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Sold a Story

Sold a Story

By: APM Reports
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 Millions of kids can't read well. Scientists have known for decades how children learn to read, but many schools don’t know about the research. They buy teacher training and books that are rooted in a disproven idea. In Sold a Story, Emily Hanford investigates four authors and a publishing company that have made millions selling this idea.Copyright 2025 Minnesota Public Radio Social Sciences
Episodes
  • 1: The Problem

    1: The Problem
    Oct 20 2022

    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.


    Read: Emily Hanford’s reading list
    Read: Transcript of this episode
    Watch: The story behind Sold a Story
    Support: Donate to APM Reports
    More: soldastory.org
    En español: soldastory.es


    Dive deeper into Sold a Story with a multi-part email series from host Emily Hanford. We’ll also keep you up to date on new episodes. Sign up at soldastory.org/extracredit.
    Show more Show less
    33 mins
  • 2: The Idea

    2: The Idea
    Oct 20 2022

    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.


    Read: Emily Hanford’s reading list
    Read: Transcript of this episode
    Watch: The story behind Sold a Story
    Support: Donate to APM Reports
    More: soldastory.org
    En español: soldastory.es


    Dive deeper into Sold a Story with a multi-part email series from host Emily Hanford. We’ll also keep you up to date on new episodes. Sign up at soldastory.org/extracredit.
    Show more Show less
    51 mins
  • 3: The Battle

    3: The Battle
    Oct 27 2022

    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.


    Read: Transcript of this episode
    Watch: The story behind Sold a Story
    Support: Donate to APM Reports
    More: soldastory.org
    En español: soldastory.es


    Dive deeper into Sold a Story with a multi-part email series from host Emily Hanford. We’ll also keep you up to date on new episodes. Sign up at soldastory.org/extracredit.

    Show more Show less
    41 mins
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Emily Hanford deserves a medal. She is saving children, and that is not an understatement. Poor readers suffer from anxiety in our read-this-and-read-that world. Anxiety leads to depression, and for our young people a life unfulfilled. One cannot reach full potential when not able to read. Be sure everyone you know listens to this podcast, learns from it, and ACTS to help young people. Go to your school board, become a literacy volunteer. We can fix this...together.

Continued Excellence.

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Very insightful! Prior to listening, i thought my child wasn't trying hard enough. Thank you.

Every parent must listen!

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This was such a powerful look at reading in the United States. I never knew the damage the whole language approach was having on our kids. Thanks for the information.

Very Helpful & Enlightening

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This goes a long way to explain why my students have such poor reading skills. It is not a definitive explanation, of course. However, this is a substantial piece of evidence. Thank you for investigative work. I look forward to your efforts and exploring the failure of reading comprehension and public education—let me assure you there has been a failure in teaching reading comprehension. My personal suspicion (which is not substantiated) is the removal of the liberal arts, by degree if not completely, from education. Moreover, the increased belief that education is effectively job training has gone a long way to remove crucial topics.

Gobsmacked

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Eye opening, compelling and well researched. We need more journalists like this to challenge powerful entities and finally hold them accountable!

Eye opening

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Truly, children and anyone learning to read need the foundational basics before they can get into the deeper meanings of language. That is just how our brains work. Research-based teaching is imperative!
Also, big publishing companies should not be in charge of determining what curriculum or resources are available for school districts.
Thank you for shedding light on this very important subject!

Fascinating read! Eye-opening.

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This podcast helped me to understand the necessity and urgency needed to teach phonics to our students. It has been the missing piece that we needed to help children learn to read

Every teacher needs this information.

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Love! Love!! Love!!! how this all makes sense and I get why students are struggling with math word problems.

As a MATH Teacher it all makes sense

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This podcast is a real revelation. This should be required listening for all current and would be educators.

Shine a Light!

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So good! Unbiased and thought provoking. Loved it from start to finish. I Highly recommend.

Eye. Opening

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