As she prepares to enroll at Spelman College in Atlanta, here are five things to know about Shepherd:

How she did it: Shepherd sent her bona fides 鈥� which include the publication of a book titled 鈥淭hirteen,鈥� seats on the New Orleans mayor’s and superintendent’s youth advisory councils, and extensive community service 鈥� to every college or university she could find that waived the application fee. She also submitted her application to , an online portal that offers direct admissions to colleges whose criteria students meet. 

About those scholarships: KIPP New Orleans leaders believe Shepherd has received more scholarship offers, or nearly so, than any graduate, ever. Because of unprecedented delays caused by problems with this year鈥檚 FAFSA, her total tally is likely to keep rising as colleges and philanthropies continue processing awards. All told, so far her senior class has earned $26 million in scholarships.  

Where she鈥檚 headed: Shepherd is waitlisted at an Ivy she鈥檇 prefer not to name, but it wasn鈥檛 her first choice. She鈥檚 had her eyes on Spelman College for years 鈥� even if it wasn鈥檛 always clear how she鈥檇 get there: 鈥淢y mom always told me to play my role and everything else would fall into place, and that鈥檚 exactly what happened. (They did also give me a full ride .)鈥� Shepherd texted in response to 蜜桃影视鈥檚 questions. 鈥淪o I鈥檒l be going to my dream school for free!鈥�

After that: Shepherd plans to follow a political science degree with law school, after which the two-time winner of KIPP New Orleans’s Black Lives Matter writing contest plans to tackle some societal issues. 鈥淚 want to be on the Supreme Court because I want to be a part of change to make a more fair, just and equitable society, and what better way to do that than from inside.鈥�

Her inspiration: Shepherd was in kindergarten when her father died. More recently, she lost both of her maternal grandparents to COVID. 鈥淓ducation meant everything to them, so I didn鈥檛 really have a choice but to do well in school,鈥� she says. When her grandmother passed, Shepherd channeled her grief into making her proud. 鈥淚t made me feel like everything I do moving forward .鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

The Council of Chief State School Officers representatives of a dozen major education organizations, state departments and local districts to share stories about their most successful efforts and how they plan to maintain the programs that yielded the best outcomes as budgets tighten. 蜜桃影视鈥檚 Beth Hawkins moderated one of the sessions, which showcased one district鈥檚 decision to collect data on what was working.

Organizers have released videos of the panels, focusing on innovative efforts at the state, district and school levels. In one, North Carolina officials to create an office of learning recovery within the state Department of Public Instruction, which will conduct research to help legislators make data-informed decisions about K-12 policy. The state also built a 鈥渇unding cliff dashboard鈥� for school systems to use as they confront the end of the federal aid.

Attendees also heard from a who slashed student office referrals to one third of pre-pandemic rates by gathering detailed, personal information on young people’s well-being and changing expectations for how staff spend their time. Teachers and administrators now join students for an extended lunch period, for example, and school leaders frequently ask students about everything from stress to thoughts of suicide, instead of relying on teacher referrals to support staff.

On Hawkins鈥檚 panel,  Adam Kunz, assistant superintendent of St. Paul Public Schools, and Indianapolis Public Schools Deputy Superintendent Andrew Strope delved into how their districts with 鈥�right-sizing鈥� efforts despite an infusion of cash that they could have used to forestall painful decisions. Instead, both school systems spent their federal funds on the recovery efforts that showed the strongest returns on investment.

In addition to fixing longstanding inequities in how special education and gifted and talented services are provided, Indianapolis invested in a high-dosage tutoring effort credited with reducing lost ground in math and reading to a third of losses in similar districts. 

St. Paul鈥檚 presentation described the district鈥檚 decision to plan for the end of federal funding even before the money arrived and showcased a novel high school credit recovery effort that has yielded major gains in student engagement and graduation readiness.

Here are videos of the other sessions on the program:

North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt and state Sen. Michael Lee talk with CCSSO CEO Carissa Moffat Miller about their state鈥檚 creation of a research hub to collect data on effective recovery efforts that lawmakers can tap when deciding education policy priorities. 

Georgia Association of Secondary School Principals鈥� 2023 Middle School Principal of the Year Suzan Harris and eighth-grader Carter Glover describe dramatic improvements in their Jackson school鈥檚 disciplinary climate and ability to support student mental health.

CCSSO鈥檚 2023 National Teacher of the Year Rebecka Peterson talks to educator Jo-Anne Smith of Waterbury, Vermont, about her role as a kindergarten intervention specialist at Brookside Primary School.

Roberto Rodriguez, assistant secretary for planning, evaluation and policy development with the U.S. Department of Education, talks with Council of the Great City Schools Executive Director Ray Hart about opportunities to continue the most effective ESSER investments.聽

In a conversation moderated by 蜜桃影视鈥檚 Beth Hawkins, three state leaders describe their creative uses of local and federal innovation laws. The director of college and career readiness at the South Carolina Department of Education, Stephanie DiStasio talks about creating a 鈥減laybook鈥� to let educators know what flexibility exists and what kinds of programs they’re allowed to try; Julie Murgel, chief operating officer for the Montana Office of Public Instruction, talks about her state鈥檚 assessment experiment, which measures student skills throughout the year instead of in one end-of-course exam; and Minnesota鈥檚 Lucy Payne, a member of the teacher education faculty at the University of St. Thomas, describes bringing students鈥� voices to policy discussions.

Castillo, who is in her fourth year of teaching, says she finds joy in making her classroom a safe haven not only for herself, but for her students by creating a well-equipped, stimulating and hands-on environment for learning.

Castillo teaches middle school physical science and Earth space science at the Florida A&M University Developmental Research School in Tallahassee. The K-12 laboratory school, located on the campus, is affiliated with the university’s College of Education, Castillo鈥檚 alma mater. She received her bachelor鈥檚 in biology education there in 2021.

During her first year of teaching, she designed her classroom based on the Cartoon Network show Total Drama Island and posted pictures on social media. Her received over a quarter-million likes 鈥� and she’s never looked back. She documents her elaborate, hand-made classroom decorations on TikTok 鈥�  typically based on favorite childhood shows and movies such as Stitch from Disney鈥檚 Lilo and Stitch or the characters from Disney Channel鈥檚 hit show The Proud Family 鈥�  and posts videos of special Friday projects that teach students essential skills like cooking, sewing, proper table etiquette and balancing a checkbook. 

Would you cook with your students?

Castilllo has received so many messages from teachers asking for tutorials that she posts theme concepts on TikTok and offers custom borders and posters on Etsy.

My classroom reveal for my Proud Family Themed Classroom

Her social media presence also garnered the attention of Grammy Award-winning rapper Megan thee Stallion, who sent Castillo and her students a special in 2021. 

That moment you and your students get a special shout-out from Megan Thee Stallion @theestallion

Castillo also uses her Instagram account, @ScholarDreams_, to keep her students and parents informed about school events such as sports tryouts, weather-related cancellations and class supply lists.

Making her classroom as lively as possible is no small feat. It typically takes Castillo the entire summer to prepare, and she spends between $300 and $400 for decor each school year, plus about $100 for every 鈥渓ife skills鈥� project. Support from the college and online donations help to offset the cost.

It’s totally worth it, she says, to always make her students feel welcome and know that someone took the time to invite them in and make them comfortable.

If they鈥檙e too quick to close schools, families strapped for child care 鈥� or facing another day of indoor 鈥渇un鈥� 鈥� suffer. If they hold back and ice or whiteouts trap kids on buses, that鈥檚 a different kind of misery-making.

In December, Rochester Public Schools Superintendent Kent Pekel made fun of his first wrong school-closure call of the season in a Twitter video that ended up going viral.

Standing in the dry, sunny parking lots of a series of shuttered schools, he mocked himself: 鈥淐ertainly the worst conditions that have ever existed in Rochester history 鈥� maybe in American history.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;

鈥淚 could never have made it out here to Bamber Valley Elementary School in these terrible road conditions if I didn鈥檛 have an incredibly powerful all-terrain vehicle like my Kia Optima,鈥� Pekel proclaimed to his phone camera. 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 have an amped-up car like mine, don鈥檛 go out. You鈥檙e never going to make it.鈥�

Gantlet thrown down, students have spent the rest of the winter tapping their critical thinking and creative writing skills to persuade Pekel to call snow days. 

Earlier this week, the superintendent singled out an entreaty from Fahad A. as one of the year鈥檚 best.  

Runners-up so far this school year include an argument that the district鈥檚 17,400 students are becoming accustomed to sleeping in on Thursdays, which one claimed have been especially snow-prone;

That stressed-out teachers need the extra rest;

And that homebound pupils will use the day to catch up. 

There was a variation on the classic 鈥渦phill both ways鈥� lament 鈥�

鈥nd outright flattery. 

But not everybody was amused. 

The superintendent did not miss a beat, replying to a thread of armchair meteorologists that he had not 鈥渢hrown any [forecasters] under the proverbial school buses we are all trying to keep on the road.鈥�

As it turns out, how many inches are enough to justify a snow day is a math problem with no right answer. 

Few would question the importance of diversifying America鈥檚 teacher corps and ensuring their makeup more closely resembles that of the students they teach. But how? What are the most successful tactics? And because of the stresses and health concerns faced by so many educators during the pandemic?

These are some of the questions that will be on the table today at 1 p.m. Eastern, when 蜜桃影视 and the Progressive Policy Institute present a panel discussion: “Teacher Diversity in a Post-COVID World.” Experts will include Kate Walsh, president of the National Council on Teacher Quality; Sharif El-Mekki, founder and CEO of the Center for Black Educator Development; Daniel Helena, English language development coordinator for Los Angeles’s Kory Hunter Middle School; and Brienne Bellavita, senior advocacy manager for the Walton Family Foundation and Walton Education Coalition. Curtis Valentine, deputy director of Reinventing America鈥檚 Schools at the Progressive Policy Institute, will moderate.

Click and join the official Zoom, or watch the livestream by either , or refreshing this page at 1 p.m. ET when we鈥檒l embed the stream in progress.

Go Deeper 鈥� Some important related articles to help shape the conversation:

• Analysis: Kate Walsh: New Study of 1,200 Teacher Preparation Programs Shows Academic Selectivity and Diversity Can Go Hand in Hand

• First person: Sharif El-Mekki: Just 2% of U.S. Teachers Are Black Males, but at National Convening We Come Together as a Powerful Force for Change

• State policy: Two Steps Forward, One Back: Teacher Diversity Bill May Push Hundreds of Minnesota Educators of Color from Classrooms

• Interview: 鈥楢 Diverse Teaching Force Is a Quality Teaching Force鈥�: Researcher Seth Gershenson Talks About His New Book and the Changing Demographics of American Schools

• Research: Why Diversity Matters: Five Things We Know About How Black Students Benefit From Having Black Teachers

• Explore the Data: The State of America鈥檚 Student-Teacher Racial Gap: Our Public School System Has Been Majority-Minority for Years, but 80 Percent of Teachers Are Still White