Our Approach to
Our Core Beliefs
We believe in serving the whole child, instilling core values, pushing rigorous expectations, and nurturing social-emotional wellness. Preparing students for college and beyond means sustaining relationships with alumni long after they graduate to ensure a strong future.
FAmily First
We believe strongly in relationships. We love our students, our families, and the Trenton community. Even when we do not agree, LOVE is at the root of what we do and how we do it. As we have grown as an organization, we have intentionally kept our schools small so that relationships stay at the forefront.
Growth-Focused
We believe in the importance of humility, recognizing that constant growth is necessary for all people. The Foundation Academies faculty and staff are working together to embody an ever-evolving organization committed to continuously providing a better education for our kids. We want them to embrace lifelong habits of adapting and growing by accepting that learning never ends. To accomplish this, we need to constantly reflect, learn, and challenge each other to be better.
Excellence Always
We believe in the pursuit of excellence in everything that we do. Our classroom instruction, our string concerts, our facilities: all of them should exude excellence. Our children deserve to be raised in that environment so they can thrive and reach their potential.
School Design
A Focus on Urban Adolescents
As we grow, we learn about, test, modify, deploy and are constantly improving upon a series of strategies and techniques designed to build. We regularly use instructional methods, procedures and practices in our classrooms that have proven successful in other high-performing urban schools.
Foundation Academies’ Seven Key Components
Our academic program is informed by seven key design components that drive our decisions and approach to education.
A Focus
on Urban Adolescents
As we grow, we learn about, test, modify, deploy and are constantly improving upon a series of strategies and techniques designed to build. We regularly use instructional methods, procedures and practices in our classrooms that have proven successful in other high-performing urban schools.
High and Clearly Articulated Expectations
We use standardized lesson planning structures, classroom procedures, a visible blackboard configuration, student organization systems, and a student planner. All are designed to effectively secure clear communications to students and parents on a regular basis about what students are supposed to be learning.
Rewards
and Consequences
We recognize positive academic and social behaviors and consistently and systematically provide consequences for conduct that detracts from learning or proves inconsistent with our core values.
Values Focus
We have continuously sought to instill in our students that becoming better people is as important as other measures of success. We have pursued academic excellence, secured a strong reputation with our parents and in the broader community and have been efficient stewards of the public’s financial resources, all while simultaneously and unapologetically focusing our students and staff on our core values of caring, respect, responsibility, and honesty.
More Time on Task
We currently operate an academic year and day that extends well beyond that of our district peers. Our students receive greater than 19% more instructional time than students in Trenton traditional public district schools.
Building Community
Our school community meets regularly to focus on character development. Depending on grade level, this is accomplished via Community Circle and Advising. During this time, advisors, teachers, group leaders and students discuss and present Foundation Academies’ core values. Our students are actively engaged in the community and conduct several community service projects.
Results Focus
We regularly track data to measure and assess our performance. Each month, we publish and distribute to all staff more than 100 pages of Monthly Performance Metrics (MPMs), detailing various academic and conduct measures of students, staff and parents.
Our Strings Program: Music is a Vital Part of Our Curriculum
Violin, Viola, Bass, & Cello
Activation of both sides of the brain. That’s one of many benefits that students reap from our school wide Strings Program. Music classes begin in kindergarten, with strings study introduced in fourth grade. All Foundation Academies students learn to play a string instrument of their choosing, from the violin and viola to the upright bass and cello. Through music, our students are challenged in new ways when it comes to responsibility and focus. Oftentimes, we find students who may struggle with academics excel in the Strings Program.
And while students build their musical skills, they also learn motivation, responsibility, and leadership along the way. At the high school level, with support of a certified instructor, orchestras are often student-lead. We consider our Strings Program pivotal in developing the whole child.
