SPP 155: Overcoming Barriers and Paradigm Wars: Powerful Evidence-Based Writing Instruction

#psychedpodcast is thrilled to have Dr. Karen Harris on! Join us to learn about SRSD (Self-Regulated Strategy Development).

https://srsdonline.org/srsd-deep-dive/

https://search.asu.edu/profile/1980816

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.