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 .
People in this episode
Host: Emily Hanford
Topics covered
- education
- reading proficiency
- socioeconomic factors
- school districts
- success stories
Keywords
- reading
- education
- Steubenville
- Ohio
- socioeconomic status
- school success
- literacy
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: APM Reports
Books & works: Districts that Succeed, How It's Being Done, ExtraOrdinary Districts
Places: Steubenville, Ohio
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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