About this episode

The episode explores how a school district in Steubenville, Ohio, achieves high reading proficiency among economically disadvantaged students.

There’s a school district in eastern Ohio where virtually all the students become good readers by the time they finish third grade. Many of the wealthiest places in the country can’t even say that. And Steubenville is a Rust Belt town where the state considers almost all the students “economically disadvantaged.” How did they do it? Explore: Steubenville, by the numbers Read: Transcript of this episode Book: Districts that Succeed Book: How It's Being Done Podcast: ExtraOrdinary Districts Watch: The story behind Sold a Story Organize: Sold a Story discussion guides Support: Donate to APM Reports Email us: soldastory@apmreports.org 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 .

More episodes of Sold a Story

• ‘Dyslexia and the Reading Wars’: Emily Hanford's Conversation with The New Yorker’s David Owen · April 28, 2026 · 1h 1m
• Emily Hanford LIVE with Reid Lyon and Margaret Goldberg · December 9, 2025 · 58 min
• 14: The Cuts · August 21, 2025 · 38 min
• 13: The List · March 6, 2025 · 34 min
• 12: The Evidence · February 27, 2025 · 31 min
• The podcast that's changing education · November 1, 2024 · 3 min

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