data analysis with instructional practices to target students’ weaknesses and, thanks to ever increasing teacher effectiveness at Delhi, ever more rapidly growing strengths.
