"A good life is a learning life," said Lucy Sprague Mitchell, Bank Street's founder. The Division of Continuing Education is a living embodiment of this founding principle. We believe learning is a lifelong endeavor that transpires in a multitude of settings, including classrooms, early childhood and after-school programs, community centers, community colleges, museums, parks, playgrounds, and other places where community people gather. Through short-format courses and workshops, institutes, and community outreach, the Division offers programs that are designed to increase educational opportunities for all students, educators, and other helping professionals, paraprofessionals and families. Through our varied partnerships and collaborations with schools and communities as diverse as the city itself, we work at our historical commitment to build a better world. We welcome your inquires and interest. In our work, "We have taken multiple perspectives, values and experiences and shaped a way of working and thinking that is inclusive and respectful to all." (Adrianne Kamsler).
The DCE Programs have accomplished the following:
- Trained hundreds of Literacy Volunteers nationwide
- Closing the achievement and performance gap for over 200 children of color annually
- Prepared over 100 low income women and a few men for child care employment through the CDA credential, the first rung on a career ladder program
- With our partners, prepared close to 200 childcare centers for national accreditation.
- Provided courses for 1,813 students enrolled in New Perspectives, our continuing professional education program
- Developed the CCAT-R child observation instrument to measure quality in unregulated child care programs
- Coordinated the production of the "Wee Arts Curriculum" for parents for the Children's Museum of Art
- Edited and produced over 12 short videotapes on themes used in staff development with teachers in Newark Public Schools
- Coordinated a successful Community Building Conference for approximately 300 Newark public school teachers, administrators, and foundations in January
- Significantly increased the reading and math scores for students in one Newark middle school and several elementary schools
- Decreased social and emotional isolation in public school children by teaching emotionally responsive classroom practices to teachers, social workers and principals.
- Organized and delivered sessions at the VISTA "Summer of Service" training for 180 VISTA members in New Orleans
- Created a school-wide writing portfolio assessment rubric to help teachers assess student writing
- In Newark, Camden School parents declared in the Yearbook, "We can 'bank' on Bank Street!"
- The DCE programs served 21,264 children, youth and adults!
For additional information, please contact: Fern Khan, Dean, Division of Continuing Education 212-961-3401 fkhan@bankstreet.edu
