Early Literacy Urban Education Institute

​Early Literacy: Urban Education Institute

In listening sessions with local school districts and other stakeholders during our program's planning phase, McKnight's staff and board learned in depth about the challenges and needs inherent in efforts to improve early literacy. Upon reflection on all we've learned, McKnight's directors have approved a new partnership with the Urban Education Institute (UEI) at the University of Chicago to lead and manage our grants to local school districts.

We and our district partners will benefit from UEI's nationally recognized leadership and professional capacity. UEI shares our sense of urgency to raise the bar and close the gap on early literacy. Their leadership and management will ensure high quality, cohesive technical assistance and support targeted to the opportunities and challenges we have identified — including considering ways to bridge PreK to K-3 professional development and student transitions, diagnostic tools to inform classroom instruction in early literacy, and ways to strengthen schools to achieve excellence in urban settings with significant and persistent achievement gaps.

As before, our education and learning program will continue to use a closed application process; new proposals are accepted only upon invitation by McKnight.

Timothy Knowles (chair) serves as the John Dewey Director and Clinical Professor at The University of Chicago Urban Education Institute (UEI). UEI is dedicated to building knowledge to produce reliably excellent schooling for children growing up in urban America. UEI addresses this question by undertaking rigorous applied research lead by the Consortium on Chicago School Research; developing urban teachers and leaders; operating and supporting PreK-12th grade schools; and designing scaleable tools and ideas to improve teaching, learning, and leadership nationwide. During his tenure at the University of Chicago, UEI has initiated the creation of 20 new schools across Chicago’s south side, four of which are designed and operated directly by the University of Chicago. The schools also serve as a locus for developing new tools and methods, and sites for training aspiring, new, and veteran teachers and school leaders.

Prior to coming to Chicago, Dr. Knowles served as Deputy Superintendent for Teaching and Learning at the Boston Public Schools. While in Boston he created two organizations devoted to building the pipeline of high-quality teachers and school leaders and served as co-director of the Boston Annenberg Challenge, a nationally recognized effort to improve literacy instruction. Prior to his work in Boston he founded and directed a full-service K-8 school in Bedford-Stuyvesant, New York City. He also served as the founding director of Teach for America in New York City, and a teacher of African History in Botswana. He has written and spoken extensively on the topics of school leadership, teacher quality, school reform, and accountability in public schools. He received his B.A. in Anthropology and African history from Oberlin College and his doctorate from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Sara Ray Stoelinga is senior director at the Urban Education Institute and an associate clinical professor on the Committee on Education. She leads research on teacher quality, teaches within the Urban Teacher Education Program, and teaches and advises undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Chicago. She also supports evaluation research across UEI. Stoelinga first joined UEI as an intern in 1995, working on the STEP assessment and researching school improvement. In 1999 she became a research analyst at the Consortium on Chicago School Research (CCSR) at the University of Chicago.

In 2008, Stoelinga published her first book, Effective Teacher Leadership: Using Research to Inform and Reform. Her second book on the subject, Examining Effective Teacher Leadership: A Case Study Approach, was published in 2010. She has written extensively on teacher and principal leadership, as well as teacher effectiveness. Stoelinga received her B.A. and Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Chicago. Her areas of expertise include leadership, teacher evaluation, school reform policy and history and organizational change in schools.