[1][2] Prominent educational reformer Theodore R. Sizer worked to found the institute and served as its inaugural director.

[5] The National Institute for School Reform was established in October 1993 following a $5 million gift from an anonymous donor.

Following the review, the university moved to shift the institute's focus away from school reform and community-based work to focus primarily on research on educational inequality.

[9][10] In 2018, Susanna Loeb of the Stanford Graduate School of Education joined the Annenberg Institute as its third executive director.

[5] The Critical Friends Group model of professional learning originated at the Annenberg Institute in 1994.