BIOGRAPHY

Karen Capo brings more than 25 years of experience in bridging early literacy theory and practice to her role as Director of School Literacy and Culture (SLC). A former Teacher Educator of the Year through the Houston Area Association for the Education of Young Children, Capo has been instrumental in developing SLC’s Early Literacy Leadership Academy (ELLA), an innovative multi-year program for early childhood teachers who are committed to serving as leaders from their classrooms, and in creating the Rice Oral and Written Language Laboratory (The Rice OWL Lab), a teaching theatre that has been replicated in five early childhood centers serving preschool children in Houston and Aldine ISDs. Karen has served as a graduate instructor through the University of Houston system, her alma mater, and currently collaborates with Rice’s Education department at GSCS to offer an applied undergraduate/graduate course, Creative Writing in the Classroom, that uses SLC’s Creative Writing Camp as an unconventional classroom. Bringing her passion for early literacy education into the community, Karen serves on the steering committee of Good Reason Houston, a collective impact initiative designed to advance early education in the greater Houston area, and on the literacy committee of the Children’s Museum of Houston.