Andrea Bien

University of Colorado at Boulder

Biography

Andrea Bien is a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Colorado at Boulder in the School of Education Department of Curriculum & Instruction: Literacy Studies. She worked with Professor Kris Gutierrez as both a CLRN graduate research assistant and an instructor of Educational Psychology for Elementary Schools: Learning in Robust Ecologies, a practicum-based undergraduate course connected to the after school learning club, El Pueblo Mágico. Prior to her graduate work, Andrea was an elementary school teacher in racially and linguistically diverse high-poverty schools. Drawing on her experiences with packaged reading programs in these schools, her dissertation research is designed to develop rich understandings of how commodified literacy curricula shape teaching and learning in elementary school classrooms.Bringing theories of race, language and power and cultural-historical perspectives of learning to bear on her work, she examines how market-driven reforms that purport to provide greater support to students of color, dual language learners, and those from economically struggling families actually function for children and teachers in classrooms.