Karen Roux

Karen Roux is a Senior Lecturer in Assessment and Quality Assurance at the University of Pretoria. She specializes in reading literacy and the development of equivalent assessments across languages, with a focus on South Africa's educational challenges.

Her research centers on international large-scale assessments, particularly the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), analyzing literacy trends in grade 4 pupils across South Africa's 11 official languages. Her 2021 PhD thesis on PIRLS passage equivalence earned the IEA Bruce H. Choppin Memorial Award. Key interests include multilingual education, curriculum policy reform, and addressing COVID-19 learning losses.

She advocates for political will and equitable resource allocation to improve literacy outcomes, emphasizing foundational language instruction and extended reading practice in early education. Karen is affiliated with the Literacy Association of South Africa.