Its mission is to generate ideas, foster candid exchanges, and promote constructive policy proposals related to these issues.

The Institute was founded in 1998 and is named for Albert Shanker, the late president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT).

[2] It is funded in part by the AFT and in part by an endowment, and is housed at the AFT headquarters in Washington, D.C. ASI has a five-member staff, and is led by an independent Board of Directors composed of educators, business representatives, labor leaders, academics, and public policy analysts.

In September 2013, the Shanker Institute and the National Black Justice Coalition announced they were jointly sponsoring a new Bayard Rustin Fellowship.

The fellowship will be hosted by the Shanker Institute, and will encourage the advocacy, policy development, and research in three areas: This article related to a non-profit organization is a stub.