Tyrone Olverson- Bio

Tyrone Olverson, principal of Licking Heights High School in Pataskala, Ohio, understands urban education and which strategies work best to ensure all students achieve academic success.  He is former principal of Waggoner Road Junior High School in Reynoldsburg, Ohio. During the 2006-2007 school year, Waggoner Road receive the Battelle for Kids SOAR Award for raising student achievement among seventh- and eighth-grade students within the top 3.5 percent of the state.  His presentations and workshops motivate educators and deliver strategies for success.  Tyrone’s diverse experience as an educator includes serving as a middle school teacher as well as an administrator at the elementary, middle, and high school levels in urban, urban-suburban and suburban districts.

While Tyrone was principal of Lincoln Heights Elementary School in Cincinnati, Ohio, the school was selected to participate in the National Staff Development Council’s “12 under 12” initiative. Tyrone believed that 12 years was too long to wait to improve student achievement for the urban school’s 400 underprivileged students (99 percent African-American, 100 percent Free Breakfast and Lunch participants). Lincoln Heights was one of four elementary schools across the nation to take on this No Child Left Behind challenge. Through the creation and implementation of research-based reform (8-Cylinder Reform), student achievement increased each year based on school and state assessment data.

Tyrone’s success at the high school level includes the development of a small learning community (SLC) of five, four-person teacher teams. The SLCs implemented Professional Learning Communities at Work™ (PLC) concepts and increased student achievement for three consecutive years. During his three-year tenure, Tyrone and his staff conducted several action research projects that identified the “good, bad, and ugly” in raising student achievement.

Tyrone earned his bachelor’s degree from Ohio State University and his master’s degree in educational administration from the University of Cincinnati, where he also spent two years on coursework in the Urban Educational Leadership (UEL) doctoral program.

Tyrone is a dynamic public speaker who engages his audience in a variety of thought-provoking activities. His focus is on thoughtful staff development as a vehicle to promote equity and excellence in PK–12 settings. Participants come away from Tyrone’s presentations with practical solutions to challenges that can be utilized immediately in their district, school, and classroom settings.