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
Should We Alter the Reading Benchmarks Because of the Pandemic?
Shanahan on Literacy
Why We Need to Teach Sentence Comprehension
Shanahan on Literacy
Here’s Why I Wouldn’t Teach Less Reading to Improve Social Studies
Shanahan on Literacy
What About Personalized Learning in Reading?
Shanahan on Literacy
Seatwork That Makes Sense for Reading
Shanahan on Literacy
Does a Listening Deficit Predict a Reading Deficit?
Shanahan on Literacy
Teaching with Complex Text: Haven’t You Ever Heard of the ZPD?
Shanahan on Literacy
Silent Reading Comprehension Is Worth Teaching – Even at a Distance
Shanahan on Literacy
Distance Learning: Improving Instructional Interactions in Guided Reading Lessons
Shanahan on Literacy
Is Amount of Reading Instruction a Panacea?
Shanahan on Literacy