Back in November, college leaders and local school administration members gathered to watch a presentation of what could be part of the future of how MLFTC student teachers learn how to create change — and ultimately improve the system — from the inside out.

As part of the curriculum, senior-year college students who were placed in Washington Elementary School District as student teachers — 14 to be exact — were given an opportunity and the tools to try out a mindset of “educator as designer” while in their classrooms.

Today, American Enterprise Institute director of education policy studies and Education Week blogger Frederick M. Hess released his 2019 “Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings.” Each year, Hess’ committee of experts honors the top 200 university-based scholars in education — from a pool of over 20,000 — who had the greatest influence on the nation’s education discourse throughout the year.

Last fall the U.S. Department of Education awarded a grant of $2.3 million to a unique collaboration between Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College and Childsplay, the Tempe, Arizona-based professional theater for young audiences. Titled “Supporting Early Language Development of Preschool Children with Drama Integration,” the project is the most recent expression of a concept Childsplay developed nearly a decade ago — EYEPlay — that employs drama in preschool classrooms to improve standards-based early learning outcomes.

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