11: The Outlier

There’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 shown it’s effective. But relatively few school districts use it. We trace the history of the program and ...  Show more

Steubenville 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 the program Steubenville has been using for 25 years isn't getting on many of these lists, and the sur ...  Show more

Emily Hanford introduces the first episode of her new podcast, Sold a Story.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 thi ...  Show more

Nearly everyone can learn to read — if they're taught correctly. It turns out that one of the primary approaches to teaching reading in schools was proven wrong decades ago. Emily Hanford, the host and investigative journalist behind the explosive "Sold A Story" podcast series ...

For decades, American schools have taught reading with an approach that doesn’t work very well. Emily Hanford of the podcast “Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong” explains how things are starting to change. This episode was produced by Miles Bryan, edited by Mat ...  Show more

This is one for the books. In episode 104 of Overthink, Ellie and David consider what makes reading so rewarding, and, for many people today, so challenging! How did society shift toward inward silent reading and away from reading aloud in the Middle Ages? How have changes in tea ...  Show more