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
Which Should We Use, Nonsense Word Tests or Word ID Tests?
Shanahan on Literacy
Is Digital Text a Good Idea for Reading Instruction?
Shanahan on Literacy
Knowledge or Comprehension Strategies — What Should We Teach?
Shanahan on Literacy
Can We Really Teach Prosody and Why Would We Want To?
Shanahan on Literacy
How I Teach Students to Use Context in Vocabulary Learning
Shanahan on Literacy
What About the New Research That Says Phonics Instruction Isn’t Very Important?
Shanahan on Literacy
Why I Encourage Teaching Children to Read Disfluently
Shanahan on Literacy
Which Reading Model Would Best Guide Our School Improvement Efforts?
Shanahan on Literacy
Shedding Light on Reading Skills and Strategies
Shanahan on Literacy
What’s the Role of Amount of Reading Instruction?
Shanahan on Literacy