Master’s Degree Programs in
Dual Language/Bilingual Education

Earn Your Bilingual MSEd in Spanish or Mandarin

The demand for teachers who can teach students who want to maintain their home language(s) while learning English continues to grow, especially for our Chinese American and Latinx communities. Whether you’re looking to enter the field of teaching or advance your career, Bank Street Graduate School of Education has numerous graduate programs to help you get your master’s degree in dual language and bilingual education, preparing 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. Because our six master’s programs in dual language/bilingual education are offered in New York City, you’ll study and practice in a public school system where multilingual learners make up over 15 percent of the population, with many children relying on our schools to provide a bilingual education, whether they’re starting in pre-K, elementary school, middle school, or high school. At Bank Street you will:

  • Learn teaching strategies for working with emergent readers and speakers of Spanish or Mandarin Chinese and English, including literacy and child development techniques for meeting children where they are
  • Advance your critical thinking skills and acquire a deep understanding of applied linguistics. Bank Street faculty will help you learn to react with flexibility, adapt instruction to suit the needs of diverse learners, and create meaningful opportunities for learning that validate student’s authentic use of language and give them the start toward language proficiency and fluency they need for successful lives.
  • Experience hands-on fieldwork as a student teacher in cross-cultural classroom settings help prepare you to lead students. Working  alongside experienced educators, you’ll translate child development and linguistic theory into practice while critically examining how educational, social, political, and socioeconomic factors frame student populations and the way students learn the language arts.

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 dual language/bilingual master’s degree and bilingual certification extension programs, you’ll become a learn how to help students develop their language abilities and inspire a lifelong love of learning. 

Teacher reads to young children

Early Childhood General Education

  • MSEd program for educators of emergent bilingual students in grades 1-6
  • Content groundwork in literacy, math, science, arts, and social studies
  • Certification to teach in dual language/transitional bilingual classrooms

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Two graduate students during activity

Early Childhood Special Education

  • MSEd for educators of emergent bilingual students in grades 1-6 with a variety of social, emotional, behavioral, physical, and cognitive variations
  • Techniques for using play, social interaction, and sensory experiences
  • Special education certification to teach in dual language/transitional bilingual classrooms or to work as a Special Education Itinerant Teacher (SEIT)

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Faculty member and graduate student

Dual Certification: Early Childhood Special and General Education

  • MSEd program for educators of emergent bilingual students in grades 1-6, including children with a variety of social, emotional, behavioral, physical, and cognitive variations
  • Content groundwork in many subjects and techniques for using play, social interaction, and sensory experiences
  • Certification to teach in dual language/transitional bilingual general, special education, and inclusion classrooms

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Teacher reading to three students

Childhood General Education

  • MSEd program for educators of emergent bilingual students in grades 1-6
  • Content groundwork in literacy, literature, mathematics, science, arts, and social studies
  • Certification to teach in dual language/transitional bilingual classrooms

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Child and teacher reading

Childhood Special Education

  • MSEd program for educators who want to work with emergent bilingual students in grades 1-6 with a variety of social, emotional, behavioral, physical, and cognitive variations
  • Content groundwork in literacy, literature, mathematics, science, arts, and social studies that prioritizes play, social interaction, and sensory experiences
  • Special education certification to teach in dual language/transitional bilingual classrooms or to work as a Special Education Itinerant Teacher (SEIT)

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Join us at Continuing Professional Studies this summer

Dual Certification: Childhood Special and General Education

  • MSEd program for educators of emergent bilingual students in grades 1-6, including children with a variety of social, emotional, behavioral, physical, and cognitive variations
  • Prepares you for special and general education certification to teach in dual language/transitional bilingual education, general education, special education, or inclusion classrooms or to work as a Special Education Itinerant Teacher (SEIT)
  • Full tuition scholarships available in partnership with NYC Public Schools

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Children at classroom tables

Bilingual Extension Certificate

  • For working teachers who wish to extend their New York State certification to work in dual language/transitional bilingual education classrooms
  • For certification in English as a New Language (ENL) in general education classrooms

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Children at classroom tables

Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

  • Gain accreditation to work as a TESOL teacher with English as a new language (ENL) students in grades pre-K–12.

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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.
    Dual language learners in a math class

  • 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.
    Teacher and two students smiling

  • 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.
    Child smiles while painting with teacher

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.

Sarah Ely
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

Contact Bank Street

610 West 112th Street
New York, NY 10025

212-652-8722
gseenrollment@bankstreet.edu