Meet our Founder

Kasna Maat Ra (Jeffrey D. Vinson) has been an educator for over a decade. He started his career at Roots Activity Learning Center, an African-centered private school in Washington, DC. His research and practice in Hip-Hop Integration is primarily based on the many contributions that the African Diaspora has made on western civilization. His aim is to provide students the necessary skills and experiences to handle the many challenges that they will face both inside and outside of classroom. This is accomplished by identifying strengths and weaknesses in academics and social behavior, while empowering their learning experiences by utilizing culturally responsive teaching through art, technology, and community development.

He obtained his Bachelor of Science degree from Grambling State University, majoring in business management and minoring in graphic design. He received his Master of Arts in Teaching degree from Corcoran College of Art and Design. During his matriculation at Corcoran, he had the opportunity to collaborate with several project teams to develop professional development workshops for Corcoran Gallery of Art. He participated in the “30 Americans” Education Sub-Committee and was invited to give a lecture on Hip-Hop Culture and the Black experience to curators of that particular exhibit. In 2012, he introduced his unique teaching strategy, Hip-Hop Integration, as a guest speaker at the National Art Education Association’s National Conference in New York City and facilitated a workshop at the Summer Teacher Institute for Corcoran Gallery of Art during the summer of 2014.

His thesis entitled, “Hip Hop Integration: A Pedagogical Tool for Culturally Responsive Teaching”, utilizes the elements of Hip-Hop culture with arts integration, cooperative learning and the theory of multiple intelligences. Since incorporating Hip Hop Integration in his own classroom, students have gained a greater interest in learning and were able to retain pertinent information, such as: the fifty United States of America, physical characteristics of planets, vocabulary words, and various mathematical concepts. As the founder of the Hip-Hop Integration Program, he intends to share his insight and expertise by providing professional development workshops, educational resources, and community programs that emphasize the significance of art and entrepreneurship. He is currently a 5th grade teacher at Leadership Academy at Como Elementary in Ft. Worth, TX. He has also taught 7th grade Math at Wedgwood Middle School and wrote several articles/lesson plans for NuSkool, Inc. as a Content Developer. Recently, he received the Wanda Clay Education Award from Swing Phi Swing Social Fellowship Incorporated and became a finalist for the Lockheed Martin Chair for Teaching Excellence in Elementary Math and/or Science award.