Steven Ward

A native of Washington, DC, Mr. Ward began his teaching career in 2007 as a high school biology teacher in the same school district from which he graduated high school. During his three years at Battlefield High School, he increased the passage rate from 90% to 93% on the Virginia Standards of Learning End-of-Course Biology Exam, and created a new curriculum as the Professional Learning Community leader. He then taught middle and upper school science at Wakefield School, a small independent school in rural Virginia, before joining Teach For America in 2012 as a corps member where he taught high school science in Prince George’s County Public Schools. In his second year as a corps member, Mr. Ward had 100% of his biology students pass the High School Assessment exam for Biology, and earned the Edith Tatel Education Award for Excellence in Teaching. He spent his last year as a teacher at Cesar Chavez Public Charter Schools for Public Policy’s Capitol Hill campus. There, he was named one out of five middle and high school science teachers in North America who were national finalists for the Shell Science Lab Challenge, bringing nearly $10,000 in laboratory resources to the school.

Prior to joining Aspire, Mr. Ward was the Director of School Culture at what is now City Arts and Prep Public Charter School in Washington, DC. There he focused on behavior management and clearly-defined school-wide procedures which lead to a 20% reduction in the number of behavior incidents and an 8% reduction in the total number of incidents and consequences for the highest stake student populations. He is currently a Ryan Fellow, a three-year principal fellowship that develops and supports transformational school leaders.

Mr. Ward is a proud graduate of Virginia State University, where he was a Presidential Scholar. He has completed additional coursework at Georgetown University and earned his Master’s degree in School Administration from Trinity Washington University in 2016. In his free time, Mr. Ward enjoys working out, attending live performances and concerts, traveling, community service through his fraternity, dining out, and spending time with his family.