Queen Palmer Elementary School in Colorado Springs School District 11 was surprised with a national honor last weekend March 9.The school received the TAP Ambassador Award, which comes with a financial prize of $5,000, at the 13th National TAP Conference in Washington, D.C.TAP is the System for Teacher and Student Advancement. The award honors a TAP school that has gone beyond its campus to represent the principles of the TAP system and assist others in the state and region.Since adopting the TAP system in the 2011-12 school year, Queen Palmer Elementary has focused on improving teacher effectiveness and student learning by tailoring weekly professional development to specific needs; creating leadership roles to mentor others; implementing TAP’s teacher support and evaluation with rigor; and instituting a competitive compensation system to reward educators for increased skill and student performance.Queen Palmer’s implementation of TAP has served as a model in D-11.Queen Palmer was among five recipients of the honor this year.