Karen Harris

The primary aim of this project is to rapidly accelerate the performance of students with and at risk for disabilities in text-based writing as a response to school challenges with COVID-19 by providing timely professional development (PD) and coaching to support general and special education teachers' implementation of an integrated writing and reading intervention. Prior to the pandemic, the National Assessment of Education Progress documented a gap between students with and at risk for di...

The Principal Investigator (PI) will conduct a program of research for improving the reading and writing abilities of high school students with or at risk for high-incidence disabilities. The PI will also participate in mentoring and training activities to develop knowledge and skills related to the iterative development of interventions, effective professional development, multilevel modeling, and grant writing. Increasing the reading and writing capacities of students with high-incidence d...

Writing is an important skill for learning, communication, and self-expression; however, national assessments indicate that many students in the U.S. do not write proficiently. The purpose of this project is to test the efficacy of We-Write, a web-based intelligent tutoring system that is paired with teacher-led lessons to improve 4th and 5th grade student writing outcomes. We-Write was developed in a previous IES study, and is delivered within the intelligent tutoring system for the structu...

The purpose of this project is to develop and pilot test a technology-based professional learning system to support teachers in providing more effective writing instruction to seventh- and eighth-grade students with high-incidence disabilities (e.g., learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, emotional and behavioral disorders, dyslexia). Students who graduate from high school without the writing skills required for college success or gainful employment are at a disadva...

In this project, researchers will develop and test the promise of a writing intervention called SRSD+ for children in grades 1 and 2. SRSD+ will be an adaptation of Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD), a writing instruction approach that has been shown to be effective for improving writing outcomes for students in upper elementary and secondary school grades. Many students have difficulty writing by the time they get to upper elementary school, and research shows that oral language, t...

Writing is an important skill for learning, communication, and self-expression. However, national assessments indicate many students in the United States do not write proficiently. Persuasive writing is an especially important tool for communication, and the Common Core State Standards indicate that students need to be able to write persuasive essays by the end of fifth grade. The goal of this project was to develop and test a fifth-grade writing intervention, called Strategic Writing Assist...