Date Created
5-2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
College of Education and Behavioral Sciences, Teacher Education, Teacher Education Student Work
First Advisor
Kirshner, Jean
First Committee Member
McConnell, Christine
Second Committee Member
Kang
Third Committee Member
Nelson, Kyle
Abstract
In an era of standardized accountability in public education, anti-bias-oriented Colorado educators have sought to foster caring, courageous, and critically conscious citizens by affirming student identity, promoting diversity, demanding justice, and inspiring activism, all while adhering to mandated academic standards. The purpose of the qualitative Educational Critical and Connoisseurship study was to understand and describe how K-2 anti-bias-oriented educators teaching in public schools in Colorado interpreted and implemented Colorado’s Reading, Writing, and Communicating (RWC) and Social Studies (SS) standards using an anti-bias orientation. This study was guided by the following research questions:
Q1 In what ways are Colorado’s K–2 Reading, Writing, and Communicating and Social Studies academic standards aligned with the goals of the Anti-Bias Education Framework?
Q2 How do anti-bias-oriented K–2 teachers interpret the alignment or misalignment between Colorado Academic Standards and the goals of Anti-Bias Education in the context of instructional planning?
Q3 How do anti-bias-oriented K–2 teachers meet Reading, Writing, and Communicating and Social Studies Colorado academic state standards while also navigating the goals of Anti-Bias Education in their everyday teaching practice?
Additionally, this study employed the conceptual framework of Anti-Bias Education (Derman-Sparks et al., 2020), theoretical frameworks of the Critical Pedagogy (Freire, 1970/1972), and the Ecology of Schooling (Eisner, 2002), with Critical Content Analysis (Beach et al., 2009) to explore Research Question 1, and Elliot Eisner’s (2002) educational criticism and connoisseurship methodology to explore Research Questions 2 and 3.
Data were collected from the RWC and the SS Colorado Academic Standards through document collection to address Research Question 1. Additionally, interviews, classroom observations, and artifacts were collected from three anti-bias-oriented educators (one kindergarten, one first-grade, and one second-grade teacher) in Colorado to explore their perceptions of standards in planning and practice for Research Question 2 and Research Question 3. Findings from Research Question 1 revealed two major themes: (a) definitional silence and the absence of justice and activism in the Reading, Writing, and Communicating standards, and (b) explicit voice and the inclusion of justice and activism in the Social Studies standards. Findings from Research Questions 2 and 3 revealed themes of ecology as a site for humanizing pedagogy, standards mediation as a bridge between compliance and care, and repositioning diverse learners through identity-linked comprehension. When these themes collided, the concept of confluence sat transformative praxis in motion and called for the need of educator, state, and pedagogical prioritization toward humanization through the goals of Anti- Bias Education.
Abstract Format
html
Language
English
Extent
214 pages
Rights Statement
Copyright is held by the author.
Digital Origin
Born digital
Recommended Citation
Breiten, Grace Marguerite, "Between the lines and behind the lessons: An educational criticism of bridging anti-bias possibilities in Colorado’s K-2 standards and classrooms" (2026). Dissertations. 1248.
https://digscholarship.unco.edu/dissertations/1248