Bank Street College of
Education
THE DEVELOPMENTAL-INTERACTION
APPROACH
Bank Street Approach
HISTORY
History of Bank Street
 Founders Lucy Sprague Mitchell and Harriet
Johnson
 Founded Bureau of Educational Experiments in 1916
 Became Bank Street College of Education
 Mitchell followed beliefs of John Dewey:

Education is based on 2 ideas:
Purpose is to benefit democratic society
 Meaningfully connected to children’s lives (Cuffaro & Nager, 2012)

History of Bank Street
 Cuffaro & Nager (2012)
explain, “The [original]
school was designed to
be an arena for studying
children and for devising
teaching practices that
fostered growth and
development” (p. 262).
History of Bank Street
 Mitchell- Material must make sense on child’s level

“…surely one had to understand children in order to plan a school that
was right for their development” (p. 262, Cuffaro & Nager, 2012) -Lucy
Sprague Mitchell.
 Bank Street Has Influenced Developmentally Appropriate Practices Handbook
 Formation of NAEYC (Wardle, 2003)
Early Timeline
 1916-The Bureau of Educational Experiments
 Small experimental nursery school
 1930- Changed focus to education of teachers (Lit,
Nager, & Snyder, 2010)

Cooperative School for Teachers teacher training facility
 1934- Founder Harriet Johnson dies
 Bureau renamed Harriet Johnson Nursery School
Early Timeline
 1950- State of New
York


Cooperative School for
Teachers assigns Master
of Science Degrees
Formally renamed Bank
Street College of
Education
 1954- School for Children


Began with one class
Full-scale elementary school
(Bank Street College of
Education, n.d.)
Early Timeline
 Mitchell and staff modeled materials and ideas for
public school classrooms in New York City.
 1965- Workshops led to formation of Head Start
(Cuffaro & Nager, 2012).
 1966- Early Childhood Center opened on West 42nd
Street
Bank Street Today
 Bank Street departments today
 Graduate School of Education
 School for Children
 Family Center
 Division of Continuing Education
 Publications Group
 Research Division (Mitchell & David, 1992).
Bank Street Today
 Collaborations and
Partnerships with
Educational Programs
and Foundations


American Museum of
Natural History
The Voyage of the Mimi


Starring young Ben Affleck
The Second Voyage of the
Mimi (Freidus, 2010).
Bank Street Today
 In 2011-2012
 School for Children had 436 students
 Graduate School had 1,033 students.
 Both schools combined have 336 staff members (Bank Street
College of Education, n.d.)
Bank Street Approach
PHILOSOPHICAL AND THEORETICAL BASIS
The Developmental-Interaction Approach
 Influenced by developmental psychology and
progressive education
 Development differs at different times and ages
 Focus on whole child development
 Teachers meet students where they are
 Teachers have knowledge of human development
 Teachers skilled at observing children
(Bank Street College of Education, n.d.)
Let’s observe!
 Let’s observe children in a dramatic play
environment.
 As you observe the children in the video, consider
what you can observe about their intellectual,
physical, social, and emotional development.
 What theories of learning or child development help
us to explain or understand these children’s
behavior?
 Jenesa in the dramatic play area
(MrsBarrett123, 2010).
The Developmental-Interaction Approach
 Cognition and emotion
are interconnected
 Learning is based on:



Active collaboration
Relationships between
teachers and students
Meaningful content
(Bank Street College of
Education, n.d.)
The Developmental-Interaction Approach
 Interaction
Child’s engagement with
world


Importance of parents,
families, and community
Teacher’s awareness of
student interests
(Bank Street College of
Education, n.d.)
Main Commitments and Philosophy
 Health and wellness
 Social
 Emotional
 Physical
 Intellectual
 Importance of working with community
 Emphasize culture and linguistic diversity
(Bank Street College of Education, n.d.)
Main Commitments and Philosophy
 Diversity and social
justice





Head Start
Follow Through
Social engagement
Inclusion
Respect for others
(Bank Street College of
Education, n.d.)
Main Commitments and Philosophy
 Habits of mind




Inquiry
Curiosity
Lifetime love of learning
Diversity and social justice
(Bank Street College of
Education, n.d.)
John Dewey’s Influence on Bank Street
 “No doubt some of the repulsiveness of purely abstract
intellectual studies to many children is simply the reflex of
the fact that the things—the facts and truths—presented to
them have been isolated from their human context.
—John Dewey, 1913 (as cited on p. 3, Stuckart & Glanz, 2010)



How does this quote relate to the current world of teaching?
What does it mean to teach the “whole child?”
What is the ideal way to promote the healthy growth of
students?
John Dewey’s Influence on Bank Street
 All subject matter is
social
 Attitude for learning is
most important
 Education meets needs
of modern world
Work with others toward
common goals
 Capacity for innovative
problem solving
 Effective communication
skills
(Stuckart & Glanz, 2010)

John Dewey’s Influence on Bank Street
 Role of curriculum
 Promotes growth
 Improves conditions for most people
 Active participation in democratic society
 Social justice
 Make connections
Students’ daily lives
 Progress of humankind

(Stuckart & Glanz, 2010)
Teaching Through the Lens of Social Studies
 Social studies and social
issues are the basis for
curriculum.
 Discuss what types of social
studies concepts or social
issues you could teach.
How might you do this in
your own classroom?
 Consider the following:





Location of school
Culture/Languages
Age range
Current social issues
Integrative with other
subject areas
Bank Street Approach
STRUCTURE AND CURRICULUM
The Whole Child
 All curriculum is
described as:

An educational approach
that addresses the entire
emotional, social,
physical, and intellectual
being of a child.
(Cuffaro & Nager, 2012)
Teaching and Learning
 Learning opportunities for children
 Trips
 Activities
 Books
 Other materials and resources
 “Book learning” is a supplement to other more interactive
types of learning.
(Nager & Shapiro, 2007)
Family Center - Ages 6 months to 4 years
 Based largely on activities of daily living
 Activities & Materials central to Family Center
Classroom






Art
Blocks
Dramatic Play
Sensory Experiences
Music, Movement, & Gross Motor Activities
Outings
(Bank Street College of Education, n.d.)
Lower School - Ages 3s, 4/5s, 5/6s
(Equivalent to Nursery - K)
 Social Studies
 Emergent Literacy
 Math
 Science
 Spanish
 Art & Shop
 Music
 Library
 Movement & Phys Ed
(Bank Street College of
Education, n.d.)
Middle School - Ages 6-10 (Grades 1 - 4)
 Social Studies
 Literacy
 Math
 Science
 Spanish
 Art & Shop
 Music
 Library
 Phys Ed
(Bank Street College of
Education, n.d.)
Upper School - Ages 10 to 14 years
(Equivalent to Grades 5 - 8)
 Social Studies
 Literacy
 Math
 Science
 Foreign Languages
 Art & Shop
 Music
 Library
 Phys Ed & Interscholastic
Sports
(Bank Street College of
Education, n.d.)
Assessment in the Bank Street Curriculum
 Authentic/learner-
centered
 Based on how child
makes sense of world
 Provides range of
opportunities to
demonstrate
understanding
(Cuffaro & Nager, 2012)
What do teachers assess?
 Competence in basic
skills
 Development of analytic
capacity
 Wide range of knowledge
in subject areas
 Interrelated ability to
work independently and
collaboratively
(Cuffaro & Nager, 2012)
What do teachers assess?
 Exercise of initiative
 Ability to communicate
effectively
 Being a socially
responsible member of
the community
(Cuffaro & Nager, 2012)
Inside a Bank Street Classroom
 Come inside and take a look!
Principles of Teacher Education
 The schools view teachers as whole people
 Teacher education based on 5 principles:
 Education promotes, creates, and encourages:
Social justice
 Participation in democratic processes


Teacher does the following:
Has deep knowledge of subject matter
 Actively engaged through study, observation, and participation

(Nager & Shapiro, 2007)
Principles of Teacher Education

Children’s learning and
development in context
Family
 Community
 Culture



Teacher grows as person
and professional.
Teaching requires a
philosophy of education.
(Nager & Shapiro, 2007)
Works Cited
Ahmed, A., D'Aiello, C., Hansen, M., Bellacosa, J., Sultanova, S., Solomon, R., Poosanguansit, W., Adeyamo,
P., Daniel, C., Navarro, B. (2012, July 31). Curriculum and assessment information. Retrieved from
http:// www.bnkst.edu/school-children/ and http://bankstreet.edu/family-center/curriculum/


Bank Street College of Education (n.d.). http://bankstreet.edu/

Cuffaro, H. K. & Nager, N. (2012). The developmental-interaction approach at Bank Street College of
Education. In Roopnarine, J., & Johnson, J. (Eds.), Approaches to early childhood education (6th Ed., 261278). Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson.

MrsBarrett123. (2010, October 21). Jenesa in the dramatic play area. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egHDnOb9Bck.

Nager, N. & Shapiro, E.K. (2007). A progressive approach to the education of teachers: some principles from
Bank Street College of Education. Bank Street College of Education Occasional Paper Series, 18.

Schoeman, N. (2010). Education for democracy. South African Journal of Philosophy, 29(2), 132-139.

Stuckart, D. W., & Glanz, J. (2010). Revisiting Dewey : Best Practices for Educating the Whole Child Today.
R&L Education.
*Clipart from Microsoft Office
Quiz Me! Round 1
Describe the following most important terms to the Bank
Street Approach. You may not use the word in your
definition.
Social studies
Community
Developmental-interaction approach
John Dewey
Social justice
Bank Street
Quiz Me! Round 2
Now it’s your turn! Describe the following most
important terms to the Bank Street Approach. You
may not use the word in your definition.
Assessment
Diversity
Social issues
Social engagement
Lucy Sprague Mitchell Harriet Johnson