This is the last episode in which Laura wears braids.
The real Laura did in fact get her teaching certificate 2 months before her 16th birthday. However, according to her memoirs and biographer she was not at all excited about it. She felt pressure to help out the family financially for her sister's expenses while she was still at the blind school in Iowa. Laura Ingalls Wilder never had a chance to complete her high school diploma. And was disappointed but she had to stop her studies once she got married.
This episode aired February 1980. Melissa Gilbert turns 16 in May of 1980. So she had her first kiss, on screen or otherwise the age of 15. Dean Butler was 23. Gilbert's mother was present during the scene
The real Laura Ingalls taught 2 students named Ruby & Tommy sister & brother but their last names were Brewster not Dobkins & there was not a Chad Brewster it was Clarence Brewster.
Nelly was not seen at the dancing festivities.