About this podcast
Sold a Story is an investigative podcast about how kids learn — what works in the classroom, the science behind those insights and why that research often doesn’t make it into schools. Season 1 revealed why so many kids are struggling to learn how to read, and it sparked a wave of change across the country. In Season 2, we go beyond reading to look at teaching itself.
Episodes
- S2 E5: Why It Works · 24 min · Season 2 Episode 5Direct Instruction has decades of research behind it, but what makes it work? We dig into Zig Engelmann’s theory of instruction, what cognitive science reveals about how children…
- S2 E4: What Can You Do for My Black Children? · 27 min · Season 2 Episode 4In a poor, Black neighborhood in Houston, Principal Thaddeus Lott transforms a struggling elementary school with Direct Instruction. Soon, his students are outperforming students…
- S2 E3: The Forgotten Experiment · 31 min · Season 2 Episode 3Zig Engelmann gets the chance of a lifetime: Put Direct Instruction to the test in one of the largest education experiments ever conducted. The results could have changed the…
- S2 E2: The Remedy Is Always Teaching · 28 min · Season 2 Episode 2At an experimental preschool in Illinois, Zig Engelmann and his colleagues begin turning his ideas into a classroom teaching method. Along the way, they make a series of…
- S2 E1: It’s Not Just Reading · 21 min · Season 2 Episode 1In the 1960s, an education outsider named Zig Engelmann begins challenging conventional ideas about what young children can learn. He teaches his 4-year-old twins basic algebra…
- Sold a Story 2: What Happened to Teaching · 3 min · Season 2Sold a Story is back with a new season that goes beyond reading. Emily Hanford explores an approach to teaching that's been largely rejected by the education system — despite…
- ‘Dyslexia and the Reading Wars’: Emily Hanford's Conversation with The New Yorker’s David Owen · 1 h 0 min · Season 1The New Yorker staff writer David Owen opened a recent piece with a personal story: To hide that she couldn’t read, his niece turned pages when her classmates did. Owen joined…
- Emily Hanford LIVE with Reid Lyon and Margaret Goldberg · 58 min · Season 1Early in her teaching career, Margaret Goldberg was skeptical of the science of reading. Today, she is working with neuroscientist Reid Lyon to bring it into more classrooms…
- 14: The Cuts · 38 min · Season 1 Episode 14Education research is at a turning point in the United States. The Trump administration is slashing government funding for science and dismantling the Department of Education. We…
- 13: The List · 34 min · Season 1 Episode 13Steubenville became a model of reading success. Then a new law in Ohio put it all at risk. In this episode, we look at the "science of reading" lists some states are making, why…
- 12: The Evidence · 31 min · Season 1 Episode 12There’s a name for the program at the heart of Steubenville’s remarkable reading results. It’s called Success for All. It’s been around for decades, and numerous studies have…
- 11: The Outlier · 31 min · Season 1 Episode 11There’s a school district in eastern Ohio where virtually all the students become good readers by the time they finish third grade. Many of the wealthiest places in the country…
- The Podcast That's Changing Education · 3 min · Season 1Nationally acclaimed journalist Emily Hanford's work is changing the ways schools around the country teach reading. In this award-winning podcast, she investigates why so many…
- 10: The Details · 31 min · Season 1 Episode 10Some of the teachers, students, parents and researchers we met in Sold a Story talk about the impact the podcast has had on their lives and in schools — and share some of their…
- 9: The Aftermath · 28 min · Season 1 Episode 9Schools around the country are changing the way they teach reading. And that is having major consequences for people who sold the flawed idea we investigated in Sold a Story. But…
- Introducing: Sold a Story en Español · 6 min · Season 1A Spanish adaptation of Sold a Story is now available. Hosted by journalist Valeria Fernández, the podcast is condensed into one 58-minute episode, plus a conversation between…
- 8: The Impact · 25 min · Season 1 Episode 8Across the country, school districts are dropping textbooks, state legislatures are going so far as to ban teaching methods, and everyone, it seems, is talking about "the science…
- 7: Your Words · 25 min · Season 1 Episode 7Voicemails, emails, tweets: We got a lot of messages from people after they heard Sold a Story. In this episode, we bring you some of their voices. A 10-year-old figures out why…
- Brains On: How Do We Learn to Read — and Why is It Hard? · 38 min · Season 1This week we have an episode of a show called Brains On. It’s a science podcast for kids from our colleagues at APM. In this episode, Emily joins the Brains On hosts to talk…
- What the Words Say · 53 min · Season 1There are kids like C.J. all over the country. Schools tell their parents they are reading at grade level, but the kids are not. And whether they ever get the help they need can…
- At a Loss for Words: What's Wrong with How Schools Teach Reading · 53 min · Season 1Molly Woodworth had a secret: She couldn’t read very well. She fought her way through text by looking at the first letter of a word and thinking of something that made sense…
- Hard Words: Why Aren't Our Kids Being Taught to Read? · 52 min · Season 1Jack Silva had a problem. He was the chief academic officer of a school district in Pennsylvania, and more than 40% of the kids in his district were not proficient readers. He…
- Hard to Read: How American Schools Fail Kids with Dyslexia · 54 min · Season 1The parents knew something wasn’t right. The school said everything would be fine. But their kids weren’t learning how to read. In this documentary, originally published in…
- 6: The Reckoning · 42 min · Season 1 Episode 6Lucy Calkins says she has learned from the science of reading. She's revised her materials. Fountas and Pinnell have not revised theirs. Their publisher, Heinemann, is still…
- 5: The Company · 47 min · Season 1 Episode 5Teachers call books published by Heinemann their bibles. The company's products are in schools all over the country. Some of the products used to teach reading are rooted in a…
- 4: The Superstar · 34 min · Season 1 Episode 4Teachers sing songs about Lucy Calkins. The longtime professor at Columbia University’s Teachers College is one of the most influential people in American elementary education…
- 3: The Battle · 41 min · Season 1 Episode 3President George W. Bush made improving reading instruction a priority. He got Congress to provide money to schools that used reading programs supported by scientific research…
- 2: The Idea · 51 min · Season 1 Episode 2Sixty years ago, Marie Clay developed a way to teach reading she said would help kids who were falling behind. They’d catch up and never need help again. Today, her program…
- 1: The Problem · 33 min · Season 1 Episode 1Lee Gaul watches his daughter’s lessons during Zoom school and discovers a dismaying truth: She can't read. Little Zoe isn't the only one. Sixty-five percent of fourth graders in…
