READING
In 2017, Emily Hanford began investigating how children are taught to read. In a series of ongoing reports, collected here, she helped teachers, parents and policymakers recognize widespread flaws in instruction and helped spark a movement to bring the science of reading to schools. She and reporter Christopher Peak have a new podcast about how reading instruction went so wrong.
THE PODCAST
There's an idea about how children learn to read that's held sway in schools for more than a generation — even though it was proven wrong by cognitive scientists decades ago. Teaching methods based on this idea can make it harder for children to learn how to read. In this new podcast, host Emily Hanford investigates the influential authors who promote this idea and the company that sells their work. It's an exposé of how educators came to believe in something that isn't true and are now reckoning with the consequences — children harmed, money wasted, an education system upended.
DOCUMENTARIES
Children of color are less likely to get help
What's wrong with how schools teach reading
Why aren't our kids being taught to read?
How American schools fail kids with dyslexia
STORIES
December 4, 2024
A class-action lawsuit filed in Massachusetts claims that the educational publishing company Heinemann falsely advertised its products as "research-backed" and "data-based.""
November 18, 2024
At least 25 states have passed laws about how schools teach reading since APM Reports' Sold a Story podcast was released in 2022. But proponents of the disproven ideas about reading exposed in the podcast haven’t given up.
April 30, 2024
The educational publisher raked in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue during the 2010s selling reading programs based on a disproven theory. The company now faces financial fallout, as schools ditch its products.
April 11, 2024
As schools around the country are dropping Reading Recovery, the nonprofit that advocates for the tutoring program tapped into its cash reserves to push back against journalists and legislators.
April 4, 2024
Other schools are backing away from a disproven theory about how kids learn to read, but programs started by Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell train literacy coaches to believe in it.
December 11, 2023
"Flipping a coin would actually be better" for identifying struggling readers, one researcher said of the test created by influential curriculum developers Fountas and Pinnell.
November 17, 2022
More states are now requiring districts to adopt curriculum that adheres to the science of reading. Look up the policy in your state.
November 10, 2022
The controversial educational publishing company has sold instructional materials and professional resources in almost every state, earning at least $1.6 billion over a decade. Explore a map of school districts.
October 20, 2022
Here's a reading list put together by Emily Hanford.
April 22, 2022
Initial gains from first-grade intervention didn't last and kids performed worse in third and fourth grade.
November 19, 2021
The education professors double down on a flawed approach that encourages pictures and context to read words. Heinemann — their publisher — faces harsh criticism.
October 16, 2020
In a major shift, the controversial figure in the fight over how to teach reading now says that beginning readers should focus on sounding out words, according to a document obtained by APM Reports.
May 15, 2020
The governor won't contest a court ruling that found students have a constitutional right to learn to read and agrees to more funding for Detroit schools.
April 30, 2020
A federal court recently ruled that underfunded schools in Detroit violated students' right to a basic education. Advocates hope the case is the beginning of a trend.
January 27, 2020
A first of its kind review finds Lucy Calkins' materials don't align with the science of reading.
December 20, 2019
Several powerful people and organizations have weighed in on the national conversation prompted by APM Reports' podcast episodes.
November 1, 2019
Correspondent Emily Hanford talks about the latest NAEP results and what they say about the state of reading instruction in the U.S.
October 24, 2019
Hanford talks about her reporting on what's wrong with how schools teach reading.
October 8, 2018
After our recent examination of why American kids aren't being taught to read well, we received a ton of questions, mostly from parents. So we went to the experts to get answers.
NYT OP-EDS BY EMILY HANFORD
December 5, 2019
The state's reliance on cognitive science explains why.
October 26, 2018
Teacher preparation programs continue to ignore the sound science behind how people become readers.
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