- Music, Philosophy of Science, Visual Studies, History, Humanities, Education, and 21 morePhilosophy, Cultural Theory, Literature, Situationism, History of Philosophy of Science, History and philosophy of science (History), History of Science, History of Philosophy, Curriculum and Instruction, Critical Theory, Urban Studies, Critical Pedagogy, Marxism, Education Policy, Social Justice, Neoliberalism, Curriculum Studies, Ideology, Social Studies Education, Social Justice in Education, and Educational reformedit
- Biography Dr. Kevin D. Vinson received his PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Maryland in 19... moreBiography
Dr. Kevin D. Vinson received his PhD in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Maryland in 1996. In addition he holds a BA in History (University of Maryland Baltimore County) and an MA in Curriculum and Instruction (Loyola University in Maryland ). Dr. Vinson is the co-author of the book Image and Education: Teaching in the Face of the New Disciplinarity and the co-editor of Defending Public Schools: Curriculum (both with E. Wayne Ross). His scholarship has appeared in Theory and Research in Social Education, Educational Studies, and The Journal of Critical Education Policy Studies (among others) and has been presented at the annual conferences of organizations such as the American Educational Research Association, the American Educational Studies Association, and the National Council for the Social Studies. Dr. Vinson is married to Melissa Wilson, also as Lecturer, and has a daughter, Olivia, and a stepdaughter, Miriam.
Research Interests
Social Studies Education
Philosophy of Education
Curriculum Theory
Critical Pedagogy
Specifically, Dr. Vinson is pursues a critical theoretical understanding of the relationships between schools and the broader society, particularly in terms of social justice, democracy, and the contextualizing characteristics of surveillance-spectacle, representation, socially mediated social relationships, and power. He is currently working on a new book tentatively entitled iCitizenship: The Foundations of a Contemporary Critical Social Pedagogy.edit
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In this paper the authors pursue the evolving relationships between Foucauldian understandings of "surveillance" and Debordian notions of "spectacle." Using the contemporary commitment to standards-based educational reform (SBER), they... more
In this paper the authors pursue the evolving relationships between Foucauldian understandings of "surveillance" and Debordian notions of "spectacle." Using the contemporary commitment to standards-based educational reform (SBER), they address the following questions: (1) To what extent might contemporary K-12 education be understood in terms of a "blending" of surveillance and spectacle? To what benefits? (2) Within what contexts and via what mechanisms does this merging occur? (3) What are the potential practical consequences of this arrangement? and (4) How might SBER (as a case study) illuminate the fusion of surveillance and spectacle in terms of cause(s), effect(s), context(s), mechanism(s), consequence(s), critique(s), and resistance(s)?
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Within the convergence of surveillance and spectacle high-stakes testing functions as a mechanism of enforcement, proceeding as a matter both of control by images and control of images, a circularity in which power is an effect of image... more
Within the convergence of surveillance and spectacle high-stakes testing functions as a mechanism of enforcement, proceeding as a matter both of control by images and control of images, a circularity in which power is an effect of image and image is an effect of power—image-power or power-image. Certain dominant images, established and maintained by elite educational managers, force a disciplinary and antidemocratic conformity on the part of (among others) teachers, students, and schools toward the interests of the (same) wealthy and powerful minority who sanction the contents, policies, procedures, and consequences of high-stakes testing in the first place. Those who control images produce images that control—power produces (and maintains and reinforces) images, images produce (and maintain and reinforce) power—all in their own power-laden interests. We offer the practices of dérive and détournement not as absolutes or final statements, but as quotidian and incremental praxis, a tentative set of steps toward reestablishing the place of living and authenticity as against alienation, passivity, antidemocracy, conformity, and injustice. For in the end, high-stakes testing is not the whole story but merely a piece of the bigger story, one in which we and our children are author and character, subject and object, player and played on. Perhaps this is our true test. If so, then the stakes are high indeed.
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O presente artigo debate o tema da justiça social, bem como analisa alguns dos principais obstáculos que se colocam a uma sociedade mais “justa” e o que é necessário fazer para os superar. O texto debate o significado do que vem a ser... more
O presente artigo debate o tema da justiça social, bem como analisa alguns dos principais obstáculos que se colocam a uma sociedade mais “justa” e o que é necessário fazer para os superar. O texto debate o significado do que vem a ser justiça social e como ela pode ser obtida no quotidiano. Para isso o texto advoga a necessidade de uma revolução do quotidiano que altere as relações de alienação e opressão promovidas pelo poder.
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""Making sense of contemporary US social studies education means making sense of it within the prevailing contexts of standards-based educational reform (SBER). Although so¬cial studies has yet, generally speaking, to be as standards- and... more
""Making sense of contemporary US social studies education means making sense of it within the prevailing contexts of standards-based educational reform (SBER). Although so¬cial studies has yet, generally speaking, to be as standards- and test-driven as reading, mathematics, and science, it still functions within a dominant and dominating setting characte-rized across the country by myriad content and curriculum standards documents and wide-spread high-stakes testing on the state and local levels.
In this chapter we explore social studies education and SBER from a variety of perspectives and on a variety of levels. We begin by over/reviewing the nature and meaning of SBER, defining the term, for example, and briefly introducing its recent history, particularly vis-à-vis national public school policy work and the work of those national commissions and “blue ribbon” panels that influenced its development and evolution (e.g., The National Commission on Excellence in Education’s 1983 publication A National at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform) and legislation such as the President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and President Obama’s “Race to the Top.” Second, we frame social studies education itself within the larger milieu of SBER, focusing primarily upon the curriculum standards work of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). We consider here the creation and influence of such significant documents as Charting a Course and Expectations of Excellence: Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. Third, we introduce and explicate the continuing debate surrounding social studies education and SBER, first with respect to the widely publicized debate over National History Standards and second with respect to more recent NCLB-inspired critique. We present, of course, both the pro-SBER and anti-SBER perspectives. And fourth, we situate the present status of social studies education in terms of SBER. We conclude by considering the “big picture” of what all of this might mean for contemporary and future social studies education, particularly in terms of purpose, curriculum, instruction, teaching methodologies, assessment, teacher education, and policymaking.""
In this chapter we explore social studies education and SBER from a variety of perspectives and on a variety of levels. We begin by over/reviewing the nature and meaning of SBER, defining the term, for example, and briefly introducing its recent history, particularly vis-à-vis national public school policy work and the work of those national commissions and “blue ribbon” panels that influenced its development and evolution (e.g., The National Commission on Excellence in Education’s 1983 publication A National at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform) and legislation such as the President Bush’s No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) and President Obama’s “Race to the Top.” Second, we frame social studies education itself within the larger milieu of SBER, focusing primarily upon the curriculum standards work of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS). We consider here the creation and influence of such significant documents as Charting a Course and Expectations of Excellence: Curriculum Standards for Social Studies. Third, we introduce and explicate the continuing debate surrounding social studies education and SBER, first with respect to the widely publicized debate over National History Standards and second with respect to more recent NCLB-inspired critique. We present, of course, both the pro-SBER and anti-SBER perspectives. And fourth, we situate the present status of social studies education in terms of SBER. We conclude by considering the “big picture” of what all of this might mean for contemporary and future social studies education, particularly in terms of purpose, curriculum, instruction, teaching methodologies, assessment, teacher education, and policymaking.""
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In this paper we set out to accomplish several goals. Primarily, we seek to re-interpret Guy Debord’s (1967) work The Society of the Spectacle in light of modern-day schooling, principally within North America (although we recognize the... more
In this paper we set out to accomplish several goals. Primarily, we seek to re-interpret Guy Debord’s (1967) work The Society of the Spectacle in light of modern-day schooling, principally within North America (although we recognize the global connectivity inherent in any current discussion of formal education). In addition, we aim to utilize Debord’s conceptualizations as a series of means and mechanisms by and through which to examine (1) various threats posed against the ideals of publicly supported schools and (2) modes of resistance, particularly what we term “dangerous citizenship,” via which committed advocates might challenge the possible consequences of such threats, consequences including disciplinarity/deterrence, anti-democracy, oppression, anti-collectivity, and inauthenticity.
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Social studies have a contentious history as a school subject and this article begins with an overview of the historically competing viewpoints on the nature and purposes of social studies education in the North American context. Next, we... more
Social studies have a contentious history as a school subject and this article begins with an overview of the historically competing viewpoints on the nature and purposes of social studies education in the North American context. Next, we provide a critical examination of recent educational reforms in the USA (No Child Left Behind and Common Core State Standards), which use high-stakes testing as a tool for standardizing the social studies curriculum and teaching methods. The final section of the article examines both the significant levels of resistance to high-stakes testing and curriculum standardization by students, teachers, and the public and the question of whether social studies education will promote citizenship that is adaptive to the status quo or the reconstruction society in more equitable and socially just ways.
Los estudios sociales tienen una historia contenciosa como asignatura escolar y este artículo comienza con una visión general de los puntos de vista que históricamente compiten sobre la naturaleza y fines de la educación de estudios sociales en el contexto de América del Norte. A continuación, se ofrece un examen crítico de las reformas educativas recientes en los EE.UU. (Ningún Niño se Queda Atrás y los Estándares Estatales Comunes), que utilizan las pruebas de alta exigencia como una herramienta para estandarizar el currículo de estudios sociales y los métodos de enseñanza. La sección final del artículo examimna tanto los niveles significativos de resistencia de los estudiantes, profesores y el público a las pruebas de alta exigencia y a la estandarización del currículo y la pregunta de si la educación en estudios sociales promoverá ciudadanía adaptable al status quo o a la reconstrucción de la sociedad en formas mas equitativas y socialmente más justas.
Los estudios sociales tienen una historia contenciosa como asignatura escolar y este artículo comienza con una visión general de los puntos de vista que históricamente compiten sobre la naturaleza y fines de la educación de estudios sociales en el contexto de América del Norte. A continuación, se ofrece un examen crítico de las reformas educativas recientes en los EE.UU. (Ningún Niño se Queda Atrás y los Estándares Estatales Comunes), que utilizan las pruebas de alta exigencia como una herramienta para estandarizar el currículo de estudios sociales y los métodos de enseñanza. La sección final del artículo examimna tanto los niveles significativos de resistencia de los estudiantes, profesores y el público a las pruebas de alta exigencia y a la estandarización del currículo y la pregunta de si la educación en estudios sociales promoverá ciudadanía adaptable al status quo o a la reconstrucción de la sociedad en formas mas equitativas y socialmente más justas.
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In order to gain insight into preservice teachers' beliefs about planning for mathematics instruction, a study was carried out involving K8 teacher candidates enrolled in an elementary mathematics methods course. Doyle's (1992)... more
In order to gain insight into preservice teachers' beliefs about planning for mathematics instruction, a study was carried out involving K8 teacher candidates enrolled in an elementary mathematics methods course. Doyle's (1992) notion of academic task and the research ...
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In order to gain insight into preservice teachers' beliefs about planning for mathematics instruction, a study was carried out involving K8 teacher candidates enrolled in an elementary mathematics methods course. Doyle's (1992)... more
In order to gain insight into preservice teachers' beliefs about planning for mathematics instruction, a study was carried out involving K8 teacher candidates enrolled in an elementary mathematics methods course. Doyle's (1992) notion of academic task and the research ...
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EJ617090 - The"Traditions" Revisited: Instructional Approach and High School Social Studies Teachers.
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CHAPTER 3 IN SEARCH OF THE SOCIAL STUDIES CURRICULUM: STANDARDIZATION, DIVERSITY, AND A CONFLICT OF APPEARANCES Kevin D. Vinson and E. Wayne Ross The relation between what we see and what we knew is never settled. John Berger (cited in ...
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Abstract In this paper the authors pursue the evolving relationships between Foucauldian understandings of" surveillance" and Debordian notions of"... more
Abstract In this paper the authors pursue the evolving relationships between Foucauldian understandings of" surveillance" and Debordian notions of" spectacle." Using the contemporary commitment to standards-based educational reform (SBER), they address ...
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EJ615679 - The Problematics of Character Education and Civic Virtue: A Critical Response to the NCSS Position Statement.
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Chapter 5 Defining the Social Studies Curriculum Influence of and Resistance to Curriculum Standards and Testing in Social Studies Sandra Mathison, E. Wayne Ross, and Kevin D. Vinson Curriculum Standards and School Reform Virtually all of... more
Chapter 5 Defining the Social Studies Curriculum Influence of and Resistance to Curriculum Standards and Testing in Social Studies Sandra Mathison, E. Wayne Ross, and Kevin D. Vinson Curriculum Standards and School Reform Virtually all of the subject-matter-based ...
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Research Interests: Assessment, Educational Administration, Critical Pedagogy, Learning and Teaching, Student Achievement Motivation, and 9 moreStudent Motivation And Engagement, Accountability, Measurement and Evaluation, Diversity & Inclusion, Inclusive Education, Educational reform, High Stakes Testing, Comparative International Education, and Psychological and Educational Testing
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10 Social Justice Requires a Revolution of Everyday Life E. Wayne Ross and Kevin D. Vinson The whole life of those societies in which modern conditions of produc-tion prevail presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. All... more
10 Social Justice Requires a Revolution of Everyday Life E. Wayne Ross and Kevin D. Vinson The whole life of those societies in which modern conditions of produc-tion prevail presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. All that once was directly lived has ...
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ED455202 - Pursuing Image: Making Sense of Popular Pedagogical Representations.
1 propose first we exchange the belief that all children can learn for the belief that rill children do learn. For surely no contemporary professional social educator doubts or has ever doubted the fact that all children can learn.... more
1 propose first we exchange the belief that all children can learn for the belief that rill children do learn. For surely no contemporary professional social educator doubts or has ever doubted the fact that all children can learn. That this reworking involves more lhan semantics, ...
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Research Interests: Assessment, Educational Administration, Critical Pedagogy, Student Achievement Motivation, Educational Inequalities (class; race; gender etc), and 8 moreAccountability, Comparative & International Education, Diversity & Inclusion, Inclusive Education, Educational reform, High Stakes Testing, Educational Measurement and Evaluation; Academic Achievement, and Psychological and Educational Testing
Defending Public Schools addresses the historical, current, and future context of public education in the United States. While the essays provide an overview of education and schooling issues, the overarching concern is that public... more
Defending Public Schools addresses the historical, current, and future context of public education in the United States. While the essays provide an overview of education and schooling issues, the overarching concern is that public schools are under attack and deserve to be defended. Since 80% of America's student-aged population attend public schools, a fair and balanced look at a school system that has educated and continues to educate a population that is diverse in every way possible, is sorely needed. It can be said that a national school system has never had to educate so many young people through secondary school with mastery of so much information. While no one rejects the necessity of school reform to meet contemporary needs, the question of how to achieve the greatest good for the greatest numbers remains for thousand of schools across the nation. Defending Public Schools is a practical, necessary addition to the work of administrators, teachers, policy makers, and parents as they negotiate the difficult path of how to best teach and educate today's children and youth.
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One point—if not the point—of this book is to defend public schools against the vast array of current criticism—from both the Right and the Left—and whether or not there are any real, meaningful differences (at least between traditional... more
One point—if not the point—of this book is to defend public schools against the vast array of current criticism—from both the Right and the Left—and whether or not there are any real, meaningful differences (at least between traditional conservatives and liberals) in their various complaints and their variously construed and effected results. As such, the chapters in the volume address a multiple range of contemporary concerns relative to American public schooling and education.
Defending Public Schools: Curriculum and the Challenge of Change aims to support public schools specifically with respect to the curriculum as it exists, and could or should exist, today. Although critical, the authors here generally indeed are critical principally via the conditions and limitations imposed on schooling by those who control its complex and power-laden (post)modern functionings (e.g., governments, corporations), and not of public schooling—overarchingly—and/or its underlying and productive ideals per se. That is, although we know, of course, that not all teachers are good teachers and not all the curricular and instructional decisions they make are good decisions, we still support their continuing and remarkable efforts—as well as those of parents, students, and administrators—especially as they strive to do their very and underappreciated best under frequently less than optimal, and/or even less than supportive, circumstances (to say, in our view, the least).
To this end, each chapter included in this volume incorporates a number of related ideas and addresses several connected and timely themes. The authors all, for instance, offer a critique of the contemporary state of public schooling. While, initially, this might seem rather incompatible or inconsistent with the goal of defending public schools, in fact it really is not. For in each case the authors advance a discussion of both positive and negative characteristics, and do so with the knowledge and optimism that education—particularly the curriculum—can, and should, be better. Certainly we—teachers, our children, and society at large—deserve nothing less.
Defending Public Schools: Curriculum and the Challenge of Change aims to support public schools specifically with respect to the curriculum as it exists, and could or should exist, today. Although critical, the authors here generally indeed are critical principally via the conditions and limitations imposed on schooling by those who control its complex and power-laden (post)modern functionings (e.g., governments, corporations), and not of public schooling—overarchingly—and/or its underlying and productive ideals per se. That is, although we know, of course, that not all teachers are good teachers and not all the curricular and instructional decisions they make are good decisions, we still support their continuing and remarkable efforts—as well as those of parents, students, and administrators—especially as they strive to do their very and underappreciated best under frequently less than optimal, and/or even less than supportive, circumstances (to say, in our view, the least).
To this end, each chapter included in this volume incorporates a number of related ideas and addresses several connected and timely themes. The authors all, for instance, offer a critique of the contemporary state of public schooling. While, initially, this might seem rather incompatible or inconsistent with the goal of defending public schools, in fact it really is not. For in each case the authors advance a discussion of both positive and negative characteristics, and do so with the knowledge and optimism that education—particularly the curriculum—can, and should, be better. Certainly we—teachers, our children, and society at large—deserve nothing less.
Research Interests: Science Education, Mathematics Education, Race and Racism, Social Studies Education, Curriculum Studies, and 15 moreEducational Inequalities (class; race; gender etc), Arts Education, Character Education, Race and Ethnicity, Multicultural Education, Curriculum Theory, Curriculum Development, Teaching Sexuality Education, Educational reform, Militarization & Power, Radical Educational Philosophy, Curriculum Theory and Development, Reading Education, Montessori Education, and Corporate Education Reform
Image and Education: Teaching in the Face of the New Disciplinarity explores the importance of the visual image in contemporary education. Kevin D. Vinson and E. Wayne Ross draw on a range of (post)disciplinary traditions, including the... more
Image and Education: Teaching in the Face of the New Disciplinarity explores the importance of the visual image in contemporary education. Kevin D. Vinson and E. Wayne Ross draw on a range of (post)disciplinary traditions, including the study of visual culture, cultural studies, media studies, and film studies, as well as an array of significant thinkers, such as Michel Foucault, Guy Debord, Jean Baudrillard, Marshall McLuhan, Roland Barthes, Mikhail Bahktin, and Daniel Boorstin. The authors take on the surveillance-based and spectacular conditions of (post)modern schools and society and pursue not only a radical critique of the disciplinary gaze, but also the means by which teachers, students, and other interested stakeholders might resist its various conformative, anti-democratic, anti-collective, and oppressive potentialities.
Research Interests: Critical Theory, Education, Assessment, Visual Culture, Curriculum Studies, and 13 moreGuy Debord, Spectacle, Surveillance Studies, Roland Barthes, Curriculum Theory, Michel Foucault, Situationism, Educational reform, Marshall McLuhan, Testing, Jean Baudrillard, Situationist International, and Mikhail Bakhtin
Social studies have a contentious history as a school subject and this article begins with an overview of the historically competing viewpoints on the nature and purposes of social studies education in the North American context. Next, we... more
Social studies have a contentious history as a school subject and this article begins with an overview of the historically competing viewpoints on the nature and purposes of social studies education in the North American context. Next, we provide a critical examination of recent educational reforms in the USA (No Child Left Behind and Common Core State Standards), which use high-stakes testing as a tool for standardizing the social studies curriculum and teaching methods. The final section of the article examines both the significant levels of resistance to high-stakes testing and curriculum standardization by students, teachers, and the public and the question of whether social studies education will promote citizenship that is adaptive to the status quo or the reconstruction society in more equitable and socially just ways.