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?
Background Knowledge
Five Key Principles for Effective Vocabulary Instruction
Recent blog posts
Shanahan on Literacy
Will Challenging Text Put a Crimp in Students’ Motivation?
Shanahan on Literacy
Lost Reading Instruction Blues: What’s a Worried Parent to Do?
Shanahan on Literacy
Clearing Up a Couple Important Misunderstandings about Fluency
Shanahan on Literacy
Eight Ways to Help Kids to Read Complex Text
Shanahan on Literacy
First You Have to Teach Them to be Disfluent Readers
Shanahan on Literacy
The Six Goals of an Ideal Vocabulary Curriculum
Shanahan on Literacy
Planning Lessons with Complex Text
Shanahan on Literacy
Literacy at Home: Advice for the Confined
Shanahan on Literacy
What About Tracing and Other Multisensory Teaching Approaches?
Shanahan on Literacy
That Hypocrite Shanahan — Cueing Systems vs. Context Analysis
Shanahan on Literacy
Should We Be Using Words Correct Per Minute?
Shanahan on Literacy