Sold a Story

12/04/2024

A class-action lawsuit filed today claims that the educational publishing company Heinemann falsely advertised its products as “research-backed” and “data-based.”

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A class-action lawsuit filed in Massachusetts claims that the educational publishing company Heinemann falsely advertised its products as “research-backed” and “data-based.”

11/22/2024

Sold a Story is one of Apple's most shared podcasts of 2024, and it's an Series Essential. Have you shared it with all the people in your life who have young readers?

Take a look behind the scenes with The Story Behind Sold a Story.

Listen: soldastory.org

11/11/2024

We’re thrilled that Sold a Story has been selected as an Apple Podcasts Series Essential.

Listen: apple.co/soldastory

11/11/2024

📝 ¿Y si el colegio de tu hijo estuviera enseñando a leer mal?

«Sold a Story»: el pódcast que revela por qué las estrategias de lectura enseñadas a millones de niños no funcionan y las consecuencias para profesores, padres y alumnos. ¡Escúchalo ya!

🎧 Sintoniza el pódcast que está revolucionando la enseñanza de la lectura para los niños.

soldastory.es

11/11/2024

A 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 Fernández and Emily Hanford for Spanish-speaking parents whose children are learning to read English in American schools.

Share with the Spanish speakers in your life: soldastory.es.

Produced in collaboration with .

11/10/2024

Episode 10: The Details (Published April 11, 2024)

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.

Listen to the podcast at soldastory.org.

11/09/2024

Episode 9: The Aftermath (Published April 4, 2024)

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.

Listen to the podcast at soldastory.org.

11/09/2024

Episode 8: The Impact (Published May 18, 2023)

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.

Listen to the podcast at soldastory.org.

11/09/2024

Episode 7: Your Words (Published May 11, 2023)

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.

Listen to the podcast at soldastory.org.

11/09/2024

Episode 6: The Reckoning (Published November 17, 2022)

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.

Listen to the podcast at soldastory.org.

11/09/2024

Episode 5: The Company (Published November 10, 2022)

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.

Listen to the podcast at soldastory.org.

11/09/2024

Episode 4: The Superstar (Published November 3, 2022)

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?

Listen to the podcast at soldastory.org.

11/08/2024

Episode 3: The Battle (Published October 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.

Listen to the podcast at soldastory.org.

11/08/2024

Episode 2: The Idea (Published October 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.

Listen to the podcast at soldastory.org.

11/08/2024

Episode 1: The Problem (Published October 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.

Listen to the podcast at soldastory.org.