Karen Harris

Dr. Karen R. Harris is ASU Regents Professor Emeritus and the former Mary Emily Warner Endowed Professor of Education. Her experiences tutoring inner city children in Chicago during high school significantly impacted her future and contributed to a lifelong commitment to social justice. She has worked in education for more than 40 years, initially as a general education teacher in a coal-mining town in West Virginia, and then as a special education teacher in Nebraska for students ages 13-21 with learning, emotional, behavioral, and/or cognitive challenges. Dr. Harris has chosen throughout her teaching and research career to work in schools in high poverty areas due to her commitment to improving teaching and learning for all students. Achieving equitable and quality education for all students is one important aspect of achieving social justice.

Her research focuses on validating instructional approaches derived from integrating multiple theoretical views and evidence-based practices, as well as effective PD for these approaches. Schools, administrators, and teachers Dr. Harris and her teams collaborate with are partners in studying improvements in teaching and learning. When an approach or set of strategies is proven to work, all teacher and student materials are provided free to all administrators, literacy and curriculum leaders, coaches, and teachers in these schools, as is practice-based PD at no cost.

Dr. Harris developed the Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) model of strategies instruction, which has been deemed evidence-based in both special and general education. She can be contacted for a list of free and low-cost SRSD resources. She and her colleagues voluntarily support two nonprofit organizations dedicated to scaling up SRSD in schools, thinkSRSD (https://www.thinksrsd.com/) and SRSDonline (https://srsdonline.org/). SRSD has been most extensively researched in the area of writing and close reading for writing, although researchers have also addressed reading, math, and homework. Currently, SRSD instruction results in the largest effect sizes of any approach to writing instruction studied. Over 100 studies in over 12 countries have been reported. Her current research focuses on continued refinement of SRSD; practice-based professional development in SRSD for special and general educators; validating writing strategies in areas not yet addressed; development of new writing and reading strategies to address close reading and writing to learn; technology supported SRSD instruction; and integrating SRSD instruction with evidence-based practices in handwriting, spelling, sentence construction, and vocabulary in 1st and 2nd grade. 

Dr. Harris is a former editor of the Journal of Educational Psychology and was lead editor of the APA Educational Psychology Handbook. She has authored 14 books and more than 200 peer-reviewed articles and chapters in special education, general education, and educational psychology. She is a Fellow of both the American Educational Research Association and the American Psychological Association and has served in leadership roles for AERA, APA, and CEC. Awards include the Council for Exceptional Children Career Award for Research, the AERA Division C Scribner Award for a program of work that has significantly influenced thinking and research in the field of learning and instruction, the AERA Division K Exemplary Publication Award for research in professional development, and the Kauffman-Hallahan Distinguished Researcher Award from the Division for Research of CEC. 

Current funded projects include: 

Collins, A. A., Ciullo, S., Harris, K. R. & Graham, S. (Co-PIs). (2022–2026). Turning the TIDE: Building teacher capacity to accelerate text-based writing performance of students with and at-risk for disabilities (Award R324X220101) [Grant]. Institute of Education Sciences. $2,999,507

Hall, T. (PI) & Harris, K.R. (Principal Consultant). (2021-2026). Stepping up with OASIS: Opening Access to Science Instruction and Support. (Award H327S210014) U.S. Department of Education-OSEP: Educational Technology, Media, and Materials for Individuals with Disabilities. $2,495,832 (Sub-Awards not allowed)

Wijekumar, K., Harris, K.R., Graham, S., & McKeown, D. (July 31, 2018 to August 1, 2023). Efficacy of We-Write: A Teacher-Led and Computer-Supported Intervention with Fourth and Fifth Grade Students. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Educational Sciences. $ 3,299,914

Gray, S, Restrepto, L., Artilles, A., Harris, K.R., & Graham, S. (Co-PIs, August, 2017 – July 2022). Interdisciplinary Program to Prepare Faculty in Evidence-Based Interventions for English Language Learners with Learning Disabilities. U.S. Department of Education, $1,250,000.

Kim, Y-S, & Harris, K.R. (Co-PIs, August, 2017- July, 2022). SRSD Plus – Writing and Transcription Intervention for Children in Grades 1 and 2. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Educational Sciences, $1,400,000.