2023 GSE Commencement Program

ORDER OF EVENT Procession

Alakande! Spread Joy!

Opening Statement

Heather Mohamed, ’22 | Student Associate Trustee

Welcome and Introduction of the Platform Party

Cecelia Traugh | Dean of the Graduate School

Victoria Hamilton | Chair, Board of Trustees

Shael Polakow-Suransky, ’00 | President

Cecelia Traugh | Dean

Valentine Burr | Associate Dean of Academic Affairs

Anthony C. Conelli | Chair, Educational Leadership

Peggy McNamara | Senior Director, Student Learning Support & Community Initiatives

Kristin Waters | Chief Enrollment Officer and Registrar

Erica Davis, ’11 | President, Bank Street College Alumni Association

Heather Mohamed, ’22 | Student Associate Trustee

Ursula Davis, ’74 | Honorary Degree Recipient

Guadalupe Valdés | Honorary Degree Recipient

Commencement Speakers

Victoria Hamilton | Chair, Board of Trustees

Shael Polakow-Suransky, ’00 | President

Cecelia Traugh | Dean

Conferral of Honorary Degrees

Cecelia Traugh | Dean

Shael Polakow-Suransky, ’00 | President

Ursula Davis, ’74 | Recipient

Guadalupe Valdés | Recipient

Student Speakers

Richard Batista, ’23

Amanda Rosado, ’23

Presentation of Graduate School Diplomas

Shael Polakow-Suransky, ’00 | President

Cecelia Traugh | Dean

Alumni Congratulations

Erica Davis, ’11 | President, Bank Street College Alumni Association

Recessional

“Pomp and Circumstance” | Edward Elgar, Composer

HONORARY DEGREE RECIPIENT, URSULA DAVIS, ’74

Today we honor Ursula Davis, a dedicated and renowned early childhood specialist, an effective community organizer, and a tireless advocate for equity, justice, and anti-bias education that starts with high-quality early childhood programs. A 1974 graduate of Bank Street College, Ms. Davis represents the best of the Bank Street community with her focus on advocating for all children and embodying change through her work with organizations, communities, families, and students.

Ms. Davis grew up in Harlem, where she personally experienced the challenges children face in traditionally underserved communities. She dedicated her life to leading the change she wants to see in the world. With years of experience teaching kindergarten and early childhood in both urban and rural settings, Ms. Davis became an expert practitioner of developmentally appropriate and student-centered learning. She also came to understand the power of building partnerships with families, developing a philosophical stance grounded in the idea that helping children grow academically, socially, and emotionally is a group effort. For decades, Ms. Davis has mentored many early childhood educators and become a champion for students in New York City and across our nation. She has served as deputy director of the New York City Commission on Childhood and Child Care Programs and director of early childhood education for District 4 in East Harlem. Now, she provides consulting services to schools, childcare centers, and corporations nationwide, including training workshops for kindergarten teachers that explain how the details of classroom setups make a difference in learning.

And Ms. Davis has stayed connected to the Bank Street community, successfully forging partnerships between Bank Street and many organizations, schools, and districts. She has taught early childhood courses at our Graduate School, worked with the School for Children, and conducted seminars in public schools about how to make use of Bank Street’s resources and pedagogy. She also helped establish and served on the advisory board of the Bank Street Urban Education Initiative and works as a senior consultant with our Bank Street Education Center. In 2017, Ms. Davis was honored with a Distinguished Service Award from the Bank Street College Alumni Association.

Throughout her career, Ms. Davis has affected positive change by staying connected with many of the teachers she has encountered along the way, nourishing relationships near and far and encouraging them, one by one, to keep stretching the boundaries of their learning, always in support of their students and with an eye on their long-term success. She is a shining example of what it means to be a lifelong learner and she inspires others to do what is best for children and their learning. As we honor Ms. Davis, we know that Bank Street educators will continue her life’s work to advance high-quality, equitable, and developmentally appropriate early childhood education.

HONORARY DEGREE RECIPIENT, GUADALUPE VALDÉS

Guadalupe Valdés, one of the preeminent experts on Spanish-English bilingualism in the United States, has devoted her professional career to improving the lives and experiences of Latinx and Black students by advocating for inclusive classrooms where the language and cultural practices of all students are considered.

Dr. Valdés’ desire to advance language teaching and learning in a multilingual world began from her own challenging experiences growing up on the USMexico border, crossing from Chihuahua, Mexico to El Paso, Texas every day for school. After earning her PhD from Florida State University, Dr. Valdés returned to the Southwest to teach at New Mexico State University. She went on to become the first Latina appointed to a full professorship in the University of California system at UC Berkeley. and, in 1992, she joined Stanford University. Now professor emerita, Dr. Valdés is the founder and executive director of a non-profit organization called English Together, which prepares volunteers to provide one-on-one language coaching in workplace English to low-wage, immigrant workers.

Dr. Valdés’s work in the field of bilingual education and ethnographic scholarship has advanced the ways we teach languages and literacy in all respects. She has fearlessly worked to transform bilingual education, approaching issues ranging from methods of instruction to the role of education in national policies on immigration. Because of her work, we understand the importance of considering the language practices of families as well as the powerful role schools and teachers have on the way immigrant students learn.

In the 1970s and ‘80s, Dr. Valdés was the first scholar to call for change to educational programs for Latinx students. She advanced the expanding field of Spanish language teaching in secondary schools and universities, successfully relabeling it from foreign language education to “heritage” language education. Later, as it became clear that this label led to experiences of alienation for some Latinx students, she distanced herself from this idea. Always putting the needs of students first, she pushed back on the bilingual education standards she had helped to grow in order to keep the curricula focused on the complexity and creativity of bilingual learners.

Throughout her scholarly career and advocacy work, Dr. Valdés has stayed focused on inclusion, working to ensure that others, particularly Black students, would also benefit from the changes she hoped to see. For example, Dr. Valdés stood up for Black and Latinx students when dual language programs became appealing nationwide, asking us to be wary of the ways dual language programming can re-center liberalism and Whiteness rather than break the chain. Her ability to constantly question accepted understandings has expanded the borders of the field time and time again and kept us pointed toward more inclusive standards and curricular guidelines for language learning.

STUDENT SPEAKERS

Heather Mohamed serves on the Board of Trustees at Bank Street as the Student Associate Trustee. She earned her Master of Science in Education from our Childhood Special and General Education Dual Certification program in May 2022. Originally from Bridgeport, Connecticut, Heather, who now lives in Brooklyn, is currently a second grade head teacher at Packer Collegiate Institute. Heather found her Bank Street experience to be incredibly rewarding despite attending graduate school mostly during the pandemic. She has been taught by many incredibly reflective, relational, and joyful educators who have inspired her to embrace these qualities in her own work.

Richard Batista is a proud teacher of mathematics in the New York City public school system, educating hundreds of high school students each year. His work in humanizing mathematics and equitable practices has inspired him to expand beyond the four walls of his classroom and pursue a degree in leadership. He aspires to influence and impact other educators at the high school level to become more progressive, culturally responsive, and reflective practitioners in order to better serve students. Today, Richard is graduating from Bank Street’s Leadership in Mathematics Education Program equipped with his New York State School Building Leader certification ready to empower educators and younger generations in order to transcend today’s educational world.

Amanda Rosado has dedicated her life and career to becoming a teacher and serving the children who she truly resonates with—the students in underprivileged communities and attending Title I schools. Throughout her career, Amanda has served as a preschool teacher, an infant teacher, a classroom paraprofessional, a substitute teacher, and is currently teaching in and serving the young, bright minds of East New York, the community in which she and her family live. As an educator, Amanda searched for a graduate program that would fit her ideals as a future educator. Bank Street offered everything she could ask for and more, especially the emphasis on providing all children with a quality education and culturally responsive pedagogies. Today, Amanda has proudly earned her Master of Science in Education degree in our dual Early Childhood General and Special Education Program.

DID YOU KNOW?

• We confer three types of degrees at Bank Street: Master of Science (MS); Master of Science in Education (MSEd); and Master of Education (EdM).

• At Bank Street Graduate School Commencement celebrations, the wearing of the cap, gown, and hood is optional. All graduates have the option of wearing a sash in the College colors of royal blue and gold.

TEACHING & LEARNING CANDIDATES

Child Life

CHILD LIFE

Jessica Baer, MS

Victoria Brasil, MS

Lindsay Burnop, MS

Meghan Butler, MS

Kathleen Calves, MS

Janaleen Domingo, MS

Sydnie Epstein, MS

Jacqueline Glenn, MS

Caroline Kenny, MS

Quinn Regner, MS

Lauren Ribner, MS

Zoe Rudnick, MS

Olivia Serra, MS

Nicole Shaffery, MS

CressaVidad, MS

CHILD LIFE ADVANCED STANDING

Melissa Charles, MS

Eva Marks, MS

CHILD LIFE (NON-CERTIFICATION)

Abigayle Grosso, MS

Childhood Special Education

CHILDHOOD SPECIAL AND GENERAL EDUCATION DUAL CERTIFICATION

Nina Alvarado Silverman, MSEd

Candice Carr, MSEd

Allie Cavanaugh, MSEd

Nora Foutty, MSEd

Clare Geithner, MSEd

Amanda Goldstein, MSEd

Taylor Gregory, MSEd

Julia Kamen Birnbaum, MSEd

Gabrielle Kennedy, MSEd

Sophie Kennen, MSEd

Todd Lavine, MSEd

Praerna Mathur, MSEd

Danielle Quick, MSEd

Olivia Romano, MSEd

Samantha Rosenbaum, MSEd

Funda Rozan, MSEd

CHILDHOOD SPECIAL AND GENERAL EDUCATION DUAL CERTIFICATION (continued)

Ingrid Running, MSEd

Katharine Skakel, MSEd

Amanda Somekh, MSEd

Summer Syphax, MSEd

Heather Vrattos, MSEd

Elizabeth White, MSEd

CHILDHOOD SPECIAL AND GENERAL EDUCATION DUAL CERTIFICATION WITH COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK

Emilie Sauvayre, MSEd

CHILDHOOD SPECIAL EDUCATION

Aniberca Abreu, MSEd

Emily Burnett, MSEd

Leandro Moronta Pichardo, MSEd

Nathalia Springer, MSEd

Dual Language/Bilingual Education

DUAL LANGUAGE/BILINGUAL CHILDHOOD GENERAL EDUCATION

Anna Ramsey, MSEd

Early Childhood Advanced Standing EARLY CHILDHOOD ADVANCED STANDING

Catherine Amore, MSEd

Crystal Ash, MSEd

Christiana Burton, MSEd

Diana Cajamarca, MSEd

Darnaysia Caldwell, MSEd

Patricia Collado, MSEd

Katrina Crum, MSEd

Tiffani Crum, MSEd

Sarah Ficken, MSEd

Suheil Fontanez, MSEd

Hazel Francis, MSEd

Ariana Giraldo, MSEd

Carlos Gomez-Sanchez, MSEd

Yvonne Gordon-Ritchens, MSEd

Marion Harris, MSEd

Rosaysela Hernandez, MSEd

Tiffany Howard, MSEd

Sunkyung Kim, MSEd

TEACHING & LEARNING CANDIDATES

EARLY CHILDHOOD ADVANCED STANDING (continued)

Sandra Kuball, MSEd

Xiaoli Lu, MSEd

Omaily Martinez, MSEd

Lilian Medina-Young, MSEd

Patricia Mitchell, MSEd

Stephanie Montalvo, MSEd

Keyona Morrison, MSEd

Karina Navarrete, MSEd

Katherine Orellana, MSEd

Rachel Park, MSEd

Rafelina Pena, MSEd

Rona Ramdharee, MSEd

Robert Ramos, MSEd

Tameka Silva, MSEd

DeAnna Smallwood, MSEd

Jacqueline Thomas, MSEd

Zainab Toom, MSEd

Janelly Torres, MSEd

Patricia Townsend, MSEd

Janae Uribe, MSEd

Hannah Van Dolsen, MSEd

Enidza Velez, MSEd

Early Childhood Special Education

EARLY CHILDHOOD SPECIAL & GENERAL EDUCATION DUAL CERTIFICATION

Daniella Alony, MSEd

Alicia Alvira, MSEd

Samantha Bernstein, MSEd

Melisa Beyer, MSEd

Caroline Bronston, MSEd

Margaret Brummer, MSEd

Jamie Carroll, MSEd

Shayna DePersia, MSEd

Holly Eberth, MSEd

Rachel Ford, MSEd

Emma Freedman, MSEd

Lauren Friednash, MSEd

Katherine Geist, MSEd

Alexa Gershkowitz, MSEd

Johanni Gomez Marte, MSEd

Latreice Gould, MSEd

Samantha Gronwoldt, MSEd

Gabrielle Gubitosa, MSEd

Christine Jordan, MSEd

EARLY CHILDHOOD SPECIAL & GENERAL EDUCATION DUAL CERTIFICATION (continued)

Sasha Krantz, MSEd

Mei-An Lee, MSEd

Catherine Maguire, MSEd

Bryannah Manon, MSEd

Hannah Marias, MSEd

Danielle Mazzilli, MSEd

Anna Mullen, MSEd

Mackenzie Musgrave, MSEd

Kristen O’Reilly, MSEd

Amanda Rosado, MSEd

Nathan Saignes, MSEd

Chrystal Scotti, MSEd

Triscott St. Kitts, MSEd

Beth Tarnow, MSEd

EARLY CHILDHOOD SPECIAL EDUCATION

Amearah Abuassi, MSEd

Sarah Grossman Nieves, MSEd

Chana Ingber, MSEd

Katherine Ratcliff, MSEd

General Education

CHILDHOOD GENERAL EDUCATION

Nicholas Banns, MSEd

Katarina Barone, MSEd

Emilia Curcic, MSEd

Nora Finley, MSEd

Jonathon Goldberg, MSEd

Michael Griffin, MSEd

Zachary Libresco, MSEd

Chalita Promrat, MSEd

Eliza Ross, MSEd

Liu Volpe, MSEd

CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION

Alice Kang, MSEd

Rebecca Narins, MSEd

Eliana Taub, MSEd

EARLY CHILDHOOD & CHILDHOOD GENERAL EDUCATION

Kwame Alston-Clark, MSEd

Nicole Salzman, MSEd

Sara Shiffman, MSEd

TEACHING & LEARNING CANDIDATES

EARLY CHILDHOOD

GENERAL EDUCATION

Sarah Arjun, MSEd

Hannah Corrie, MSEd

Blaire Eberhart, MSEd

Zoe Fenton, MSEd

Catrina Fleischmann, MSEd

Marlene Mitchell, MSEd

Sabrina Ross, MSEd

Nicholas Schroth, MSEd

Cheryl Vanterpool, MSEd

Denita Wynn, MSEd

Infant & Family Development & Early Intervention

INFANCY/EARLY CHILDHOOD SPECIAL & GENERAL EDUCATION

Sanayi Beckles-Canton, MSEd

INFANCY/EARLY CHILDHOOD SPECIAL EDUCATION

Katherine Rodriguez, MSEd

INFANCY AND FAMILY DEVELOPMENT & EARLY INTERVENTION (NON-CERTIFICATION)

Endinda Huios Krista Kang, MSEd

Annabelle Martin, MSEd

INFANCY AND FAMILY DEVELOPMENT & EARLY INTERVENTION DUAL DEGREE

Bernadette Alarage, MSEd

Anna Emy, MSEd

Lillian Kaplan, MSEd

Everette Middleton-Kong, MSEd

Maria Torres, MSEd

Museum Education

MUSEUM EDUCATION (NON-CERTIFICATION)

David Wells, MSEd

New York City Teaching Collaborative Program

TEACHING ADOLESCENTS WITH DISABILITIES

Mie Abouelkheir, MSEd

Assetou Bagayoko, MSEd

Joan Cargill, MSEd

Patrick Colabella, MSEd

Ikea Ewing, MSEd

Nicola Johnson, MSEd

Max Lefer, MSEd

Tiffany Mclean, MSEd

Melanie Muzsik, MSEd

Megan Peters-Reyes, MSEd

Maria Sarmiento, MSEd

Anna Siegel, MSEd

Reading & Literacy

TEACHING LITERACY & CHILDHOOD GENERAL EDUCATION DUAL CERTIFICATION ‘

Madison Adams, MSEd

Chaya Oster, MSEd

Abby Powell, MSEd

Veronica Walton, MSEd

TEACHING LITERACY: FOCUS ON CLASSROOM TEACHING

Amelia Gabay, MSEd

Francesca Lawless, MSEd

Shannon Monahan, MSEd

Hannah Murphy, MSEd

Whitney Pech, MSEd

Studies in Education STUDIES

IN EDUCATION

Melissa Jamal, MSEd

Marilia Lauria, MSEd

Marianna McCall, MSEd

Amanda Motherway, MSEd

Kathleen Squires, MSEd

TEACHING & LEARNING CANDIDATES

Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

TEACHING ENGLISH TO SPEAKERS OF OTHER LANGUAGES

Helim Choi, MSEd

Carolyn Goldman, MSEd

Robert Gottlieb, MSEd

Kimberly Nazario, MSEd

LEADERSHIP CANDIDATES

Early Childhood Advanced Leadership Certificate

Awilda Chapel

Abigail Cook-Gonzalez

Gelardina Gelsomino

Rachel Kurland

Kimley Perkins

Early Childhood Advanced Leadership

Amanda Welch, MSEd

Leadership in Mathematics Education

Richard Batista, MSEd

Michelle George, MSEd

Jabari Najja N’Kosi, MSEd

Kami Soverall, MSEd

Leadership in Museum Education

Amy Berridge, MSEd

Deja Santiago, MSEd

Learning and Engagement in Museums and Cultural Organizations

Shana Crawford, MSEd

Rachel Ebersole, MSEd

Monica Faulkner, MSEd

Caroline Picard, MSEd

Rachel Swanson, MSEd

TEACHING ENGLISH TO SPEAKERS OF OTHER LANGUAGES

Chloe Ocain, MSEd

Amanda Remus, MSEd

Quinisha Riley, MSEd

Benjamin Rottman, MSEd

Esther Shevel, MSEd

Progressive Leadership

Rebeeca Akselrad, EdM

Debbie Ausch, EdM

Rebekah Bambling, EdM

Joanne Casanova, EdM

Lillian Feibus, EdM

Yury Garcia, MSEd

Fariyda Goodwin, MSEd

Lauren Harrow, MSEd

Alice Herrera, MSEd

Candace Hurley, MSEd

Shayne Johnson, EdM

Kristopher Karam, MSEd

Elisheva Kirschenbaum, MSEd

Sydney Lewis, EdM

Shanell Marshall, EdM

Sade McCaw, EdM

Carmen Morency-Kawalick, MSEd

Andrea Pastorelli-Sosa, MSEd

Shannon Peters, MSEd

Anya Popova, MSEd

Joel Schudson, MSEd

Ashanti Shaheed, EdM

Loren Soltish, EdM

Lissette Torres-Morales, MSEd

Nicaury Villar Ulerio, EdM

LEADERSHIP CANDIDATES

Future School Leaders Academy

Paul Brennan, EdM

Meredith Brieant, EdM

Karin Brill, EdM

Christine Buckman, EdM

Kayla Castaneda, EdM

Daniela Castro, EdM

John Chapeton, EdM

Shannon Cipolla, EdM

Derrick DiRienzo, EdM

Kristy Emery, EdM

Melissa Ferraro, EdM

Emily Fiore, EdM

Paul Frisch, EdM

Veronica Galindo Delgado, EdM

Frank Guglieri, EdM

Michael Hirsh, EdM

Dana Keith, EdM

Dina Miller, EdM

Justin Olive, EdM

Jennifer Rinaldo, EdM

Erin Ryan, EdM

Diana Siclari, EdM

Ryan Spillane, EdM

Annelise Valerio, EdM

Leaders in Education Apprenticeship Program and Yonkers Urban Leadership Academy

Evlain Ayoub, EdM

Keith Brooks, EdM

Jacklyn Celona, EdM

Damen Davis, EdM

Marissa De Gaetano, MSEd

Caitlin Delphin, EdM

Leaders in

Education Apprenticeship Program and Yonkers Urban Leadership Academy (continued)

Parija Desai, EdM

Anabel Encarnación, EdM

Lisa Galeano, EdM

Stephanie Gianneo, EdM

Precious Glover, EdM

Khalilah Griffin, EdM

Muhamed Hadzovic, EdM

Rebecca Hanley, EdM

Dexter Hannibal, EdM

Christine Haralambou, EdM

Rebecca Harnage, EdM

Tiffany Henderson, EdM

Jaymie Hernandez, EdM

Olivia Jetawo, EdM

Shawn Jones, EdM

Shelly Lekhraj, EdM

Eric Maldonado, EdM

Allison Nelson, EdM

Carlos Ortiz, EdM

Christopher Philogene, EdM

Asiel Rajab, EdM

Virge Ramos, EdM

Felicia Reynolds, EdM

Stephen Rinaldo, EdM

Nicole Rodriguez, EdM

Erica Rubin, EdM

Kirsten SauthoffBruschi, EdM

Cyrus Shojai, MSEd

Patrick Sprinkle, EdM

Alison Sumter, EdM

Yolanda Swinton, EdM

Danielle Tornabene, EdM

This document is not an official graduation list. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy in this Commencement program, printing deadlines may result in omission of some names and use of names of persons not completing graduation requirements as intended. This printed program, therefore, should not be used to determine a student’s academic or degree status. The College’s official registry for conferral of degrees is the student’s permanent academic record, maintained by the Registrar, Office of Student Services. Names are displayed alphabetically by last name, by program, as indicated on each student’s application for graduation.

A THANK YOU TO DEAN CECELIA TRAUGH

On this commencement day, we’d like to express our gratitude to Cecelia Traugh, Dean of the Graduate School of Education, who is retiring after eight years of distinguished service to our community.

In her role at the Graduate School of Education, Dr. Traugh has nurtured a culture rooted in collaborative inquiry. Under her leadership, she has strengthened curricula, expanded our online programs, and advanced our commitment to equity and racial justice. She deepened our focus on research and scholarship, publishing many of her own pieces on the process of descriptive inquiry, including a book called Descriptive Inquiry in Teacher Practice: Cultivating Practical Wisdom to Create Democratic Schools, and actively encouraging colleagues to share and publish their research and ideas. She has also supported innovative faculty scholarship by developing new centers for thought leaders, including the Straus Center for Young Children & Families, the National Center for Children in Poverty, and a national network of teacher and leader preparation programs called EdPrepLab.

While working closely with faculty to broaden access to a Bank Street education, she established many innovative programs serving teachers and leaders who work in public settings, including the Early Childhood General Education Advanced Standing Program, which enables experienced early childhood teachers to earn a Bank Street master’s degree and New York State certification while staying employed full time, and the District 13 Residency Program in Childhood General and Special Education, a teacher residency program focusing on anti-racist pedagogy in partnership with District 13 in Brooklyn. These and many other efforts have resulted in a more robust academic environment and an increase in the diversity of our students and faculty.

Dean Traugh, you will be dearly missed. We’re so very grateful for the time you spent with us at Bank Street.

About Dean Cecelia Traugh

Prior to joining Bank Street in 2015, Cecelia Traugh served as dean and professor at Long Island University’s School of Education. She began her career teaching high school history, and taught at a child detention center in California. She then taught at Wichita State University, where she directed a statewide program offering an urban experience to potential teachers. She worked with Vito Perrone at the University of North Dakota, and participated in programs educating Native American teachers for reservation schools. She directed the Middle School at Philadelphia’s Friends Select School, and taught graduate courses at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1993, she became the director of research and evaluation at the Institute for Literacy Studies at Lehman College, where she began her school-based inquiry groups and contributed to a monograph series about the work of teachers teaching teachers in New York City. Dr. Traugh holds a BA and MA from UC Riverside, and a PhD from UC Berkeley.

BANK STREET COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

Bank Street College of Education is a leader in early childhood education, a pioneer in improving the quality of classroom practice, and a national advocate for children and their families. Since its inception in 1916, Bank Street has been at the forefront of understanding how children learn and grow. From early childhood centers and schools to hospitals and museums, Bank Street has built a national reputation on the simple fact that our graduates know how to do the work that is right for children.

At Bank Street, our longstanding focus has been on children—how they learn, what teachers need to help children learn, and how to support the development of schools and communities that help learners reach their full potential.

BANK STREET GRADUATE SCHOOL APPROACH

Our approach to progressive education emphasizes and embraces:

• A recognition that learning happens best through meaningful relationships developed in the context of intentional communities.

• A deep understanding of individual development, rooted in evidence about what works for learners at all ages.

• A commitment to building educational experiences upon the strengths of individuals.

• Social justice and principles of access and equity for all learners.

• Advocacy, action, and the fostering of democratic principles.

Programs in the Graduate School of Education model these principles and values. Adult learning at Bank Street happens through inquiry, observation, research, and hands-on opportunities to help students build on their own knowledge, skills, and experiences.

Core to our approach is the opportunity for graduate students to apply what they are learning in sustained fieldwork experiences. While in fieldwork, students are closely mentored by Bank Street faculty and experienced practitioners and meet with a small group of peers to work collaboratively over time to develop reflective and supportive learning communities.

OUR MISSION

The mission of Bank Street College of Education is to improve the education of children and their teachers by applying to the education process all available knowledge about learning and growth and by connecting teaching and learning meaningfully to the outside world.

In so doing, we seek to strengthen not only individuals, but the community as well, including family, school, and the larger society in which adults and children, in all their diversity, interact and learn. We see in education the opportunity to build a better society.

Our credo demands ethical standards as well as scientific attitudes. Our work is based on the faith that human beings can improve the society they have created.

BANK STREET CREDO

Lucy Sprague Mitchell, who founded Bank Street as the Bureau of Educational Experiments over a century ago, wrote a credo that continues to define the spirit of imaginative and critical inquiry that motivates and guides our work today.

What potentialities in human beings—children, teachers, and ourselves—do we want to see develop?

• A zest for living that comes from taking in the world with all five senses alert

• Lively intellectual curiosities that turn the world into an exciting laboratory and keep one ever a learner

• Flexibility when confronted with change and ability to relinquish patterns that no longer fit the present

• The courage to work, unafraid and efficiently, in a world of new needs, new problems, and new ideas

• Gentleness combined with justice in passing judgments on other human beings

• Sensitivity—not only to the external formal rights of the “other fellow,” but to him as another human being seeking a good life through his own standards

• A striving to live democratically, in and out of schools, as the best way to advance our concept of democracy

Congratulations, Class of 2023

Welcome to the Bank Street College Alumni Association, a community of over 14,000 alumni who crossed the stage before you and proudly call Bank Street their alma mater.

Visit our website, graduate.bankstreet.edu/alumni, to learn more about the Office of Alumni Relations and the Alumni Association. Let us know how you are doing and update your contact information so we can stay in touch.

Order

Your Digital Diploma!

Thru our new digital partner, CeCredential Trust, Bank Street Graduate School of Education is now  able to provide you with secure digital proof of your credential. This official and downloadable PDF document is both confidential and verifiable.

How do I request my digital diploma? You’ll receive an email from the Office of Student Services in the coming weeks. Simply follow the given directions, pay a one-time fee of $15.95 for unlimited use, and start sharing your digital diploma on your resume, LinkedIn profile, employers, and even family members.

The email from Student Services will include an video link explaining CeCredential in more detail.

Congratulations, Class of 2023

We’re celebrating you! Use the coupon code NewGrad15 to receive 15% off your next purchase of GSE-branded merchandise through June 2023 at store.bankstreet.edu