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
What Teachers Need to Know about Sentence Comprehension
Shanahan on Literacy
Do you like jigsaw approaches to teaching?
Shanahan on Literacy
Can Reading Instruction Improve Math Learning in the Primary Grades?
Shanahan on Literacy
Should We Still Teach Dictionary?
Shanahan on Literacy
Explicit Spelling Instruction or Invented Spelling?
Shanahan on Literacy
Print-to-Speech or Speech-to-Print? That Is the Question
Shanahan on Literacy
Me and Reading Recovery
Shanahan on Literacy
Don’t Confuse Reading Comprehension and Learning to Read — Rereading
Shanahan on Literacy
Integrating Literacy Instruction with Science and Social Studies
Shanahan on Literacy
Should I teach students to memorize sight words and monitor their progress?
Shanahan on Literacy
Do Screening and Monitoring Tests Really Help?
Shanahan on Literacy