Beth Harn, PhD, is an associate professor in special education who teaches graduate-level courses in special education and school psychology, including Design of Instruction, History of Special Education,  and Introduction to Learning Disabilities. She has previously taught classes on educational assessment and systems level academic interventions. She has expertise in early literacy assessment, instruction, and intervention development and implementation.

Dr. Harn's primary focus areas include three focal areas:

• Systems, Instructional Approaches and Assessment Devices, to Improve Schoolwide Decision Making
• Intervention Elements That Accelerate Learning For Students With Learning Disabilities
• Impact of Intervention on the Neural Mechanisms of Attention/Executive Control

This faculty member is interested in having a new doctoral student for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Ph.D., 2000, University of Oregon
Major: School Psychology

M.S., 1994, California State University, Fresno
Major: Psychology with an emphasis in School Psychology

B.A., 1991, California State University, Fresno
Major: Psychology
Minor: English

The overarching goal of Dr. Harn’s research focuses on answering one fundamental question: How do we accelerate learning for students with early and significant achievement disparities?  Through experimental and correlational research, she investigates methods to improve instructional effectiveness and efficiency organized around three primary questions:  1) What specific types of supports will improve schools’ educational decision making (e.g., data-based decision making, organizing instructional time, etc.);  2) What instructional variables can be shown to improve student reading proficiency (e.g., pacing, opportunities to respond, nature of error correction, etc.); 3) How do interventions impact the neural mechanisms of attention in struggling learners (e.g., executive function, self-regulation, etc.).  Dr. Harn conducts, disseminates, and refines her research in three contexts: schools, teacher preparation, and doctoral training and leadership.