A Message from the President

Dear Friends,

As we continue to work together through this extraordinary time, thank you. This challenging year highlighted the creativity, persistence, and care that members of the Bank Street College community bring to the pursuit of equitable, quality, responsive education for children and adults. Throughout the year, I saw again and again the capacity within our community to support children, families, and educators. I am grateful to you for your part in this effort, and would like to highlight just a few of the extraordinary accomplishments from this year.

This spring, the Graduate School of Education successfully renewed its accreditation for seven years through the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation (AAQEP). With in-person classes resuming this summer, we are also seeing a promising increase in applicants for both our on-ground and virtual programs for next school year. The Graduate School has expanded efforts to partner with public schools and provide access to more graduate students, including the launch of a new residency program with District 13 in Brooklyn.

Over the last year, Graduate School faculty and staff have also made significant contributions to the field of education through research and scholarship, bringing forward the thinking of practitioners in the field, pursuing studies that strengthen our understanding of social justice, and supporting the development of strong policy at the federal, state, and local level. Graduate School faculty members have published three new books and five new articles, among other recent scholarship. The Educator Preparation Laboratory has expanded the national practice network and developed a particular focus on advancing anti-racist educator preparation. The Straus Center for Young Children and Families launched new research efforts, including work to better understand the experience of early childhood educators during COVID-19 and a study focused on improving dual language teaching for Spanish speakers by elevating Latina teacher voices. The National Center for Children in Poverty published a number of reports and resources, including updating their Family Resource Simulator tool that estimates public benefits and tax credit packages.

In our children’s programs, we implemented effective health and safety measures across Head Start, the Family Center, and the School for Children and ensured children and families had the best possible experience during COVID-19, including running in-person programming for most of the school year alongside an at-home program. This required reinventing almost every aspect of our programs while our faculty and staff continued to hold children at the center of the learning. Family Center staff provided an integrated and safe setting for all the children in the program. In the School for Children, faculty and staff also made progress on elements of the strategic plan, including work around curriculum, literacy and differentiated instruction, and inclusive and restorative classroom management practices. Recognizing the increased need in their community, our Head Start program launched a food delivery initiative, provided families with learning resources, and focused on social-emotional support for families and staff. We shifted all Liberty LEADS programming to a virtual format and conducted extensive outreach to students and families, providing academic and social-emotional support, connecting families to resources, and supplying Chromebooks.

In the Bank Street Education Center, teams shifted and rebuilt partnerships with schools, districts, and other community organizations to respond to COVID-specific needs and demands from the field. The School System Partnerships & Programs team will build on the success of its partnership with Yonkers Public Schools to launch a new effort to improve middle school math education with two districts in Brooklyn. The Center on Culture, Race & Equity held its third annual Black Lives Matter at School Week Early Childhood Symposium, reaching close to 2,000 participants from across the country, as part of an effort to launch a new “Re-imagining Black Childhood Portfolio” that will disrupt anti-Black racism through multimedia adult professional learning experiences.

At the same time, the Education Center continued to influence policy decisions made even more urgent by COVID-19 and the availability of new federal funding. Prepared To Teach, which promotes sustainable teacher residencies as an essential element in preparing strong teachers, released nine new reports and developed an interactive website that can serve as a one-stop shop for sustainability research, narratives, and tools. Learning Starts At Birth initiated several policy engagements to strengthen the early childhood workforce, secured two new state partnerships, and published several reports. These policy efforts have started to gain momentum on a national level, with the Biden administration proposing $2.8 billion toward Grow Your Own educator programs and teacher residencies and $225 billion to support the expansion of affordable child care and a $15 minimum wage for early childhood staff in its American Families Plan.

To strengthen our internal community, last summer we established the Office of Social Justice, Equity, and Inclusion, which has since conducted an equity survey, established an equity taskforce to build out College-wide and divisional equity strategies, and supported the establishment of the LGBTQIA+ affinity group.

Finally, those of you who have passed by our building on 112th Street know that we completed a major renovation of the lobby, creating a light and joyful environment to welcome students and visitors and provide additional security. I hope to soon be able to welcome guests to enjoy the new space for gathering and community.

Thanks to all of you we achieved impressive success in our fundraising efforts this year, raising over $13.5 million across Annual Funds, individual giving, and institutional giving—more than 15 percent over our goal. Our virtual Annual Dinner raised over $850,000 for Bank Street and honored Charlie Bendit, a trustee and longtime champion of education in New York City. The SFC parent community held a virtual Trivia Night, and the graduating class gift went to the Level the Playing Field Fund, which supports access to specialized academic supports. Our Alumni Relations team, along with the Bank Street College Alumni Association (BSCAA), hosted an event for over 200 participants on “Post-Election Civility: Talking to Children About the November 3rd Election,” the Social Justice and Equity Committee held a virtual art exhibit and panel discussion and a follow-on event featuring alumni artwork, and a virtual BSCAA Awards ceremony honored six outstanding alumni. Finally, I am thrilled to share that Victoria Hamilton, a long-serving member of our Board of Trustees, will step into the role of board chair this summer following a seven-year term by Yolanda Ferrell-Brown. In her 20 years as a Bank Street trustee, Victoria has made numerous important contributions, and I’m very much looking forward to partnering with her in the coming years. I am also incredibly grateful to Yolanda for her support and leadership.

Thank you again for the many ways you supported Bank Street this year. From your financial contributions to the many calls and notes I received offering support, my team and I knew we were not in this alone. I look forward to seeing many more of you in the coming school year.

Warmly,

Shael