Karen R. Harris is the Mary Emily Warner Professor in the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. She has worked in the field of education for over 40 years, initially as a general education teacher and then as a special education teacher. Throughout her teaching and research career, she has chosen to work in highly diverse schools in low income areas due to her commitment to improving teaching and learning for all students. Her research focuses on informing and improving theory, research, and practice related to writing development among students with high incidence disabilities, students who struggle with writing, and normally achieving students. She developed the Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) model of strategies instruction; SRSD has been most extensively researched in the area of writing, although researchers have also addressed applications in reading, math, and homework.

Karen Harris's research focuses on theoretically based interventions for the development of academic and self-regulation abilities among students who are at-risk and those with disabilities, as well as effective models of in-service teacher preparation for writing instruction for all students. She developed the Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) model of strategies instruction; SRSD has been most extensively researched in the area of writing, although researchers have also addressed applications in reading, math, and homework. In addition, she investigates approaches to professional development on evidence-based practices in writing that result in sustainable changes in the quality of writing instruction.