Timothy Shanahan is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Illinois at Chicago where he was Founding Director of the UIC Center for Literacy. Previously, he was director of reading for the Chicago Public Schools. He is author/editor of more than 200 publications on literacy education. His research emphasizes the connections between reading and writing, literacy in the disciplines, and improvement of reading achievement.
Tim is past president of the International Literacy Association. He served as a member of the Advisory Board of the National Institute for Literacy under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and he helped lead the National Reading Panel, convened at the request of Congress to evaluate research on the teaching reading, a major influence on reading education. He chaired two other federal research review panels: the National Literacy Panel for Language Minority Children and Youth, and the National Early Literacy Panel, and helped write the Common Core State Standards.
He was inducted to the Reading Hall of Fame in 2007, and is a former first-grade teacher.
Recent articles
Afterschool and Community Programs
Creating Programs for Language Minority Families
Common Core Standards
Does Disciplinary Literacy Have a Place in Elementary School?
Recent blog posts
Shanahan on Literacy
Does Research Support “Guided Reading?” Practical Advice on Directing Reading
Shanahan on Literacy
Does Literature Count as Knowledge?
Shanahan on Literacy
Can a Program of Professional Development Raise Reading Achievement?
Shanahan on Literacy
Small Group Phonics in the Classroom — Good Idea or Not?
Shanahan on Literacy
I Want My Students to Comprehend — Am I Teaching the Wrong Kind of Strategies?
Shanahan on Literacy
How Can We Take Advantage of Reading–Writing Relationships?
Shanahan on Literacy
Why Instructional Sequence Doesn’t Always Matter
Shanahan on Literacy
Why Main Idea Is Not the Main Idea — or, How Best to Teach Reading Comprehension
Shanahan on Literacy
Should We Still Teach Sight Words?
Shanahan on Literacy