Dr. Michael Doyle
Our mission is clear: inspire our students to succeed.
Every day when I get home, no matter what happened at school that day, I’m greeted by a golden retriever named Hayden. Hayden runs to the door, tail wagging so hard that his whole body shakes. He acts as he has never seen me before as he is not sure if he should jump, run in a circle or look for his leash.
After all, dogs are not part of the family, dogs are family. A dog will share with people unconditional love. So what is Hayden’s purpose? In the book, A Dog’s Purpose, a dog named Toby tells his story about his journey through four lives via reincarnation and how he looks for his purpose through each of his lives as a dog.
So what is the purpose of education? In an article by Willona M. Sloan, What Is the Purpose of Education? The question or answer begins with, if you were to ask even a relatively small group of teachers, administrators, students, parents, community members, business leaders, and policymakers to address the question of the purpose of education, how difficult do you think it would be to reach a consensus?
The Trenton Public Schools have a clear mission, a clear purpose, and that is to inspire students today for their success tomorrow. The school district does this in a number of ways. The elementary schools continue to score above both county and state averages in standardized testing. This is due to the high quality of teaching that takes place at the elementary level. The middle school offers over 40 elective courses. This allows students at this level of their education the opportunity to start to think about their future, about their successful tomorrow.
The middle school has been re-designated as a School to Watch. A School to Watch is a school that works to prepare students to be lifelong learners, who are ready for college, careers, and citizenship. The National Forum, which evaluates the middle school to see if the school meets the criteria, have a purpose to make every middle-grade school academically excellent, responsive to the developmental needs and interests of young adolescents, and socially equitable.
The high school has started an AP Capstone Diploma program with an AP course all taught by highly qualified teachers. The purpose is to allow Trenton High School students the opportunity to earn AP Capstone Diploma. For Trenton High School students who are interested in a skilled trade such as woodworking, autos or CAD, Trenton High School continues to provide courses in the skills trades at the high school or through the Downriver Career Consortium.
Why? The purpose? Trenton Public Schools are very proud of the education that is delivered to each student at each grade level. Trenton has a purpose to provide students to have a successful tomorrow. That is the purpose of the school, to provide programs, highly qualified staff and opportunities for students to have success in the future.
Trenton Public Schools has a mobile app. It can be downloaded by searching Trenton Public Schools on the Apple App/Google Play stores. The mobile app can be downloaded to your tablet or your phone. It allows for access to ParentConnect, StudentConnect, MISTAR-Q and other icons for information. More information can be found at https://www.trentonschools.com/Page/3315
Dr. Michael Doyle is community liaison director for Trenton Public Schools.