Priority Areas
Within the broader context of national efforts to address social inequities through improved early care and education program quality and professionalization, the center is pursuing three interrelated strands focused on implementation of efforts to:
- Professionalize Early Care and Education (Birth to Age 5), with a particular focus on teaching and caring within the confluence of race, culture, language, dis/ability, gender, sexuality, and social class
- Create Restorative Early Care and Education Systems, ones that are trauma-informed and, therefore, affirming of intersecting racial, cultural, linguistic, dis/ability, gender, sexual, and social class identities
- Engage with Families and Communities in Culturally, Historically, and Linguistically Responsive and Sustaining Ways
The overall purpose of this agenda is to use data to engage with educators, policymakers, and families in reflection and dialogue about needed practice and policy changes.
The Straus Center has been made possible with a generous gift from Lynn Straus, GSE ’57, who served for more than 25 years as a trustee of Bank Street College of Education. After graduating from Bank Street, teaching first grade, and starting a family, Lynn helped to found and then direct the preschool program that became a model for the national Head Start program and grew into one of the first New York State Experimental Pre-Kindergarten Programs. She remains a passionate advocate for and generous patron of quality early childhood education programs, especially those benefiting the youngest children and meeting the needs of children and families in under-served communities. Bank Street honored Lynn’s contributions and legacy at the 2015 Trustees’ Dinner.