Dr. Mariama Shaheed serves as the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Global Preparatory Academy, Indiana’s first and only Spanish immersion charter school. Before founding Global Prep in 2016, Dr. Shaheed spent almost two decades working in a traditional public schools district as both a classroom teacher and principal, where she honed her commitment to equity and instructional excellence.

Since its opening, Global Prep has grown from 500 to nearly 800 students, serving grades Pre-K through 8. Each year, the school has demonstrated consistent increases in English Language Arts and Math scores on the state assessment, making it the most successful turnaround charter innovation school within the Indianapolis Public Schools portfolio.

An award-winning and bilingual educator with nearly 30 years of experience, Dr. Shaheed is deeply committed to expanding access to high-quality education for historically underserved communities. She is a recipient of the prestigious Milken National Educator Award and has been recognized as a Champion of Diversity, a Transformational Educator, and a Trailblazing Woman in business and education.

Dr. Shaheed holds a Bachelor’s in Elementary Education from Butler Univeristy,two Master’s degrees in Educational Leadership (Indiana University) and one in Business (Indiana Wesleyan), and a Doctorate in Organizational Leadership from Marian University. Her work is grounded in the belief that schools must close the achievement and opportunity gaps for students of color, and that educators are the most powerful lever in a child’s academic success. Global Preparatory Academy represents the kind of school she once dreamed of for her own daughter.