Professor Karen Harris elected to Reading Hall of Fame

Professor Karen Harris, who developed the Self-Regulated Strategy Development instructional model, has been elected to the Reading Hall of Fame, an international organization that recognizes lifetime achievement in the field of literacy. 

Harris is an Arizona State University Regents Professor Emeritus  and Research Professor with the university’s Mary Lou Fulton College for Teaching and Learning Innovation. Her work has focused on literacy, writing, reading for writing, practice-based professional development, diverse learners, and improving instruction in literacy. The SRSD model she developed has been widely researched for its application to writing, as well as for its use in math and other content areas. 

Membership in the Reading Hall of Fame, an independent entity, is among the highest honors bestowed on an individual serving the literacy profession. Harris will be formally inducted and introduced to members during the Literacy Research Association’s annual conference on December 4 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Harris developed the foundation for the SRSD model in the 1980s, constructing a framework of proven instructional strategies, across multiple theories, combined with self-regulation techniques. SRSD offers proven instruction to help educators improve multiple outcomes in writing, including inclusion of genre elements, vocabulary, quality, and efficacy for writing, across genres and grade levels through the application of a six-stage instructional framework designed for student success. 

Currently, SRSD instruction results in the largest effect sizes of any writing instruction approach studied, with approximately 200 reported studies in over 12 countries. The What Works Clearinghouse, at the Department of Education, had a team review the research on SRSD and deemed SRSD at the elementary grades to have the strongest effects and impact of any researched writing program.

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 16 books and handbooks and over 250 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 Division 15: Educational Psychology. Throughout her distinguished career, she has received numerous awards.  She is among five new members who will join the 154 living members of the Reading Hall of Fame.