About Dr. Fadeyibi
Dr. Olufemi Fadeyibi leads change within schools. For the past 19 years, Dr. Fadeyibi has worked in both urban and suburban schools. As a school administrator, he has led schools to the highest growth in two critical metrics in the School District of Philadelphia:
- During the 2016-2017 school year, he led his school site to a 16.2 percentage point increase in the English Language Arts section (ELA) of the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA), making the school the top performer out of 243 schools within the School District of Philadelphia for total percentage point growth in the ELA section of the PSSA.
- During the 2021-2022 school year, he led his school’s 9th Grade Academy to the largest gain in the School District of Philadelphia with a 26.0 percentage point gain of freshman On-Track students. As the data was disaggregated, his school had the highest growth of On-Track students for Black and Latino males within the entire School District of Philadelphia.
Dr. Fadeyibi is also involved in action research; his passion and expertise focus on ways to help all students, specifically Black and Latino male students, improve their academic outcomes and realize their potential. He writes to strengthen educational leaders’ understanding of how to empower marginalized students to realize potential. As founder and CEO of the UpliftEducate Mentoring Program, Dr. Fadeyibi has observed firsthand how mentored students thrive in almost every academic outcome when mentored correctly. For 10 years, his mentoring program has been implemented in both charter and public schools in Philadelphia. In these schools, increased student outcomes have included statistically significant gains in GPA, academic self-competency, and possible future selves. While the mentoring program is uniquely created for Black and Latino males, males of all races have benefited from attendance in the program.
Most recently, Dr. Fadeyibi has completed a student-facing 25-lesson graphic workbook, journal, and facilitator’s guide (an offshoot from his dissertation) entitled “Donovan’s World.” The workbook highlights the contributions of Black and Latino men to United States society while uncovering the negative messages in society that influence Black and Latino boys to think that they are academically inferior to other groups. The workbook is designed to strengthen the academic confidence of our youth, help them overcome stereotypes and avoid situations that lead to violence and early death.
Dr. Fadeyibi has a Bachelor of Science degree in English and Education, a Master of Education degree in Urban Education, and a Doctor of Education degree in Policy and Organizational Leadership—all from Temple University. His dissertation focused on evaluating and creating high-leverage in-school mentoring interventions that improve the academic outcomes for adolescent Black boys.