Social Class, Social Justice, & Social Studies Education
My research focuses on improving social studies education (for both K-12 and pre-service teachers) and investigating the impact of justice-oriented curriculum and pedagogy on teachers and students. How can the social studies teach students about historical and contemporary inequities and to act in the world in ways that deepen democracy? In particular, what are "elite" students learning about social studies, and how does that help to reproduce or interrupt the reproduction of class hierarchies? In order to better understand the possibility of a "social justice social studies" education, I also examine the context within which this education occurs. In particular, how do school reforms (and teachers' activism in response to these reforms) shape school policies, influence the curriculum, and impact what happens in social studies classrooms?
In order to answer these questions, I have developed research projects in the following three domains: curriculum theory, classroom teaching and learning, and education policy.
Curriculum Theory & Social Justice Education
My projects related to curriculum theory are an attempt to better understand the nature of social justice education - what it is, what it is not, and what it should be. In collaboration with Dr.Paul Gorski at George Mason University, I am articulating a theory of “equity literacy,” or the knowledge and skills necessary for students to identify and analyze current social injustices with a focus on economic issues. In a related project with Drs. Stephanie Dodman and Jenice View, I am examining how in-service teachers can become more literate in issues of equity by conducting equity audits.
My special focus here, in both theory and practice, is on students and teachers in elite school settings. What is the role of schools and curriculum in reproducing class privilege? How and what do students from these communities learn about race, class, and social justice - particularly in their social studies classes? What do they consider to be their civic obligations in relation to privilege? Which teaching practices seem most effective in helping them to achieve the goals of social justice pedagogy? To answer these questions, my dissertation examined data from two yearlong case studies of American history teachers working with high school juniors and seniors in an elite suburban public and urban private school. It proposed a framework for “educating activist allies” by preparing students to have a deep awareness of injustice related to their daily lives, to listen with open minds and hearts to marginalized perspectives, and to act in alliance with social movements working to build a more just world.
Social Studies Teaching & Learning
What is the role of the social studies in helping students understand historical and contemporary inequities, especially those related to class? My research on effective K-12 social justice social studies instruction draws upon the traditions of multicultural education, critical pedagogy, and democratic education. In conjunction with my own teaching, I examine how best to build the capacity of in- and pre-service educators to incorporate critical contemporary social issues and multiple marginalized perspectives into their classrooms - particularly about issues of wealth inequality and the labor movement. This includes working directly with local schools to field test curriculum and refine/develop coursework as well as publishing materials for teachers to use with their students. It also means that I study my own practices as a teacher educator to critically analyze how I am preparing social studies to engage with these issues themselves. This includes an open-access course called "Teaching and Learning Iowa History" focused on the history of struggles against anti-Black racism and Native sovereignty in Iowa.
Educational Policy & Social Studies
Few of the curricular developments described above matter if there are not policy contexts that support social justice education and nurture positive working environments for professional teachers. For instance, I have written about how social studies as a discipline is frequently marginalized or excluded from the curriculum in efforts to raise test scores or increase the number of STEM graduates. Other work in this area has had to do with a critical analysis of the role of venture philanthropy in corporate education reform agendas supporting programs like Teach for America while other projects have focused on teachers’ unions. The largest project encompassing policy, social studies, and curriculum involves Dr. Simone Schweber and I using the “Wisconsin Uprising” of 2011 as an important instrumental case study to investigate the ways in which teachers address local, unfolding, contentious events in their history and civics classrooms within shifting conditions of employment as well as to explore how teachers navigate their civic and professional responsibilities as state workers who are under intense scrutiny.
My research focuses on improving social studies education (for both K-12 and pre-service teachers) and investigating the impact of justice-oriented curriculum and pedagogy on teachers and students. How can the social studies teach students about historical and contemporary inequities and to act in the world in ways that deepen democracy? In particular, what are "elite" students learning about social studies, and how does that help to reproduce or interrupt the reproduction of class hierarchies? In order to better understand the possibility of a "social justice social studies" education, I also examine the context within which this education occurs. In particular, how do school reforms (and teachers' activism in response to these reforms) shape school policies, influence the curriculum, and impact what happens in social studies classrooms?
In order to answer these questions, I have developed research projects in the following three domains: curriculum theory, classroom teaching and learning, and education policy.
Curriculum Theory & Social Justice Education
My projects related to curriculum theory are an attempt to better understand the nature of social justice education - what it is, what it is not, and what it should be. In collaboration with Dr.Paul Gorski at George Mason University, I am articulating a theory of “equity literacy,” or the knowledge and skills necessary for students to identify and analyze current social injustices with a focus on economic issues. In a related project with Drs. Stephanie Dodman and Jenice View, I am examining how in-service teachers can become more literate in issues of equity by conducting equity audits.
My special focus here, in both theory and practice, is on students and teachers in elite school settings. What is the role of schools and curriculum in reproducing class privilege? How and what do students from these communities learn about race, class, and social justice - particularly in their social studies classes? What do they consider to be their civic obligations in relation to privilege? Which teaching practices seem most effective in helping them to achieve the goals of social justice pedagogy? To answer these questions, my dissertation examined data from two yearlong case studies of American history teachers working with high school juniors and seniors in an elite suburban public and urban private school. It proposed a framework for “educating activist allies” by preparing students to have a deep awareness of injustice related to their daily lives, to listen with open minds and hearts to marginalized perspectives, and to act in alliance with social movements working to build a more just world.
Social Studies Teaching & Learning
What is the role of the social studies in helping students understand historical and contemporary inequities, especially those related to class? My research on effective K-12 social justice social studies instruction draws upon the traditions of multicultural education, critical pedagogy, and democratic education. In conjunction with my own teaching, I examine how best to build the capacity of in- and pre-service educators to incorporate critical contemporary social issues and multiple marginalized perspectives into their classrooms - particularly about issues of wealth inequality and the labor movement. This includes working directly with local schools to field test curriculum and refine/develop coursework as well as publishing materials for teachers to use with their students. It also means that I study my own practices as a teacher educator to critically analyze how I am preparing social studies to engage with these issues themselves. This includes an open-access course called "Teaching and Learning Iowa History" focused on the history of struggles against anti-Black racism and Native sovereignty in Iowa.
Educational Policy & Social Studies
Few of the curricular developments described above matter if there are not policy contexts that support social justice education and nurture positive working environments for professional teachers. For instance, I have written about how social studies as a discipline is frequently marginalized or excluded from the curriculum in efforts to raise test scores or increase the number of STEM graduates. Other work in this area has had to do with a critical analysis of the role of venture philanthropy in corporate education reform agendas supporting programs like Teach for America while other projects have focused on teachers’ unions. The largest project encompassing policy, social studies, and curriculum involves Dr. Simone Schweber and I using the “Wisconsin Uprising” of 2011 as an important instrumental case study to investigate the ways in which teachers address local, unfolding, contentious events in their history and civics classrooms within shifting conditions of employment as well as to explore how teachers navigate their civic and professional responsibilities as state workers who are under intense scrutiny.