Dr. Marla Sheppard is from Houston, Texas where she graduated from the Houston Independent School District’s Booker T. Washington High School for the Engineering Professions.  She attended college at Texas A & M University and upon graduation, she returned home to teach in the Houston schools. After teaching math and science at both the middle and high school levels for seven years, she was accepted into the HISD Secondary Principalship Academy. From here, she held leadership positions as an assistant principal, turnaround middle school principal (Fleming Middle School), and high school principal (Jack Yates High School).  Each school saw tremendous gains under her leadership.  Dr. Sheppard was selected as the HISD Secondary Principal of the Year in 2011.  She left Houston ISD to become Assistant Superintendent of School Leadership in the Fort Bend Independent School District in 2013 where she was responsible for 16 schools (elementary, middle, and high school). Each school in her portfolio received a “Met Standard” state accountability rating.