was founded in 1916 as the Bureau of Educational Experiments. Our founder, Lucy Sprague Mitchell, convinced that public schools were not serving children well, set out, with a group of like-minded colleagues, to discover the environments in which children grow and learn to their full potential, and to educate teachers and others to create these environments. From those small beginnings as an experimental nursery school staffed by teachers, psychologists, and researchers, Bank Street grew over the years, adding programs and projects, more students, both adults and children, creating materials for and about children in many media, and influencing the design and implementation of such national educational programs as Head Start and Follow Through.
Bank Street College supports the entire spectrum of education, supporting Lucy Sprague Mitchell's mission to "keep one ever a learner." To learn more about our offerings in a specific area, click on any stage of the continuum.
- Bank Street in Prison
In late 1998, Bank Street joined the newly formed College Bound Consortium, an initiative to reestablish college education at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester. Bedford Hills had lost its federal funding for such programs in 1995. Bank Street is one of eight colleges and universities currently offering free classes to women inmates that fulfill degree program requirements and lead to a bachelor's degree from Marymount Manhattan College. Bank Street courses have included Introduction to Child Psychology and Group Processes. Bank Street also provides curriculum planning and parent education consultation to the childcare staff in the Children's Center at Bedford Hills.
- Preparing Literacy Volunteers
LEARNS, funded in 1998 by the federal Corporation for National and Community Service, is an ongoing collaboration between Bank Street and the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory in Portland, Oregon. The staff works with volunteer reading tutors in national service organizations such as the Senior Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) and in federal work-study programs, and trains tutors in the areas of literacy, mentoring, and tutoring˜traveling throughout the country to conduct group trainings. In addition, a constantly evolving LEARNS website provides resources and innovative activities, which can be downloaded. There is also a toll-free hotline, and literacy training videotapes with companion guides. Print resources include a quarterly newsletter, The Tutor; a handbook, Growing a Volunteer Tutor Program; and a guide, Identifying Local Resources for your Literacy Program.
- VISTA Integrated Training Program
Another federally funded partnership between Bank Street and the Northwest Regional Education Laboratory, VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America) designs training programs which it both manages and delivers to members and supervisors. VISTA provides full-time members to nonprofit, faith-based and other community organizations and public agencies to create and expand programs that bring low-income individuals and communities out of poverty.
- The Long Trip -- A Journey into Learning
Lucy Sprague Mitchell, Bank Street's founder, began a series of annual Long Trips in 1935. She felt that to become effective teachers, students had to learn about the issues of the time by experiencing how other people lived -- not as tourists, but as eyewitnesses and participants. Lucy and the students took journeys of about a thousand miles, usually in a school bus, straight into the heart of the Depression. In 1996, Fern Khan, Dean of the Division of Continuing Education, revived the Long Trip. It is open to students, alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of Bank Street. Six have been taken to date. The visitors meet with the local people and learn about their culture, education, history, economy, and religion. Long Trips have taken participants to such varied locations as the Penn Center, on St. Helena's Island, GA, established in1862 to educate free slaves; Finland, with its superior educational system; and the island of Jamaica. Participants on the trip are expected to share what they have learned˜whether in conversations, lectures, or by incorporating the lessons of the trip into curricula.
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Graduate School, which offers intensive, individualized master's degree programs every year to 1,000 aspiring teachers and school leaders, conducts action-oriented research designed to improve teaching and learning, and works with public schools in New York City and in other cities.
a School for Children and Family Center, which, together, offer unparalleled care and education to nearly 500 children.
a Division of Continuing Education, which conducts much of the College's extensive outreach work in a wide variety of schools and communities.
a Publications and Media Group, which creates innovative materials for and about children in many forms, including books, CD-ROMs, television, and websites.
