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KIPP Texas Public Schools proudly recognizes Dr. Marla Sheppard, Deputy Chief of Academics for KIPP Texas-Houston, who recently received the Marcus Foster Distinguished Educator Award at the National Alliance of Black School Educators Conference in Los Angeles, California. The award is given to individuals who have displayed exceptional leadership qualities and who, through their talents, have made systemic impacts in the field of education. 
“Dr. Sheppard’s work has a positive impact in the lives of our students, our schools, and our communities,” said Sehba Ali, KIPP Texas Public Schools CEO. “This is an incredible and well-deserved honor for someone who leads with heart, excellence, and commitment every single day,” she added.
The National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE) is the nation’s leading non-profit organization devoted to furthering the academic success of the nation’s children – particularly Black students. NABSE seeks to establish a coalition of African American educators, administrators, and other professionals, directly and indirectly, involved in the educational process and create a forum to exchange ideas and strategies to improve opportunities for African American educators and students.
Dr. Sheppard has spent more than 20 years in education in Houston and Kansas City public schools. As a principal, she led several struggling schools to become TEA Recognized schools. Dr. Sheppard was named the HISD Secondary Principal of the Year in 2011. In June 2011, she was appointed the first female principal at the historical Jack Yates High School. Under her leadership, Yates’s academically unacceptable ratings and sanctions were removed, and the school became a TEA “Met Standard” school with an academic distinction in mathematics.
Dr. Sheppard has been an Assistant Superintendent of School Leadership in Fort Bend ISD and Deputy Superintendent in Kansas City Public Schools. She currently serves as the Deputy Chief of Academics at KIPP Texas-Houston. As a native Houstonian and product of HISD’s Booker T. Washington High School, Dr. Sheppard understands the importance of education and its role in changing the trajectory of generations.
