Sold a Story
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 ...
Insights from recent episode analysis
On the show
- David Owen1 ep
- Margaret Goldberg1 ep
- Reid Lyon1 ep
Audience Interest
Podcast Focus
Publishing Consistency
Insights are generated by CastFox AI using publicly available data, episode content, and proprietary models.
Most discussed topics
Brands & references
Total monthly reach
Based on 1 signal.
Built from
By chart position
- 🇺🇸United States · DocumentaryHOME#14.3M to 23M
- 🇨🇦Canada · Documentary#388K to 466K
- 🇦🇺Australia · Documentary#543K to 225K
- 🇮🇩ID · Documentary#242K to 224K
- 🇰🇷South Korea · Documentary#339K to 207K
- Per-Episode Audience
Est. listeners per new episode within ~30 days
4.7M to 25M🎙 Sporadic cadence·23 episodes·Last published 6d ago - Monthly Reach
Unique listeners across all episodes (30 days)
4.7M to 25M🇺🇸92%🇨🇦2%🇦🇺1%+2 more - Active Followers
Loyal subscribers who consistently listen
1.9M to 10.0M
Market Insights
Platform Distribution
Reach across major podcast platforms, updated hourly
Total Followers
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Total Plays
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Total Reviews
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* Data sourced directly from platform APIs and aggregated hourly across all major podcast directories.
| Date | Episode | Topics | Guests | Brands | Places | Keywords | Sponsor | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10/15/26 |  S2 E2: The Remedy Is Always Teaching | At an experimental preschool in Illinois, Zig Engelmann and his colleagues begin turning his ideas into a classroom teaching method. Along the way, they make a series of discoveries about effective instruction. Their mantra: “If the student hasn’t learned, the teacher hasn’t taught.”Read: What is Direct Instruction?Video: The 5 key concepts of DIVideo: Who was Zig Engelmann?Read: Transcript of this episodeSupport: Donate to APM Reports Email us: [email protected] us: (612) 888-7323More: soldastory.org Dive deeper into Sold a Story with a weekly email newsletter from host Emily Hanford. | 27m 36s | ||||||
| 10/15/26 |  S2 E1: It’s Not Just Reading | In the 1960s, an education outsider named Zig Engelmann begins challenging conventional ideas about what young children can learn. He teaches his 4-year-old twins basic algebra. But he has a hard time getting anyone in education to take him seriously, until a professor gives him a chance to see if his ideas will work in a classroom.Read: What is Direct Instruction?Video: The 5 key concepts of DIVideo: Who was Zig Engelmann?Read: Transcript of this episodeSupport: Donate to APM Reports Email us: [email protected] us: (612) 888-7323More: soldastory.org Dive deeper into Sold a Story with a weekly email newsletter from host Emily Hanford. | 20m 47s | ||||||
| 10/1/26 |  Sold a Story 2: What Happened to Teaching | Sold a Story is back with a new season that goes beyond reading. Emily Hanford explores an approach to teaching that's been largely rejected by the education system — despite decades of evidence that it works.Video: Watch the trailer on YouTubeMore: soldastory.orgDive deeper into Sold a Story with a multi-part Extra Credit email series from Emily Hanford. | 3m 10s | ||||||
| 4/28/26 | dyslexiareading wars+3 | David Owen | The New YorkerAPM Reports+1 | Washington, D.C. | dyslexiareading+5 | — | 1h 00m 42s | ||
| 12/9/25 | science of readingeducation+3 | Margaret GoldbergReid Lyon | APM ReportsPlanet Word | Washington, D.C. | science of readingMargaret Goldberg+5 | — | 57m 46s | ||
| 8/21/25 | education researchgovernment funding+5 | — | Trump administrationDepartment of Education+1 | — | educationreading+6 | — | 37m 44s | ||
| 3/6/25 | reading successscience of reading+3 | — | APM ReportsEdReports+1 | SteubenvilleOhio | readingSteubenville+5 | — | 33m 53s | ||
| 2/27/25 | educationreading programs+4 | — | Success for AllAPM Reports | Steubenville | Success for Allreading results+5 | — | 30m 35s | ||
| 2/20/25 | educationreading proficiency+3 | — | APM ReportsDistricts that Succeed+2 | SteubenvilleOhio | readingeducation+5 | — | 31m 04s | ||
| 11/1/24 | educationreading+3 | — | APM ReportsApple Podcasts+1 | — | educationreading+5 | — | 3m 14s | ||
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| 4/11/24 | impact of podcastscience of reading+5 | — | APM ReportsYale+1 | — | Sold a Storyscience of reading+5 | — | 31m 15s | ||
| 4/4/24 | reading educationteaching methods+3 | — | Reading Recovery Council of North AmericaHeinemann+1 | — | readingeducation+5 | — | 27m 35s | ||
| 3/19/24 | Spanish adaptationreading education+3 | — | Sold a Storysoldastory.es | — | Sold a StorySpanish adaptation+6 | — | 6m 19s | ||
| 5/18/23 |  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. Read: New reading laws sweep the nationRead: Transcript of this episode Watch: The story behind Sold a StoryOrganize: Sold a Story discussion guidesSupport: Donate to APM Reports More: soldastory.org EXTENDED READING Blog: Seidenberg on translating research into practice Article: Goldenberg, Goldberg on premortem (paywall) | Excerpt 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. | 24m 33s | ||||||
| 5/11/23 |  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. Read: Messages from our listeners Read: Transcript of this episode Watch: The story behind Sold a StoryOrganize: Sold a Story discussion guidesSupport: Donate to APM Reports Call us: (612) 888-7323More: soldastory.org Donate to support Sold a Story and other journalism from APM Reports. 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. | 25m 10s | ||||||
| 4/11/23 |  Brains On: How Do We Learn to Read — and Why is It Hard? | This week we have an episode of a show called Brains On. It’s a science podcast for kids from our colleagues at APM. In this episode, Emily joins the Brains On hosts to talk about how people learn to read. Grab the kids in your life and listen to this special episode made for kids and curious adults.More: brainson.orgSupport our show: Donate to APM ReportsDive 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. | 37m 51s | ||||||
| 4/6/23 |  What the Words Say | There are kids like C.J. all over the country. Schools tell their parents they are reading at grade level, but the kids are not. And whether they ever get the help they need can depend a lot on their family income and their race. In this documentary, originally published in August 2020, host Emily Hanford shows that America’s approach to reading instruction is having an especially devastating impact on children of color.Read more: Children of color are far less likely to get the help they needSupport this show: Donate to APM ReportsDive 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. | 53m 04s | ||||||
| 3/30/23 |  At a Loss for Words: What's Wrong with How Schools Teach Reading | Molly Woodworth had a secret: She couldn’t read very well. She fought her way through text by looking at the first letter of a word and thinking of something that made sense. Reading was slow and laborious. Then she learned that her daughter's school was actually teaching kids to read that way. In this documentary, originally published in August 2019, host Emily Hanford reveals that many kids are being taught the habits of struggling readers. Winner of a Gracie Award and finalist for an EWA Public Service Award. Read more: How a flawed idea is teaching millions of kids to be poor readersSupport this show: Donate to APM ReportsDive 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. | 53m 19s | ||||||
| 3/23/23 |  Hard Words: Why Aren't Our Kids Being Taught to Read? | Jack Silva had a problem. He was the chief academic officer of a school district in Pennsylvania, and more than 40% of the kids in his district were not proficient readers. He didn't know much about how kids learn to read, but he knew he had to figure it out. Originally published in September 2018, this documentary helped ignite a national conversation about the science of reading. Winner of an EWA Public Service Award.Read more: Why aren't kids being taught to read?Read in Spanish: Translation by AptusSupport this show: Donate to APM ReportsDive 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. | 52m 20s | ||||||
| 3/16/23 |  Hard to Read: How American Schools Fail Kids with Dyslexia | The parents knew something wasn’t right. The school said everything would be fine. But their kids weren’t learning how to read. In this documentary, originally published in September 2017, we look at why kids with dyslexia have a hard time getting the help they need in school.Read more: How American schools fail kids with dyslexiaQ&A: What is dyslexia, with neuroscientist Guinevere EdenSupport this show: Donate to APM ReportsDive 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. | 53m 35s | ||||||
| 11/17/22 |  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. Map: How states approach reading instruction Read: Transcript of this episode Watch: The story behind Sold a StoryOrganize: Sold a Story discussion guidesSupport: Donate to APM Reports More: soldastory.org 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. | 42m 07s | ||||||
| 11/10/22 |  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. Map: Heinemann’s national reach Read: Transcript of this episode Watch: The story behind Sold a StoryOrganize: Sold a Story discussion guidesSupport: Donate to APM Reports More: soldastory.org 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. | 47m 24s | ||||||
| 11/3/22 |  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?Read: Transcript of this episode Watch: The story behind Sold a StoryOrganize: Sold a Story discussion guidesSupport: Donate to APM Reports More: soldastory.org 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. | 33m 42s | ||||||
| 10/27/22 |  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. Read: Transcript of this episode Watch: The story behind Sold a StoryOrganize: Sold a Story discussion guidesSupport: Donate to APM Reports More: soldastory.org 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. | 41m 22s | ||||||
| 10/20/22 |  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. Read: Emily Hanford’s reading list Read: Transcript of this episode Watch: The story behind Sold a StoryOrganize: Sold a Story discussion guidesSupport: Donate to APM Reports More: soldastory.org 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. | 51m 24s | ||||||
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Chart history for Sold a Story
Peaked at #1 in United States, top 10 in 18 of 50 tracked markets, currently #1 in United States.
| Market | Genre | Peak | Current | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | — | #1 | #1 | — |
| Norway | — | #2 | #2 | — |
| IS | — | #2 | #2 | — |
| ID | — | #2 | #2 | — |
| Canada | — | #3 | #3 | — |
| RO | — | #3 | #3 | — |
| South Korea | — | #3 | #3 | — |
| United States | — | #4 | #4 | — |
| PH | — | #4 | #4 | — |
| Australia | — | #5 | #5 | — |
| MY | — | #5 | #5 | — |
| New Zealand | — | #6 | #6 | — |
| TH | — | #6 | #6 | — |
| HK | — | #8 | #8 | — |
| VN | — | #8 | #8 | — |
| PL | — | #9 | #9 | — |
| HU | — | #9 | #9 | — |
| SG | — | #9 | #9 | — |
| Canada | — | #11 | #11 | — |
| Ireland | — | #13 | #13 | — |
Chart Positions
50 placements across 40 markets.
Chart Positions
50 placements across 40 markets.