Bank Street Graduate School of Education Viewbook

GREATER VISION. TEACH WITH GREATER TEACH WITH GREATER CONFIDENCE. TEACH

GREATER COURAGE. TEACH WITH GREATER

WITH GREATER WONDER. TEACH WITH INSIGHT. LEARN WITH GREATER PASSION. WITH GREATER VISION. L LEARN WITH GREATER TEACH WITH GREATER CURIOSITY. TEACH

COMMITMENT. TEACH WITH GREATER VISION. TEACH WITH GREATER IMAGINATION.

GREATER FLEXIBILITY. TEACH WITH GREATER TEACH WITH GREATER IMAGINATION. TEACH INNOVATION. TEACH WITH GREATER CURIOSITY.

GREATER INNOVATION. TEACH WITH GREATER

TEACH WITH GREATER FLEXIBILITY. TEACH

GREATER PASSION. TEACH WITH GREATER

GREATER COMMITMENT. TEACH WITH PASSION. LEARN WITH GREATER IMAGINATION.

TEACH TEACHVISION. IMAGINATION. TEACH WITH GREATER IMPACT. LEARN WITH GREATER DEPTH.

GREATER VISION. EARN WITH GREATER

TEACH WITH GREATER CONFIDENCE. TEACH

GREATER INSIGHT. TEACH WITH GREATER

TEACH WITH GREATER VISION. TEACH CURIOSITY. TEACH WITH GREATER CONFIDENCE.

THOUGHTFUL EDUCATORS AND LEADERS ARE NEEDED NOW MORE THAN EVER.

For more than a century, Bank Street College has led the charge to place student needs at the center of practice and policy in the field of education.

At the Bank Street Graduate School of Education, you’ll enter a learning community where educators work with a clear VISION that is focused on INNOVATION: improving the quality of classroom practice, advocating nationally for students and families, and promoting system and policy changes to bring effective and equitable teaching to all.

You’ll experience the Bank Street approach to teaching, learning, and leadership as you make your COMMITMENT to making a greater impact. You'll discover how to inspire students with a lifelong passion for learning that influences all they touch and accomplish. You’ll learn to meet children at their developmental level, create the work that is right for them, and empower them with the PASSION and ENTHUSIASM as well as the creativity and critical thinking skills they need to realize their unique potential.

Our graduate programs in teaching and learning, child life, and educational leadership will transform how you view your role as an educator. As you continue to grow as a socially conscious teacher and leader, you’ll learn to build meaningful learning environments and, in turn, help children develop their CURIOSITY and their FLEXIBILITY. You will help them become collaborative, caring citizens committed to social justice and equality.

Join Bank Street and help shape the next generation of socially conscious and effective teachers, leaders, and advocates.

CURIOSITY.

WHY CHOOSE BANK STREET?

We care about democracy and equity.

Our commitment to democracy and social justice is at the heart of our innovative pedagogy and desire to help all learners, both children and adults, actively make sense of the world in which they live. We aim to build a better society for our next generation of learners and doers. You’ll find us on the front line partnering with school districts to choose students over politics and improved learning over status quo practices. Equity and equality are always in a Bank Street educator’s mind—to put aside expectation and meet students “where they are” in their learning with strengths-based activities and socially, emotionally, and culturally appropriate support.

Reputation matters.

Bank Street holds a unique and highly regarded place in the world of education. For a small institution, our reach is broad. Through a vibrant mix of graduate and continuing education coursework, research programs, and professional partnerships with school districts across the country, our work aims toward expanding and improving educational opportunities for all students.

We practice what we preach.

Home to one of New York City’s best elementary and middle schools, the Bank Street School for Children is a living laboratory of early education where you can learn and observe the developmental-interaction approach. At the school, 450 pre-K through eighth-grade students are actively engaged with materials, ideas, people, and the world around them. Some graduate students choose to complete their fieldwork there as assistant teachers.

We are pioneers in progressive education.

From its innovative beginning in 1916 to the present day, Bank Street has been consistent in its desire to advance quality education for all children. There’s always something new happening here—whether it’s coaching thousands of new pre-K teachers across New York City as a partner in the mayor’s Pre-K for All initiative or helping lead a statewide consortium of teacher education programs in Colorado to increase the number of funded “residency” programs for new teachers. In and out of the classroom, Bank Street’s progressive initiatives are influencing real-world progress in the quality of education received by students, families, and communities nationwide.

VISION.

THE BANK STREET APPROACH

Bank Street’s rich historical and philosophical commitment to progressive education is evident in our approach to the teaching and learning of both children and adults. The Bank Street approach, known as developmental-interaction, recognizes that all individuals learn best when they are actively engaged with materials, ideas, and people and that authentic growth requires diverse and nurturing opportunities for ongoing social, emotional, and cognitive development.

At Bank Street, we envision teachers and leaders as facilitators of learning. Therefore, we believe it is the educator’s role to meet students “where they are” to help them develop and realize their unique potential.

Through this approach, you’ll develop in the broadest sense. You’ll learn to understand yourself more deeply and make meaning of the world around you, build the courage and confidence to think independently and creatively, and develop the skills to work respectfully and collaboratively with others. As you learn how to encourage students to love learning, embrace human differences, and engage with their community, you’ll start seeing them thrive in both school and life.

Making a Difference

At Bank Street Graduate School of Education, you’ll graduate ready to become an educator and leader who instills a spirit of imaginative and critical inquiry in your students:

• 87 percent of Bank Street graduates feel their teacher preparation program was effective or very effective compared to 66 percent of comparison teachers.

• Bank Street graduates report higher confidence in content area preparation than peers from other graduate schools, reporting an 18 percent advantage in science, a 20 percent advantage in English language and literacy, and a 23 percent advantage in math.

• Bank Street graduates enter and remain in the field of education at high rates, with 87 percent remaining in the field after a dozen years.

Source: Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education

INNOVATION.

OUR PROGRAMS

All children deserve great teachers to help them develop to their fullest potential.

Take the next step in your career by enrolling in one of over 50 Bank Street master’s degree programs in Teaching and Learning, Educational Leadership, or Child Life. Our programs integrate direct experience with children, teachers, and families to prepare educators and leaders for professional work across a variety of settings, including schools, museums, hospitals, community organizations, and more.

Bank Street's programs lead to a Master of Science, Master of Science in Education, or an advanced Master of Education and are grounded in a learner-centered approach that integrates coursework, fieldwork, and a customized final project.

Coursework

At the Graduate School of Education, our courses blend a deep understanding of human development and educational theory with a disciplined approach to observation and reflection to support your development as an aspiring practitioner, educator, and leader.

Supervised Fieldwork

You'll complete extensive professional training while putting innovative ideas into practice through fieldwork experiences across New York City. As you immerse yourself alongside expert educators for a full year, you’ll transform theory into practice in supervised learning environments where you’ll observe and work alongside educators in a wide range of settings. You’ll practice, get feedback, and internalize what works best for your population, whether it’s students, teachers, or families.

Typical opportunities for these supervised “residencies” include working with infants and toddlers at a family and day care center, interning as a family support advocate in a hospital child life program, or student teaching in one of the largest public school systems in the nation.

Wherever you choose, your fieldwork will be closely mentored by Bank Street faculty and experienced practitioners, both on and off site. You'll also participate in a weekly conference group, providing you with the opportunity to collaborate and reflect regularly with your advisor and a small group of classmates who are also working in the field. Guided by experienced practitioners, you’ll gain the preparation and confidence to take the next step toward your career goals.

Fieldwork and internship placements can lead to offers for full-time positions. Recent examples include:

• A child life student interned at Blythedale Children’s Hospital and was hired in their Child Life and Creative Arts program upon graduating.

• A student teacher was hired as a K/1 Special Education Co-Teacher at Brooklyn Compass Charter School.

• A museum education student completed an internship at the American Museum of Natural History and was offered a full-time position as an education program coordinator.

Integrative Master’s Project

A customized final project fuses your coursework with your fieldwork experiences to form a rigorous body of advanced study in your choice of education-related field. Your project can grow out of your unique area of interest or expertise or can take the form of an original project of your design. All master’s candidates complete this project to culminate their degree program.

Study or Teach Abroad

If you’re interested in broadening your knowledge of teaching and learning in another culture, consider immersing yourself through one of Bank Street’s Travel Programs. These hands-on experiences include coursework and field studies in a variety of countries. Our programs include:

• Cultural Explorations in Morocco

• Social Justice in Puerto Rico

• The Delicate Connection of People and the Biology of the Rainforest in Costa Rica

• Building Bridges to Cuba

• Teaching Fieldwork in Dubai or Nepal

"

I had every intention of being an art teacher, which I did for one year at a public school, then I was offered a classroom teaching position at a private school. This is when I realized that I wanted to be a classroom teacher as I enjoyed getting to know a smaller group of children really well. I came to Bank Street to pursue my master’s degree, and I am grateful to have been in the same space as so many great thinkers and leaders of progressive education. I completed my student teaching requirement at the School for Children where I was able to witness progressive education in action.

"

ROSALINDA GLENNON, ’18

Childhood General and Special Education 7/8s Head Teacher, Manhattan Country School

AREAS OF STUDY

Teaching and Learning Programs

Our Teaching and Learning Programs prepare candidates to be teachers in general, special, and bilingual education settings from birth to adolescence as well as museum educators, reading and literacy specialists, curriculum specialists, and more. Bank Street offers certification and noncertification programs in:

Adolescent Mathematics Education

Adolescent Special Education

Childhood General and Special Education (offered on campus and online)

Cross Age (Early Childhood and Childhood) Curriculum and Instruction

Dual Language/Bilingual Education

Early Childhood General and Special Education (offered on campus and online)

Infant & Family Development and Early Intervention Museum Education

Reading and Literacy Studies in Education Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages Teacher Leadership in Mathematics

Educational Leadership Programs

Our Educational Leadership Programs prepare candidates to assume teacher, school, district, and museum leadership roles in a diverse range of settings. Bank Street offers certification and noncertification programs in:

Early Childhood Leadership (non-degree; offered on campus and online) Leadership for Educational Change Leadership in Mathematics Education Leadership in Museum Education Progressive Leadership (offered on campus and online)

School District Leadership (non-degree; offered on campus and online)

Child Life Programs for Hospitals and Healthcare

Our Child Life Programs prepare candidates for a range of professional opportunities, including child advocacy and family support in adoption agencies and child protective services, community and private practice, and programs in hospitals, clinics, and other health care settings.

Child Life Online

Child Life Online: Advanced Standing

Find out more about our programs at graduate.bankstreet.edu and online.bankstreet.edu.

COMMITMENT.

OUR FACULTY

Our socially conscious faculty will teach you how to become an educational advocate who knows how to do the work that’s right for both children and adults.

As leaders in the field of education, faculty members were drawn to Bank Street for the same reasons that you are: to foster change in the way we educate our children and to act on their deep commitment to equity and social justice in education.

Our faculty members bring real-world experience to each course they teach, presenting case studies to contextualize what you’re learning, such as building democratic classrooms that provide equal access for all students and fair treatment for immigrants and undocumented students. They will encourage you to think critically using evidence-based discourse and to freely express your opinion as they guide you to become an advocate for all students.

With a student-to-faculty ratio of 6:1, you’ll join a tight-knit community of scholars and develop deep and long-lasting relationships with your teachers. Our faculty will guide you through your courses and fieldwork and provide opportunities to connect with their carefully honed professional networks, which stretch across industries and around the nation, through hosted meet and greets, professional lectures, and service opportunities.

As you start your fieldwork and student teaching, you’ll work with an individual faculty advisor who will watch over your work as you practice applying Bank Street’s developmental-interaction approach. You’ll also have a weekly fieldwork conference group where you’ll share your experiences with your peers.

Conferences and Institutes

Our faculty’s innovative research provides a rich training ground for graduate students, including the opportunity to help organize, work at, or attend some of the top annual conferences in the field of education, all run by Bank Street.

• The annual Teaching Kindergarten Conference fills to capacity with early childhood educators from across the country.

• Our Infancy Institute has educated thousands of care givers and highlights the year’s developments in research, relationship-based practice, and family-centered care.

• The Language Series educates language teachers to use music, movement, and drama as language teaching tools.

• The Safe & Sound Schools Conference, based in the tenets of our Emotionally Responsive Practice, supports educators with building safe and nurturing school environments to energize learning.

"

The literacy field recognizes there are many spokes in the reading wheel. A key component respected at Bank Street is the role of children’s literature and readers’ choice. We study concepts around comprehension and decoding, always cognizant that learners’ academic and social-emotional growth are linked. With our developmental-interaction approach, we seek to build both relationships and our understanding of learners’ individual development.

"

MOLLIE WELSH KRUGER Supervised Fieldwork Advisor and Course Instructor

PASSION.

OUR STUDENTS

When you attend Bank Street, you’ll enter a warm and respectful community of aspiring teachers and leaders where collaboration is the norm. This specialized community shares a common goal: to become thoughtful educators who make learning vital and creative and who seek to understand and develop the capacities of the children, adults, and communities they work with.

As you work together on projects—like developing original curricular ideas for a pre-K Restaurant Day curriculum or a fourth-grade yearlong study of Egypt—you’ll be just as proud of your classmates’ achievements as you are of your own, and you’ll gain a lifelong network of educators who are willing to explore and carry new ideas into positions as teachers and leaders.

Currently enrolled students are:

teachers and museum educators

school leaders

child life advocates

age of our graduate students

NEW YORK CITY

Live and study in a global city that is home to one of the largest and most diverse student populations in the country.

Our Location

Situated on New York City’s Upper West Side, Bank Street is part of a bustling family and student-oriented neighborhood near the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the largest Gothic cathedral in North America. Our main building is just a few steps off Broadway, a busy avenue lined with shops and restaurants, and just a short bus or subway ride to Times Square and all that New York City’s many communities have to offer.

Urban Nature

You might not think of rivers and trees when you imagine life in New York City, but Bank Street is situated between two beautiful urban green spaces. Riverside Park along the Hudson River is one block from our campus and the city’s iconic Central Park is just a short walk east.

Access to Arts and Culture

Visit the American Museum of Natural History and cross the park to “Museum Mile,” where you’ll experience some of the world’s best art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and El Museo Del Barrio, among others. With your student ID, you can secure discounted tickets to Broadway shows and world-class symphony, ballet, and opera performances at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and Carnegie Hall.

Professional Opportunities

From early child care centers and Head Start programs to public and charter schools, you’ll gain practical training while interning and student teaching in the world’s most culturally diverse city, which prepares you to work virtually anywhere. You can also choose from the over 2,500 part-time and full-time New York City-based jobs posted by our Office of Career Services each year.

"

I’ve always considered myself a “city girl,” and I’ve always envisioned myself as an educator, teaching a New York City classroom filled with students who represent a wide variety of cultures.

Through the courses, weekly conference groups, and supervised fieldwork, Bank Street is filling up my teacher toolbox to match the fast-changing society our students are growing up in.

"

DANIELLE ARFE, ’20

Early Childhood and Childhood General Education

ENTHUSIASM.

OUR ALUMNI

When you graduate, you’ll become part of one of the most highly esteemed alumni communities in the field of education. Because of our reputation, Bank Street graduates are in demand as teachers, administrators, researchers, curriculum developers, and coaches in public, private, and charter schools, community organizations, corporations, non-profit organizations, and government.

While you’re a graduate student, you’ll get to know some of our alumni. The Graduate School hosts career panels and meet and greets for you to network and get advice from recent graduates and highly successful alumni.

You can also connect with alumni as professional mentors and find opportunities to intern or work together on research and advocacy. Upon graduation, you’ll become part of a close-knit alumni community and you’ll stay connected throughout your career.

Our alumni are thriving as teachers and also as entrepreneurs, founders of schools and non-profit organizations, principals, policy researchers, coaches, advocates for teachers and children, and more.

• Lily Bello Isaac, ’15 opened The Play School in 2018 in the Dominican Republic, applying Bank Street’s developmental-interaction and purposeful play with preschool children.

• Alvin Irby, ’09 is a former kindergarten teacher turned author, comedian, TED Speaker, and social entrepreneur. He won the National Book Foundation’s 2017 Innovations in Reading Prize for his Barbershop Books literacy program, which creates child-friendly reading spaces in barbershops and provides early literacy training to barbers.

• Todd Sutler, ’10 started as an investment banker before co-founding the Compass Charter School in Fort Greene, Brooklyn and the Odyssey Initiative, a non-profit that identifies and shares effective practices from schools around the country.

• Meghan Dunn, ’08 is making a difference working with high-needs children as principal at P.S. 446 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, an elementary school where roughly one in four of her students are in foster care or temporary housing and others have parents who have been incarcerated.

• Randy Lichtenwalner, ’11 served as Principal of Dows Lane Elementary in Irvington and Pound Ridge Elementary in the Bedford Central School District before returning to his former hometown of Peekskill as Principal at Hillcrest Elementary School.

FLEXIBILITY.

ADMISSIONS AND FINANCIAL AID

The Office of Graduate Admissions takes a holistic approach to the application process. We look forward to reading about how your experiences have shaped who you are and why now might be the right time to start your graduate school experience.

Apply to Bank Street

Bank Street’s application review process is conducted on a rolling basis, meaning we will accept applications throughout the year for all academic terms and programs.

Priority Submission Dates

For the best consideration for financial assistance, we encourage you to apply by the priority submission dates ahead of each term.

• Spring Term: November 1

• Summer & Fall Terms: February 1

For more information about admissions and our application process, visit graduate.bankstreet.edu, email us at gradadmissions@bankstreet.edu, or call 212-875-4404.

Financial Aid and Scholarships

Because we understand that graduate school requires a financial commitment, our counselors will work with you to develop a personalized financial plan that can make earning a graduate degree possible.

To determine your eligibility for financial assistance, we encourage you to apply for financial aid by completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which is available online at www.fafsa.ed.gov. This federal award may include scholarships, federal loans, and workstudy employment and can be sustained by completing the FAFSA each year.

Additionally, Bank Street offers both merit- and needbased scholarships, awarding approximately $1.4 million dollars in scholarships annually. Our priority submission date for scholarships is February 1.

We’ll partner with you to help make a Bank Street graduate degree program financially possible for you.

Scholarship Opportunities

Scholarships in support of our graduate students are the top fundraising priority at Bank Street. The majority of our scholarships include grants in amounts up to full tuition based on merit, need, or both.

Scholarship opportunities include:

• Merit-based scholarships

• Bank Street scholarships for first year students (generally for two years or for the entire master’s degree)

• Bank Street scholarships for continuing students (one-year scholarships)

• Program-based scholarships

• Diversity scholarships

• Scholarships for career changers

• Scholarships for those with a public school focus

• External scholarships

To find out more about financial aid and scholarships, please contact us at finaid@bankstreet.edu or 212-875-4408.

" "

As an instructor of the observation and recording course, I can say:

Respect is such a tricky word—and yet how one interacts with others, be they children or adults, depends greatly on how one respects the voice and perspective of the other. Attending to power dynamics is key and not at all easy. Bank Street’s engagement with diverse communities continues to be an animating component of our work, one in which seeking to understand the ‘other’ is inextricably tied to how we understand ourselves, complete with our unintended biases and assumptions.

CATHLEEN HARVEY WIGGINS

Supervised Fieldwork Advisor and Course Instructor, Museum Education

"

When I decided to go back to school, Bank Street was my only choice because of its reputation. With its great support system, I had so many opportunities. I published a paper and my advisors celebrated my voice. I moderated a teacher talk on School Climate with the DOE Chancellor. I have been able to further support students as a member of the Brooklyn South’s Language Advisory Board. I planned an alumni leadership event and made strong connections with our network. When people hear that I am a graduate, they know I have been educated by the best. It’s a real confidence booster.

"

OLINKA CRUSOE, ’18 Educational Leadership Teacher Development and Evaluation Coach (TDEC) NYC Department of Education, District 16 Superintendent’s Office

DID YOU KNOW?

The Gold Standard

Because Bank Street continues to produce teachers and leaders who know how to do the work that’s right for children, our reputation precedes us. “Bank Street is the gold standard for teacher preparation programs and child development,” according to Carmen Fariña, former Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education.

Valuing Educators

Employers love to add Bank Street graduates and their child-centered style of teaching to their staff. In fact, 5 percent of all New York City public school leaders are Bank Street alumni.

Starting Head Start

Bank Street played an integral role in the establishment of the federal Head Start program, which began in 1965 to provide educational and social support for low-income children nationally. Today, we still run a thriving Head Start program on New York’s Lower East Side.

Snapshots of Practice

When you take a look at Bank Street’s many initiatives, you’ll see us consistently placing student needs front and center—from developing an innovative restaurant curriculum that culminates with first-grade students running their own restaurant for a day to tackling district-wide public school reform by partnering with teacher teams. Visit the “Snapshots of Practice” page on our website for a closer look at how we’re continuing to lead the charge for progressive ideas in education.

Flying Colors

Our graduates have a 98.7 percent pass rate on certification exams, placing them among the best in the field of education.

Scientific Roots

In 1916, Lucy Sprague Mitchell, her husband Wesley Clair Mitchell, and Harriet Johnson founded Bank Street, then called the Bureau of Educational Experiments, staffing the venture with specialists in education, psychology, anthropology, medicine, and social work. Lucy said, “Our aim is to turn out teachers whose attitude toward their work and toward life is scientific.”

A

610 West 112th Street,

Private, non-profit

Degrees Offered

MS, MSEd, EdM

Bank Street Divisions

Graduate School of Education School for Children Bank Street Education Center

Student:Faculty Ratio

6:1 Students

TEACH WITH GREATER PASSION.

Visit Our Campus

We invite you to learn more about Bank Street by scheduling a campus visit. The Graduate Admissions team hosts various online and in-person events as well as one-on-one meetings throughout the year. We’d love to meet you!

685 students enrolled 32 percent identify as students of color 1 percent are international students

Faculty

66 percent hold Bank Street master’s degrees 56 percent hold PhDs or EdDs or are doctoral candidates 76 percent have experience in public schools 60 percent have experience in private K–12 schools

Visit gradapply.bankstreet.edu/portal/open-house Email gradadmissions@bankstreet.edu Call 212-875-4404

WITH GREATER VISION. TEACH WITH GREATER TEACH WITH GREATER CURIOSITY. TEACH

FLEXIBILITY. TEACH WITH GREATER TEACH WITH GREATER IMAGINATION.

WITH GREATER

GREATER INNOVATION. TEACH WITH GREATER

TEACH WITH GREATER FLEXIBILITY. TEACH

GREATER PASSION. TEACH WITH GREATER

WITH GREATER COMMITMENT. TEACH WITH

PASSION. TEACH WITH GREATER IMAGINATION.

GREATER VISION. TEACH WITH GREATER TEACH WITH GREATER CONFIDENCE. LEARN

GREATER INSIGHT. TEACH WITH GREATER TEACH WITH GREATER VISION. LEARN CURIOSITY. TEACH WITH GREATER CONFIDENCE.