Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong

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 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.

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EPISODES

EPISODE 1

The Problem

Lee 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 the United States are not proficient readers. Kids need to learn specific skills to become good readers, and in many schools, those skills are not being taught.

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EPISODE 2

The Idea

Sixty 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 remains popular, and her theory about how people read is at the root of a lot of reading instruction in schools. But Marie Clay was wrong.

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EPISODE 3

The Battle

President 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. But backers of Marie Clay's ideas saw Bush's Reading First initiative as a threat.

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EPISODE 4

The Superstar

Teachers 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 today. Her admirers call her books "bibles." Why didn't she know that scientific research contradicted reading strategies she promoted?

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EPISODE 5

The Company

Teachers 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 debunked idea about how children learn to read. But they've made the company and some of its authors millions.

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EPISODE 6

The Reckoning

Lucy 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 selling some products to teach reading that contain debunked practices. Parents, teachers and lawmakers want answers.

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EPISODE 7

Your Words

Voicemails, 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 he has struggled to read. A mom stays up late to binge the podcast. A teacher confirms what he's suspected for years — he's not really teaching kids how to read.

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EPISODE 8

The Impact

Across 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 of reading." Things have been changing since Sold a Story was released. In this episode, we tell you about some of the changes and what we think about them.

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EPISODE 9

The Aftermath

Schools 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 Lucy Calkins, Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell are fighting back — and fighting to stay relevant. And so are organizations that promoted their work: the Reading Recovery Council of North America and the publisher Heinemann.

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EPISODE 10

The Details

Some 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 hopes and concerns about the "science of reading" movement.

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Live Events

Sold a Story host Emily Hanford is curating the Eyes on Reading speaker series at Planet Word in Washington, D.C.

Email Notifications

Dive deeper into Sold a Story with this multi-part Extra Credit email series from host Emily Hanford. We'll also keep you up to date on new episodes.

LATEST NEWS

NOVEMBER 18, 2024

New reading laws sweep the nation following Sold a Story

APRIL 30, 2024

'Science of reading' movement spells financial trouble for publisher Heinemann

APRIL 11, 2024

'There's a thoughtfulness about reading in the country today'

APRIL 11, 2024

Reading Recovery organization confronts financial difficulties

APRIL 4, 2024

As states refocus reading instruction, two universities stick with a discredited idea

DECEMBER 11, 2023

Benchmark Assessment System reading test is widely used and often wrong

MAY 11, 2023

Messages from listeners

NOVEMBER 17, 2022

How legislation on reading instruction is changing across the country

NOVEMBER 10, 2022

Heinemann's billion-dollar sales have nationwide reach

RESOURCES

Want to know more about the science of reading?

Sold a Story: Discussion Guide

ABOUT US

Photo by Ben Garvin for APM Reports

Emily Hanford is a senior correspondent and producer at APM Reports and the host of Sold a Story. Her career in journalism began with an internship at the public radio station in her college town (WFCR-Amherst). She then worked for Ira Glass when he was making the pilots for This American Life. Emily was a reporter and host at WBEZ-Chicago and news director and senior editor at WUNC-Chapel Hill, where she won her first duPont for a series on poverty in North Carolina. Her reporting has won many honors, including awards from the Education Writers Association and the American Educational Research Association. Emily is a graduate of Amherst College. She is based in Washington, D.C.

Christopher Peak is an investigative reporter covering education. He previously worked for the New Haven Independent, NationSwell and the Point Reyes Light, and he contributed research for the Peabody Award-winning podcast Uncivil. Peak was a finalist for the Education Writers Association's national award for beat reporting and several SABEW Best in Business awards. He has won numerous regional and state awards, including the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists' First Amendment Award for his FOIA litigation. He is a graduate of Yale University and based in New York City.

Support

Sold a Story is an independent investigative journalism project from American Public Media. We rely on your donations to support this kind of rigorous reporting.

DOCUMENTARY ARCHIVE

AUGUST 6, 2020

What the Words Say

A false assumption about what it takes to be a skilled reader has created deep inequalities among U.S. children, putting many on a difficult path in life.

AUGUST 22, 2019

At a Loss for Words: What's Wrong with How Schools Teach Reading

For decades, schools have taught children the strategies of struggling readers, using a theory about reading that cognitive scientists have repeatedly debunked. And many teachers and parents don't know there's anything wrong with it.

SEPTEMBER 10, 2018

Hard Words: Why Aren't Our Kids Being Taught to Read?

Scientific research has shown how children learn to read and how they should be taught. But many educators don't know the science and, in some cases, actively resist it. As a result, millions of kids are being set up to fail.

SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

Hard to Read: How American Schools Fail Kids with Dyslexia

There are proven ways to help people with dyslexia learn to read, and a federal law that's supposed to ensure schools provide kids with help. But across the country, public schools are denying children proper treatment and often failing to identify them with dyslexia in the first place.

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