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 and co-author of an award-winning research article, Capo is proud to work with an incredible team of educators in supporting SLC’s daylong, weeklong and yearlong initiatives for early childhood teachers. She has been instrumental in developing the Early Literacy Leadership Academy (ELLA), an innovative multi-year program for teachers of young children committed to serving as leaders from their classrooms, and in creating the Rice Oral and Written Language Laboratory (The Rice OWL Lab), a demonstration teaching theatre currently being replicated in eight early childhood centers serving more than 3,000 preschool children in Houston and Aldine ISDs and the Baker Ripley system. Capo has served as a graduate instructor through the University of Houston system, her alma mater, and finds great joy in bringing Rice’s “Unconventional Wisdom” into the community through collaborative projects with Houston-area non-profits and philanthropic organizations. If she’s not working with teachers of young children, you’ll likely find Karen traveling or enjoying small moments spent with her husband Steve and family of Rice Owls Jonathan, Christian, and Renata.