Tyrone Area High School - Tyrone, PA

A decade ago, Standard & Poors identified Tyrone High as a school “beating the odds” of poverty. For years, Tyrone’s low-income students had been achieving at levels seen only in the state’s wealthiest districts. The causes were not cutting-edge computers, extensive course offerings, nor glammed-up, high-tech gimmicks. Tyrone could afford none of these. What worked then is working now and could serve as a simple blueprint for similar schools seeking answers. Tyrone students experience a no-nonsense, single school culture of high expectations that undergirds both social behavior and academic excellence. Imposing “T”-shaped placards proclaim “FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION” at the front door. It’s a vacant cliché unless backed by brilliant, highly-organized, welcoming teachers. In classrooms, time-on-task is guarded like a precious metal. Regardless of ability, all students take college-level classes; with careful scaffolding, they tackle the same rigorous assignments as do honors students bound for Penn State. The results? With a teacher-devised composition and literature portfolio strategy employed in English classes for decades, Tyrone students led a state of 541 districts in both writing achievement and growth in 2012, leaving no child behind, and placed first statewide in 2013 in literature growth. In 2014, buttressed by high-level math and science growth and remediation efforts, Tyrone eventually recorded the highest School Performance Profile in the 35-district Intermediate Unit. Taking full-plates of college credits their senior years, reporting news via a nationally-awarded school newspaper, taking advantage of a rare in-house, vocational program—these are Tyrone High students, ready for any challenge.