User:Danielklotz/Bank Street College of Education (school for children section)

Bank Street School for Children
The Bank Street School for Children is a private coed preschool, elementary school, and middle school within the Bank Street College of Education. There are 451 children enrolled as students.

School structure
The school includes children in nursery through eighth grade, split into three divisions: the lower school, for nursery through first grade; the middle school, for second through fourth grades; and the upper school, for fifth through eighth grades. The average class size is 19 students. The school includes 23 classrooms for students, commonly with three adult educators in each —a teacher along with associate teachers and/or student teachers. The instructors are often current or past students of Bank Street's graduate school, which shares a campus with the School for Children—including more than half of the teachers who are alumni. The School for Children is accredited by the New York State Association of Independent Schools and is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools.

Curriculum
The school follows its own developmental-interaction approach to childhood education, a pedagogy that has come to be known as the "Bank Street approach." The Bank Street approach is constructivist, based on the view that children create meaning from their experiences rather than have it imparted to them from a teacher. Children explore, create art, participate in group activities, and otherwise initiate learning experiences, with teachers serving as facilitators, helping the children to go deeper in the lessons they learn and with the goal of developing into lifelong learners. The school experience is designed to foster the development of students not only cognitively but also socially, physically, emotionally, socially, and mentally. As part of its fourth grade curriculum, the School for Children partners annually with Bank Street's Center for Children Literature to host the Dorothy Carter Writer-in-Residence, a program that invites a prominent author to work with students to craft their writing each spring. Past writers-in-residence include Kwame Alexander and Adam Gidwitz.

The school's approach has influenced many other schools, including the Midtown West public elementary school in Manhattan (PS 212), The Brooklyn New School (PS 146) and the Ullens School in Nepal. The Trust for Learning, an organization that provides grants to promote progressive education, cites the school as an example of what it calls an "Ideal Learning" program—one that emphasizes play, relationships with others, and interaction with one's environment. The School for Children served as a model for the Head Start program when it started in 1965.

Admissions
Bank Street School for Children has an application deadline of December 1 for the following school year, with a rolling admissions process throughout the spring if spots are still available. SSAT or ISEE testing is expected of children entering fifth grade or higher; for children in nursery through fourth grade, no standardized test scores are required. The admissions process includes a tour, the child participating in a small-group interview, and a parent interview. Admissions decisions are made by a committee of Bank Street staff members.

Extracurricular activities
Many students stay at the school after the academic day ends to participate in after-school extracurriculars. Students in fifth through eighth grades are eligible to participate in interscholastic sports including running, softball, basketball, volleyball, and soccer. .

Notable alumni of the School for Children

 * Liz Garbus, filmmaker
 * Ben Lerer, CEO Thrillist Media Group
 * Angelica Page, actress and filmmaker
 * Ally Sheedy, actress
 * Shuwanza Goff, Deputy Director of the Office of Legislative Affairs for President-Elect Joe Biden

Notable faculty and staff of the School for Children

 * Jessie Stanton, director of the nursery school from 1934 to 1941