At Seatack Elementary School, a year-round school in Virginia Beach, Virginia, third-grade teacher Recharta C. Walston uses a wide repertoire of instructional strategies and best practices to address content area standards. She begins each year with an instructional plan for every student based on data analysis, and uses classroom observations and data throughout the year to revise her teaching strategies and differentiate instruction. Walston organized the school's first-ever spelling bee, a highly popular event that motivated students to study words and practice, and she contributed extra time to a special education student who placed fourth in the competition. Having grown up in low-income housing, Walston coordinated a community partnership program that assists low-income families by pairing them with professionals from the business community. These business representatives are encouraged to visit the families' homes and partner with parents to help ensure student success. Her outstanding instructional practices and strategies have led to high levels of student achievement on multiple assessments. Walston has served on several division-wide committees in areas such as elementary language arts textbook adoption and curriculum development, and is the school's parental involvement coordinator. She has developed and conducted professional development for elementary teachers throughout Virginia Beach, and serves as an unofficial "retention specialist" for new teachers. In 2008, Walston was one of the first recipients of the Virginia Beach City Public Schools Superintendent's Spotlight Award for her contributions to the teaching profession.
1988 Shaw University, B.S.
