What Is the Bank Street Approach to Early Childhood Education

When searching for childcare or preschool programs for your child, you may wonder how to choose between all the available options. You may start to hear a lot about different educational philosophies, like Montessori or Waldorf, and aren’t sure which would be a good fit for your child. 

Luckily, the early childhood experts at Winnie are here to break down everything you need to know about educational philosophies, starting with the terms “progressive education” and "Bank Street" which you may hear schools use to describe their curriculum.

Who developed the Bank Street approach?

The Bank Street approach, also known as the developmental-interaction approach, was developed in the early 1900s by Lucy Sprague Mitchell. Mitchell and her colleagues were inspired by philosopher and educator John Dewey, a pioneer for progressive education. Dewey believed that humans learn best through hands-on interaction with their environment, which opposed the rote learning that had been happening in schools previously.

Dewey also believed that students had to be interested in what they were learning about to absorb the information fully. He also felt the classroom should be a democracy where teachers and students work together to make decisions. 

Mitchell opened a nursery school, which would serve as a laboratory for psychologists and aspiring educators to study how children learn best. The Bank Street School for Children and the Bank Street College of Education grew from this nursery school, and the developmental interaction approach was born.

As a result, schools worldwide look to Bank Street as a model for progressive, democratic education, and the College continues to train teachers in their approach. 

What is the Bank Street approach?

The approach developed at The Bank Street School is rooted in hands-on exploration and play. Social studies is the foundation of the curriculum, and children explore the world around them- exploring further and further as they grow.

The preschool children start out studying each other through “all about me” and family studies, then they venture out and explore their neighborhood. The children in elementary classrooms study roads and bridges, eventually studying ancient civilizations in the upper grades and creating maps of the blocks around the school building, chatting with shop-owners, and reconstructing their neighborhood using blocks.

Block building is a huge part of the Bank Street curriculum and children up into the upper grades use them to recreate what they’ve learned. 

Bank Street believes classrooms should be a democracy, where the children have a voice. Classroom meetings are facilitated by the teacher but led by the children. There is also a strong social justice focus and a belief in equity, emphasizing building a community where everyone’s needs are met.

Bank Street College and the teachers, social workers, and child-life specialists they train take this approach out into the world and weave it into their work with families in schools, clinics, and hospitals.

The Bank Street approach in action

Let’s look at how the Bank Street approach, also known as progressive education, works in an early childhood setting. 

A teacher notices a group of children making soup in the dramatic play area. They seem interested in talking about the ingredients of the soup and the different kinds of soup they eat at home.

The teacher decides to use the children’s interest in soup as an entry point to explore their neighborhood and involve each child’s family.

The class would then embark on an in-depth study of soup! They’d read books about soups in different cultures, make soup in the classroom, bring in parents to share recipes with the class, take trips to local restaurants to watch soup being made, and the study would culminate in a celebration.

Finally, the classroom could take a trip to the store, purchase their own ingredients, open their own soup shop, and sell soups to the other classrooms in the school or to parents at pick-up time. 

Talking about soup for two weeks may seem trivial, but when you break it down into subject areas, you’ll see how something as simple as making soup can provide really meaningful real-life learning experiences for children. In a nutshell, this is Bank Street— weaving learning into an in-depth study driven by the children’s interests. 

Math

• Measuring ingredients 
• Counting
• Learning how to measure using measuring cups or measuring spoons
• Introducing simple fractions and parts of a whole
• Introducing money concepts, shopping for ingredients to make soup.

Literacy

• Reading books about soup
• Helping to write recipes and shopping lists
• Learning new vocabulary associated with cooking and shopping 
• Creating a class recipe book together
• Making invitations for the other classrooms to visit the soup shop
• Making signage for the soup shop

Science

• Mixing and combining ingredients and flavors 
• Coming up with ideas and testing them out, the earliest form of the scientific method!
• How heat and temperature affect the texture of foods (cause and effect)

Social Studies

• Introducing different cultures and family recipes
• Going out into the community and visiting local restaurants and stores
• Inviting families in to share their recipes and help with the culminating celebration.
• Gaining an appreciation for the fact that every family and culture does things differently, but we all have certain things in common. 

How do I know if the Bank Street approach is right for my child?

Honestly, the Bank Street approach or progressive education is excellent for any learning style. The philosophy naturally lends itself to individualization, and since the curriculum is developed with the children’s interests in mind, it can be easily personalized.

Teachers may have a unique set of goals for each child and design learning experiences to help children meet those goals. 

When you are touring preschools and daycares, don’t be afraid to ask the Director or provider what their philosophy is or how they approach curriculum. For example, if they mention “studies” or developing a curriculum based on the interests of the children, they could be following the Bank Street approach without even knowing it!