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<< back to UES UES student handbook
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Introduction •The UES : A Unique Collaboration • Bank Street at a Glance • Venture at a Glance Education is one of the most intellectually stimulating areas of study in part due to the political nature of the field and the issues that it addresses. The Urban Education Semester (UES) is a unique, interdisciplinary, academic immersion program which introduces students from all academic backgrounds to the field of urban public education. The program helps students discover that high quality, effective education is possible in urban public schools. Open to students attending member colleges of The Venture Consortium, the program combines supervised fieldwork in outstanding New York City public school classrooms with coursework and advisement at Bank Street College of Education, one of the nation's leading graduate schools of education. Through a weekly group seminar and individual advising conferences, students are encouraged to integrate their teaching experiences with the theoretical frameworks they examine in coursework at Bank Street. Students interested in UES may request a placement that specifically examines administrative or public policy’s role in urban public education, addressing such issues as the role of parents in school governance, defining and supporting the needs of special education, and the establishment of charter schools in NYC. This interplay of theory and practice enables students to critically examine urban public education in one of the nation's largest school systems. Over 300 Venture alumni have participated in this program. The program started as a summer program in 1987, with the collaborative efforts of Bank Street, East Harlem Community District 4, and The Venture Consortium. The program became a semester-long program in the spring of 1990. Because of its success, a fall program was added in 1995. Since the program’s inception, participants have been placed with teachers in classrooms in various districts in New York City such as Washington Heights, the Lower East Side, the South Bronx, and Williamsburg in Brooklyn. About Bank Street College: Bank Street prepares its graduates to understand, teach, and advocate for youth who have a range of backgrounds, abilities, and a shared stake in building a democratic society. All of Bank Street's programs emphasize a broad knowledge of human development, and the need for collaboration and team building for the improvement of educational practice. The curriculum includes socio-historical foundations of education and the impact of educational policy on school culture, ways to recognize and nurture individual learners and support beneficial home-school connections, and curricular resources and methodologies for teaching. It also addresses assessment and classroom management strategies that enhance and support the learning process, arts-oriented learning, and uses of technology. Curricular integration, with social studies at the core, has long been central to the Bank Street approach, as has a pervasive emphasis on reflection and inquiry. Bank Street believes in caring, humane, socially responsible education that supports children's efforts to become fully engaged in their own learning as they seek to understand themselves and the world. Children are at the center of the work. Bank Street offers small classes, extensive supervised fieldwork and advisement, and faculty who are dedicated to helping its graduate students become outstanding educators. (back to top) • Bank Street College of Education was founded in 1916 as the Bureau of Educational Experiments by Lucy Sprague Mitchell and a group of colleagues who wanted to begin to make a study of how children grow and develop. • Today, with over 5,000 alumni who are teaching in or administering educational institutions all across the United States as well in Europe and Asia, Bank Street's Graduate School ranks as one of the most prestigious producers of educational talent in the country. • Bank Street's Graduate School offers five general areas of concentration: Bilingual Education, Computers in Education, Educational Leadership, Special Education, and Teacher Education. The degree and non-degree programs prepare professional educators for a variety of roles in working with children and youth in schools or other educational settings. • Bank Street's faculty is composed of individuals who are both theorists and practitioners. They are equally skilled in the science of human development and in the daily workings of schools and school districts. • Bank Street's Graduate School boasts a diverse student body. Nearly one third of the College's 700 graduate students are students of color. For more information about Bank Street, see the Bank Street catalogue in your UES Program Coordinator's office on campus, or visit the Bank Street web site. (back to top) The Venture Consortium is a group of liberal arts institutions dedicated to the development of hands-on experiences that go beyond the classroom, for students who enjoy learning by doing. Venture’s key objectives include fostering social awareness and a sense of social responsibility among students through experiential learning, and building mutually useful connections between institutions of higher learning and the larger community. Committed to the notion of education as a lifelong pursuit, Venture encourages college students and recent graduates to explore their own boundaries and embark on a lifetime of challenges, adventures, and personal growth. Its programs offer out of the ordinary opportunities for students who want to extend the learning process beyond the classroom into new settings. The current members of The Venture Consortium are Brown University, College of the Holy Cross, Franklin & Marshall College, Sarah Lawrence College, Vassar College, and Wesleyan University. Consortium resources include an advisory board of college deans, a central office with a full-time director and staff, program coordinators on each campus, and the vital participation of hundreds of students, faculty, and staff from our member institutions. Moreover, Venture has sustained strong partnerships with national and international employers for nearly three decades and Bank Street College for nineteen years. Other programs offered by the Consortium include College Venture, which offers rewarding work experiences for undergraduates taking time off from school, and The Engaged Life – a set of workshops and resources for students interested in public interest careers and living a socially responsible life. For more information about Venture, visit your UES Program Coordinator, or visit the Venture Consortium on the web: www.theventureconsortium.org. Bank Street and Venture have come together for this program because they share a commitment to helping liberal arts undergraduates reflect on issues of civic responsibility; the program uses urban education in New York City as the lens to explore these concerns. (back to top) page 1 | page 2 | page 3 | page 4 | page 5 |
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