About the Award

The Award was established in 1972 in honor of the late Irma Simonton Black (and later her husband as well), who was for many years director of Bank Street’s Publications Division, and a prolific children’s book author. It is given to a book that meets Irma’s own criteria for a great picture book: “a synthesis of text and art, each enhancing the other to produce a synergistic effect that makes the whole greater than its parts.”

The Award is unique in that children themselves choose the winner. Over a four-week period, children in various participating schools are read the books, then analyze and discuss them with their teachers/librarians, and finally vote for a winner. The vote tallies are then submitted to Bankstreet.

The Award’s new curriculum partnership with School Library Journal

For the first time, the Award was able to invite a wider participation in its curriculum program. In partnership with School Library Journal, the program was offered to any librarian or teacher of first and second graders in the United States and Canada. Nearly 10,000 students from 94 schools across the country were able to participate. Previously, only a dozen or so schools were able.

Keynote speaker Perri Klass talks about books and children

Perri Klass, the renowned author and Professor of Journalism and Pediatrics at New York University, spoke movingly about the importance of books in the language and literacy development of young children, and discussed her work as Medical director of Reach Out and Read, a national literacy organization which works through doctors and nurses to promote parents reading aloud to young children.

President Elizabeth D. Dickey’s Remarks at the 2011 Bank Street Graduate School of Education Commencement ceremonies

May 26, 2011

Good afternoon and welcome. On behalf of our entire community, congratulations to the Class of 2011! And thanks to your families and friends and members of the Graduate School faculty, who guided and nurtured you during these demanding years of graduate training.

On this day, May 26, 2011, we launch 408 talented, dedicated, and idealistic people into roles related to teaching. Some of you will be in the classroom, others in museums and hospitals, some behind the scenes as writers, others in front as administrators. All of you bear the Bank Street stamp of approval. This means that, under the watchful eyes of your faculty, you have internalized methods and values that are almost 100 years old. Among our foundational beliefs are respect for children and the educational process, and an acknowledgement of the power of curiosity and inquiry.

But let’s go back to my reference a moment ago to our graduates as idealistic people. You are just that: optimists, looking for the best in others, convinced that you can find the strategy, the approach, the passion to get students moving to learn. You are generous, willing, and eager to give to your students, their families, and the institutions you serve. These qualities will serve you well as you enter your profession, and all of us here today are grateful that you are motivated by these internal qualities. After all, what led you to teaching but an internal conviction of its importance? Maybe your life as a young student was changed by a great teacher or by a great coach, or by a great school leader whose work you admired.

As I have said, we are all grateful and as we look toward the future we expect a lot of you. And this is where the conversation shifts a bit. For never in my memory have expectations of teachers and teacher/leaders been higher. Rarely does a day pass without another policy debate erupting — in the media or among political figures or policy experts — about how to evaluate good teaching, or the importance of measuring student progress, or (even more of a concern) the essential connection between good schools and good education and the future of the American economy.

That is a heavy responsibility. You are graduating at a time when history is on the move, when American self-confidence and arrogance have been shaken and we don’t know how the story will end. Walking out of this ceremony today and thinking about your individual careers, I don’t see how we can hold you responsible for the American economy and our future competitiveness as a nation. But, hearing that China is leading the world in terms of the quality of their education and that America has slipped from first to seventh place, what are you to do? You, who have prepared long and hard for the future, what are you to do?

Here are four suggestions.

First, hold onto your idealism and generosity of spirit, even on the days that are especially challenging, days that leave you tired and discouraged, and even questioning yourself. Hold onto the foundation that you have built, in part with the help of Bank Street. We all know there will be moments when today’s joy and the acknowledgement of your accomplishments seems very distant, but that’s where idealism wears well. It has a long shelf life.

The topic was ”Teacher Performance: Highly Effective, Effective, Developing, Ineffective — How Can You Tell?”

In her welcoming address, Bank StreetPresident Elizabeth D. Dickey raised the question: “Do legitimate ways of assessing teachers exist and, if so, what are they?”

The moderator, Dean of the College Jon Snyder, who introduced the panelists, noted there were many truisms about teachers and good teaching, and asked what do these actually mean in assessing teachers. “Sometimes people can’t even agree on what assessment consists of,” he said. 

Snyder added that many states, New York included, now are moving toward new systems and approaches, and he asked the panelists to consider what were the functions and goals, as well as the key components, of teaching assessments and evaluations.

New York City’s Chief Academic Officer and Senior Deputy Chancellor Shael Polakow-Suransky discussed how “The new New York state law presents a powerful opportunity to start a richer conversation around what good teacher practice is.”

Charter School Co-Founder and Principal Margaret Ryanspoke about the high level of accountability at her school, and noted that: ”Quality teaching does have to yield student outcomes that shows that they are learning.”

Ford Foundation Program Officer Frederick Frelow related the extensive research undertaken by the Foundation on how to improve teacher performance: “We found out that, after the initial training, the most powerful impact on performance is the work environment.”

Polakow-Suransky responded to Frelow’s comment about the impact of the work environment: “We’ve invested a lot of energy in building teacher teams in the schools.”

Barnett Berry, of the Center for Teaching Quality,noted that assessment should have some form of student results in the mix, and thatthe new systems and tools could be highly valuable if used in non-mechanical ways.

The panelists also debated a variety of other areas. One felt that the roles of teachers and principals have become very complicated, and some internal adjustment needs to be made. Another described how the teachers in her school assess and coach each other and participate in content groups. Yet another noted that the set of assessments New York used in the past did not serve it well, but that new work on assessment tools, spurred by the federal government, is promising, particularly in science. Another described efforts to empower principals in the NYC public schools so that, in turn, they could empower their teachers.

In response to questions from the audience, the group agreed there should be a way to get useful feedback from students and parents about teacher effectiveness. Regarding teacher training, one panelist cited the rise of residency models, often propelled by schools of education, where graduates have the benefit of a “residency,” in their first job, much like a medical residency, to help them be better teachers.

A question about special education generated great interest. In discussing assessments and standards for children with disabilities, one panelist declared we need better special ed. teachers. He said these students are victims of low expectations, and many can be mainstreamed, but need time to catch up. Another observed that there are not that many children with actual learning disabilities, and even generalist teachers can be trained to help them properly. One spoke about his disabled son, who is now in college. He said that many special ed. classes in New York City schools are taught by special ed. teachers who don’t really know special ed.

“Do legitimate ways of assessing teachers exist and, if so, what are they?”

The Challenge …

Says Melnick: “My challenge was that on the latest international comparative tests, China far surpassed the United States. So both the teachers and the parents needed to know what this American program could do for their children, and to be reassured that their children were not being harmed by this ‘different’ math program.”

… In a School Established by Bank Street Alumna Debbie Kurtzberg …

Melnick had been invited to Tsinghua by Debbie Kurtzberg, director of the Primary Division, and a 2009 Bank Street graduate. Because Tsinghua International School is a new school, Kurtzberg was able to focus the curriculum on the Bank Street Developmental Interaction model, including constructivist math educational program and a strong interactive social studies component as the core of the curriculum.

…That Follows the Math Mandate from The Chinese Ministry of Education

“Parents needed to know that since 1990 the Chinese Ministry of Education has stipulated that children be able to apply their math learning to open-ended problems like those I did with them. My research on this leads me to conclude that our progressive constructivist math programs (very different from the traditional math generally taught in United States classrooms) is a healthy marriage between ancient Chinese approaches and the new market economy demands for new hires in China,” says Melnick.

Melnick adds: “While some might think we were bringing coals to Newcastle with our math program (since the Chinese rate so high in math), I think our ‘coals’ actually fueled a fresh approach that can engage more students in successfully learning math.”

Melnick on Children Working Collaboratively and the Importance of Mistakes

Rules for Cooperative Group Learning

• You are responsible for your own work and behavior.
• You must be willing to help any group member who asks.
• You may ask a teacher for help only when everyone in the group has the same question.
• Everyone in the group should be ready and able to share the strategies your group used to find the solution to the problem.

At last count, seven Bankstreet graduates and students (six from the Museum programs, one from Early Childhood Education) were at the Rubin, which houses an unparalleled collection of Himalayan art dating from the second to the twentieth century — paintings, sculptures, textiles, ritual objects, and prints. The Himalayas, an 1,800-mile-long mountain range, spreads across several countries (Afghanistan, Nepal, Mongolia, Bhutan, Myanmar and the Tibetan Autonomous Region). The region’s larger cultural sphere includes Iran, India, China, and Central and Southeast Asia as well.

Educating audiences of all types and ages

“Museums are engines of creativity, and the Rubin is especially so since the art and sacred traditions of the Himalayas emphasize connecting to the world around us,” says David Bowles, ’08, SFC ’93, Manager of School Programs. “Our educational programming includes a great variety of offerings aimed at a great variety of people: families with small children, teens, adults, visitors with disabilities, seniors, and K-12 schools, colleges, and universities.”

Bowles oversees, coordinates, and implements programs for K-12 students and their teachers. These include museum tours, residency school programs, museum-school partnerships, professional development opportunities, and a wide range of gallery experiences. “It is our job to help visitors learn, connect, reflect, and to have a real encounter with the art — at all levels,” Bowles says.

The museum hosts two open houses for educators each year to help teachers and administrators explore possibilities for student learning at the museum. Bowles and his team also attend teaching conferences, visit schools, and utilize alumni networks to spread the word. Says Bowles, “Last year we expanded the number of students participating in our programs and developed new professional development workshops for teachers. Based on evaluations and feedback, I think the quality of experiences we offer is improving too. Our new Educational Center will open this spring, and starting this summer, we will offer K-12 school groups hands-on arts workshops to accompany gallery tours. The art studio will also impact how our other initiatives for teens, adult education, family programs, etc., evolve.”

Schools Programs

Lauren Appel, ’07, Coordinator of Schools Programs, is specifically responsible for long-term arts residency programs, such as the museum’s Thinking Through Art, a ten-session arts residency in which teaching artists work with students and their teachers both in the classroom and the museum. The goal is for them to connect classroom curriculum to Himalayan art. In the fall of 2010, the students, ranging from third grade through high school, created narrative scroll paintings depicting scenes from their lives.

Appel selects the artists for the program, and also teaches. “I love balancing the administrative side of coordinating a program and being a teaching artist in the classroom,” she says. “I’ve worked in numerous arts education programs as both an administrator and an educator and it is a unique pleasure to work at an institution with so many colleagues who share the perspective we gain through our work at Bankstreet.”

Teen and College Programs

Pauline Noyes, ’11, Coordinator of Teen and College Programs, designs and leads development programs for teens and college students during out-of-school time. Designed as part of a career spiral in which students continue growing, the programs take high school students through college, into adult careers in the arts. Noyes came to the Rubin with a passion for Himalayan art, having lived and travelled extensively in Asia for over two years, including a six-month stay at the foot of the Himalayas. At the Rubin, Noyes combines her love for Asian art and culture with her other favorite thing: working with students.

Noyes says her programs are greatly inspired by her Bankstreet background, with an emphasis on learning by doing. She points out that the profound universal ideas related to the Rubin’s collection can be accessible and inspiring to anyone: “You don’t have to be Buddhist to have a meaningful exploration of self-transformation or why people suffer,” she says. “Our student population is exceptionally diverse and we place huge emphasis on access to the museum for all students. We see learning about Himalayan culture as closely intertwined to the students’ expression and appreciation of their own unique cultures and backgrounds. It’s a priority for us to relate the art to the lives of NYC students.”

Connecting both to the old and to the new

The Rubin also makes connections to other artistic and spiritual traditions, both old and new. One current exhibit, Embodying the Holy, explores the affinities between sacred representations in the Eastern Orthodox Christian and Tibetan Buddhist traditions down through the centuries.

Then, there is the new: Dawn Eshelman, ’12, the Rubin’s Programming Manager, feels that “Programming is a way to create different portals into the powerful experiences Himalayan art can inspire. Each portal gives a specific audience a different way to access the art, as well as the ideas behind it.”

One progran has musicians creating a piece of music for a work of art that resonates with them. “We project the artwork onto the back wall of our theater as the song is played, and the musicians describe their personal connection to the artwork. After, audiences are invited on a tour to learn more about the piece. So visitors may come for a jazz concert but end up engaging with themes like compassion and rebirth, or with the concept of a mandala,” she says. “To use a term I learned at Bankstreet, these musicians are ‘scaffolding’ learning for their audience, inspiring them to engage with a new level of understanding.” Eshelman, who has a performing arts background, says she was always “interested in the intersection between the live arts and the visual arts, and here I can explore this in many ways.”

Brussel sprouts. That is the vegetable Chad Goslee had to eat as a kid because they were “good for him.” 

The mere mention of them made him cringe.

Today, however, as a grown-up with a professional interest in children’s diets, Goslee sees a place on the menu for that and a few other unfairly maligned vegetables. Brussels sprouts — freshly harvested and prepared well — are in, and the new Executive Chef at Bank Street College of Education isn’t kidding when he says their occasional inclusion in school lunches is cause for excitement.

“I think kids can be, and are, more adventurous in what they’ll eat than we give them credit for,” says Goslee — “Chef Chad” as he’s already known around the Bank Street campus. In just a few day school starts, and students will be greeted with an exciting new lunch and food program designed by this French Culinary Institute trainee. 

Video: Chef Chad Goslee on what he looks forward to most this school year.

Bank Street staff and some School for Children parents were delighted volunteers during this week’s test run. A self-service salad bar made its debut with a colorful spread of fresh ingredients. Along with varieties of lettuce and other salad staples, there were sprouts, pearl tomatoes, black bean salsa with corn from New Jersey farms, edamame and a tasty ginger soy dressing. Fresh fruit rounded out the appetizing display. 

Hot lunch items featured a savory roast chicken on one day, and a soul-food pairing of tangy pork loin with collard greens bought from a local farm on another. An unexpected treat: delicately wrapped Asian veggie rolls.

Chef Chad ‘s approach to cooking for an entire school is to employ fresh ingredients and prepare food simply, but in a way that brings out varieties of flavor and color. He has hired five associate chefs, all with culinary training, and he anticipates bringing aboard more kitchen staff as the school year progresses.

Originally from Kentucky, Goslee comes to Bank Street from The Calhoun School in Manhattan where he was sous chef to Robert Surles, a fellow FCI alumnus better known as school-lunch impresario and cookbook author Chef Bobo. Chef Chad spent five years immersed in Chef Bobo’s “Eat Right Now” approach to combining fresh meals, nutrition and instruction for students in the importance of diet to health and well-being. And he’s bringing much of what he absorbed while there to his culinary responsibilities at Bank Street.

“Lunch can be a learning experience,” says Chef Chad. 

One thing Goslee says he’s learned from his time at Calhoun and, more recently, watching his young daughter as she learns to eat selectively, is that adults need not fear children recoiling from previously untried foods. With good menu planning and preparation, he believes kids will be as happy eating brussels sprouts as they would devouring ballpark hot dogs. 

Parents wanting to sign children up for the new lunch program have two more opportunities to sample the offerings and ask questions: lunch on Aug. 30 and an open meeting on Sept. 8, the first day of school, co-hosted by Chef Chad and SFC Dean Alexis Wright.

Written by Sean Piccoli for Bank Street News

Early on the evening of September 6, Bank Street capped off a lively day-long Graduate School Orientation by inviting new students to jump headlong into educational theory at the 17th annual Barbara Biber Lecture. Led by Dr. Margaret Beale Spencer, a distinguished scholar of developmental psychology, the lecture offered a frank but hopeful entreaty to educators to address issues of race, gender, and class in seeking to build resiliency for children and families in any context.

Dr. Spencer’s work in this area is inspired in part by the work of her “kindred spirit,” the late Dr. Barbara Biber, this lecture series’ namesake.  For over three decades,

Dr. Biber played a central role at Bank Street in creating new graduate and research programs dealing with early education theory, child psychology, and social policy. 

Dr. Biber believed that the best early education programs “develop the emotional life of children as well as their intellects, foster strong self-images, encourage responsibility to others, and support imagination and curiosity.”

Dr. Biber’s legacy continues in the efforts of practitioners and theorists like Dr. Spencer, whose research seeks to promote healthy coping mechanisms in children by acknowledging and confronting stressful conditions arising from perceptions and realities of identity in different cultures and contexts.

The aim of this work is embedded in Bank Street’s mission, Dr. Spencer reminded listeners. That mission states, “We see in education the opportunity to build a better society.”

In a warm introduction, new Graduate School Dean Virginia Roach discussed why an emphasis on building resiliency is so central to child development.

“To me, the concept of resiliency defines the human condition through imperfection, yet hope,” said Dean Roach. “It defines the fundamental relationship between the individual and the environment. It creates a roadmap for the relationship between teacher and child. In this way, resiliency cuts to the core of what we do at Bank Street.”

I hope you have had a good summer and on behalf of Cabinet I welcome you to Bank Street and the 2011/12 academic year.  We have had a very busy summer with Graduate School classes and Summer Camp and with our usual number of maintenance projects which the Facilities Staff manages to complete during the course of August.

This fall we welcome Virginia Roach, the new dean of the Graduate School.  With Virginia’s appointment, the three senior educational positions at the College are filled.   This puts us in a very strong position as we work to strengthen the College academically, one of three priorities in the Strategic Plan.

Please take note of two other important College developments.  The first is our new website.  Launched in August after more than a year of work, the site is intended to provide information for our many audiences.  It is well designed, easily navigated, and informative; over time the website will become even more effective as we all become familiar with its many functions and features.  Bear in mind that the site connects to the Strategic Plan and the College priority of increasingly visibility and impact.  I must thank Arshad Ahmed and his web team for their hard work.

I believe members of the Community will find the Bank Street Kitchen to be an important new resource.  During the month of August, Chef Chad and staff have made all of us more aware of the simple pleasure of healthy food; I also observe that seeing many colleagues eating lunch in the Kitchen helps build connections within the College.  Over time, Chef Chad and staff will be working on connecting the food with the curriculum in the School for Children.  This is all part of our goal to adopt the Calhoun School approach to food as developed by Chef Bobo, Chad’s mentor.

A final note; Dean Fern Kahn has returned from sabbatical for her final year at the College.  She will be Special Advisor to the President for Community Affairs, working closely with me as we respond to the Strategic Plan and think through our future activities. 

Now I will turn to other news.

NCATE Accreditation

This academic year, the Graduate School will continue the process of seeking accreditation by the National Council of Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). There are many steps in the process.  Last winter, the Graduate School began by notifying NCATE of our intent to seek accreditation. This was followed by the submission of “preconditions” noting our current accreditation, program status, and other institutional data. While the rest of us taught, presented at conferences, provided professional development, or just enjoyed the summer sun, Interim Dean Virginia Casper was coordinating the next step of the NCATE process – our Conceptual Framework.

With the assistance of many of the Graduate School Faculty, and Interim Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Nancy Gropper, the Conceptual Framework was sent to NCATE September 1^st. I thank all who worked on this document.  Once it has been reviewed by NCATE and comments received, we will make revisions and ensure the final conceptual framework is broadly available to all who are interested.

The next step in the NCATE process is the submission of the “SPA” reports, reports that are reviewed by the Specialized Professional Associations. Our goal is to have all of our programs nationally recognized through the SPA review process. The SPA work will be a key part of all program, departmental, and divisional meetings throughout the fall semester in preparation of submitting the reports in February, 2012. While the SPA reports are due next February, data collection is ongoing and will be a permanent feature of the Graduate School’s work as part of the NCATE process.

Restructuring of Continuing Education

Last year, Bank Street engaged in a restructuring of its educational divisions that resulted in the discontinuation of the Division of Continuing Education.   Continuing Professional Studies, as well as our work in Emotionally Responsive Practice, the Child Development Associate Certificate, and our work providing professional development in out of school settings now resides inside the Graduate School.  The Graduate School has established a “Professional Development Office” (PDO), which will be the home of all professional development work conducted under the auspices of Bank Street.

We have established a new operation, Innovative, Policy, and Research (IPR), that is housed in the Office of the Dean of the College.  Bank Street’s two National Head Start projects (National Center on Cultural and Linguistic Responsiveness, and the Head Start International Research Conference) reside in IPR.  In addition IPR is host to Liberty/Leads, Bank Street’s two direct service Head Start Centers, and the VISTA project.  As the year progresses we anticipate IPR will, in coordination and collaboration with the Program Divisions, engage in additional activities supporting innovation, research, and policy.

Family Center

Since arriving at Bank Street three years ago, the Deans and I have worked to assemble small groups of outside colleagues to conduct peer reviews of selected educational parts of the institution. In the division of Children’s Programs, both the School for Children and the Family Center underwent peer reviews during the last academic year. The perspective and counsel gained from external colleagues has proven to be extremely valuable as the College works toward achieving its goals. This year we have taken the additional step of forming a small group of trustees who will follow-up on the Family Center review and examine further some of the questions raised by that visiting team.  As stewards of the College, trustees obviously play an important role in setting priorities and direction.  In the past year, two similar trustee committees were convened; one reviewed Continuing Education and the other is still working on a review of the Bookstore.  In the end, these small committees report back to the Board of Trustees.

The Trustee/Family Center committee will be chaired by Sue Kaplan, former chair of our Board; she will be joined by Dean Alexis Wright. The committee will focus on the organizational complexities of the Family Center, especially related to sustainability and economics, all areas which were cited by the visiting peer review committee last spring as areas of importance.

Facilities Update

Once again the facilities staff during the month of August worked 7 days a week and put in long days to get the building ready for the opening of school.  Please stop to see the new look in the Library; it’s a refreshing change that was long overdue. Unfortunately our Local Law 11 work on the building exterior has not been completed due to an expanded scope of work and rainy weather; this project should be completed by mid-October.

Two Personnel Items

Following on the heels of Cathy Coleman’s retirement and after a search with numerous strong candidates, Anna Gross has joined the College as our new Assistant Vice President of Finance and Administration. Anna brings to Bank Street extensive experience in both higher education and other not-for-profit organizations.  Another retirement will be taking place within the Finance and Administration Division as Beth Puffer, the Bookstore director, will be retiring during the first quarter of 2012. Beth took a small, highly specialized bookstore that was located in the lobby of the 112^th Street building to a Broadway location; and in doing so she built one of the best children’s bookstores in the tri-state area.

Master Plan

Work on the College’s facilities master plan continues as we begin to review with the Board of Trustees our options regarding our buildings and our leases.  HLW, the architectural firm many of you met as they conducted focus groups last spring, is completing its study and will present their findings and recommendations to the Board of Trustees at their October 20th meeting.

Bank Street College Wellness Initiative

I am pleased to announce, through the leadership of Staff Council, that Bank Street is renewing its commitment to wellness and health. Recently, Staff Council announced that it would be hosting a Yoga series for the Fall.  This effort has been overwhelmingly supported by the College community with the classes being filled up in a 24 hour period. Staff Council will be hosting a series of events throughout the year so please keep an eye out for this.

Website Policies

As the new website continues to evolve, the Cabinet will be developing clear guidelines and use policies.  I hope to finish this process in early November.  Though the website is a key marketing and communications tool which makes strong use of photography and video, especially as regards members of our teaching staff, no College employee is required to permit use of their photo.  Please contact Arshad Ahmed with any questions.

The summer months have been very busy; I wish you a good start of the semester.

The 23 children, teachers, parents and crew members hoisted the 3,000-pound sail hand-over-hand while shouting in unison, “Heave ho, heave ho, heave ho.”

Once on their way, the eight- and nine-year-olds began their voyage of discovery by learning how the “block and pulley” method helped make the task of pulling tremendous weight easier. They went below deck to sample life past the galley and sat in the crew members’ sleeping quarters. They learned about the tools and skills of a boson (the person who repairs everything on the ship using okum, hemp, levers, mallet, chisel and a large needle and beeswax thread). They examined a crab and learned how to tell if it was a boy or a girl. They touched a flounder along its lateral line, and noticed how its eyes are on top of its head. They read a nautical map and identified the landforms of Lower Manhattan, Brooklyn and New Jersey. Each child in their small group had a turn at the tiller, directing the ship.

It was a busy day!

The sensation of the steady warm winds, the rocking motions of the waves, the singing of sea shanties, and being part of the teamwork of the Clearwater crew all helped make for a fun and memorable experience.

Story submitted by Edna Moy, 8/9s Head Teacher