Programs in Bilingual Education and TESOL

The demand for teachers who understand the intellectual, linguistic, and emotional needs of emergent bilingual students continues to grow. Whether you’re looking to enter the field of teaching or advance your career, Bank Street Graduate School of Education has several graduate programs to prepare you to work with K-12 students who are learning in two languages.

Choosing Bank Street

With its reputation as one of the best teacher preparation institutions in the country, Bank Street will equip you with a student-centered and culturally sustaining approach to teaching and learning that honors and responds to students’ academic, linguistic, and emotional strengths and needs. Bank Street is uniquely poised to help you make an impact in this growing field.

Join our collaborative and supportive education community to earn your teacher certification and/or bilingual extension, deepen your teaching practice, and become an advocate for multilingual learners.

What Program Is Right for You?

With Bank Street’s graduate programs in bilingual education and TESOL, you’ll learn how to help students develop their language abilities and inspire a lifelong love of learning.

Bilingual Extension Certificate

This program is for working teachers who wish to extend their New York State certification to work in dual language/transitional bilingual education classrooms. After completing the program, you will be eligible for certification in English as a New Language (ENL) in general education classrooms

Bilingual Extension Certificate

Literacy class with grad students listening to an instructor seated at a table

Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

Bank Street offers two TESOL programs: a master’s degree teacher residency and an advanced certificate, both leading to TESOL pre-K-12 certification. Because we offer these programs in New York City, you’ll study and practice in a public school system that has the most diverse immigrant student body in the country, where over 15 percent of the children speak over 160 languages and language acquisition begins in school.

Our Approach

We’re for educators who want to spend every day face to face with the future.

Bank Street holds a unique and highly regarded place in the world of education. We were trailblazers when we were founded in 1916—and our ideas, which were once radical, are widely practiced and accepted today. If you want to shape the future of education, this is where you start.
We’re for democracy and equity.

Our commitment to democracy and social justice is at the heart of our innovative pedagogy and desire to help all learners, both children and adults, actively make sense of the world. Equity and equality are always in a Bank Street educator’s mind—we meet students “where they are” in their learning with strengths-based activities and socially, emotionally, and culturally appropriate support.
We're for sharing good ideas.

For a small institution, our reach is broad. Our mix of graduate and continuing education coursework, research programs, and professional partnerships with school districts across the country aims to expand and improve educational opportunities for all students.

Financial Aid

At Bank Street, we believe education is an investment that will change your life—and the lives of the students you’ll work with. We’ll help you make it possible.

Every year, Bank Street’s Office of Financial Aid administers over $8.5 million in financial aid to students. More than 50 percent of our students receive financial aid. Your individual financial status from the prior year is a key factor in determining your award. We encourage you to go through the financial aid process to find out what we can offer.

Do I qualify for financial aid based on my income?

Your individual financial status from the prior year is a key factor in determining your award. Incoming students who earn up to $80,000 a year (or significantly more for students with families) are likely to qualify for a need-based scholarship at Bank Street. Our scholarship program makes the cost of attending Bank Street Graduate School of Education competitive with most other private schools in the New York region.
When should I apply for financial aid?

You can apply for financial aid at the same time you complete your admission application. Filling out the FAFSA as early as possible is an important step for financial aid. Federal student aid, including scholarships, can significantly reduce your financial obligation without adding to student debt.
What types of scholarship opportunities are available to me?

Our financial aid advisors would be happy to tell you more about the process and our many scholarship opportunities for new and continuing students, including external scholarships and program-based, diversity-oriented, public school-focused, and career changer scholarships, among others.

Why Bank Street?

Helping Students Transition

In developing your own knowledge of bilingual and English as a new language (ENL) teaching concepts, you’ll become accredited and better prepared to meet your students where they are and help them prepare for advanced learning in many core content areas.

Prepared for the Long Run

In a field that experiences high turnover rates due to underprepared teachers, Bank Street is proud that 87% of its graduates remain in the field of education and 87% feel more confident in their subject area than comparison teachers.

Advocating for New Language Learners

There is high demand nationally for TESOL and bilingual teachers and advocates who are willing to critically examine how social, political, and economic factors impact their students.

Alumni Voices

I chose Bank Street for its strong Bilingual Education program, which was something that I was very much interested in pursuing. I believe that the commitment that Bank Street professors have to their students, their practice, and to New York City schools is outstanding. I am also a career changer (having been an actor), yet Bank Street encourages students like me to bring their knowledge and expertise into their teaching practice.

Sarah Ely, GSE '17

Dual Language/Bilingual Childhood General Education