Early Intervention Program, faculty work with aspiring teachers to think deeply about young children, families, co-workers, and communities and to grapple with the context, seeing themselves as well within the context of each particular setting. Through an intensive, yearlong advisement process, Bank Street teacher candidates meld theory and practice as they build their own theoretical approach with the developmental-interaction framework as a base.
More recently, Bank Street has begun working with birth-to-three practitioners in family group care and child care centers in low-income communities in New York City. Using a community-based approach, Bank Street has grounded this work in its deep experience with very young children and the developmental-interaction approach that has served the College so well for so long.
You will see Bank Street’s approach in many ways in this paper. To ground the policy proposals in the experiences of the people who will be impacted by them, you will be introduced to a number of infant / toddler educators whose stories provide an example of the work and approach we are describing. These stories reflect a composite of experiences shared by providers, coaches, and faculty in Bank Street’s infant / toddler programs. With this approach, we hope to bring alive our ideas: for example, well-worn phrases like “reflective practice” or “applied knowledge.” We hope these stories make the joys and struggles of daily practice come alive while elucidating some of the ways in which our proposals for change can strengthen infant / toddler care and education in this country.
Program: Education
