This podcast, Sold a Story, was produced by APM Reports and reprinted with permission.

Sold a Story is an investigative podcast about how kids learn — what works in the classroom, the science behind those insights and why that research often doesn’t make it into schools. Season 1 revealed why so many kids are struggling to learn how to read, and it sparked a wave of change across the country. In Season 2, we go beyond reading to look at teaching itself.

Engelmann’s direct instruction has a strong evidence base — so why is it so hard to find in schools? We look at why schools keep giving it up and visit a charter network in North Carolina that’s stuck with it for more than a quarter century.

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Sold a story: Get ready!

by Emily Hanford, The Hechinger Report
November 12, 2026

<h1>Sold a story: Get ready!</h1> <p class="byline">by Emily Hanford, The Hechinger Report <br />November 12, 2026</p> <p><em>This podcast, Sold a Story, was produced by</em>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.apmreports.org/"><em>APM Reports</em></a>&nbsp;<em>and reprinted with permission.</em></p> <p><em>Sold a Story is an investigative podcast about how kids learn — what works in the classroom, the science behind those insights and why that research often doesn’t make it into schools. Season 1 revealed why so many kids are struggling to learn how to read, and it sparked a wave of change across the country. In Season 2, we go beyond reading to look at teaching itself.</em></p> <p>Engelmann’s direct instruction has a strong evidence base — so why is it so hard to find in schools? We look at why schools keep giving it up and visit a charter network in North Carolina that’s stuck with it for more than a quarter century.</p> <p><audio style="width: 100%" controls="" src="https://pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/5/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/play.publicradio.org/podcast/o/apmreports/sold_a_story/episodes/2026/11/12/sold_a_story_20261112_s2e6getready_128.mp3"></audio></p> <p>This <a target="_blank" href="https://hechingerreport.org/sold-a-story-get-ready/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://hechingerreport.org">The Hechinger Report</a> and is republished here under a <a target="_blank" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License</a>.&nbsp;<img src="https://i0.wp.com/hechingerreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/cropped-favicon.jpg?fit=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" alt="" width="16" height="16" style="width:1em;height:1em;"></p> <img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://hechingerreport.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=118893&amp;ga4=G-03KPHXDF3H" style="width:1px;height:1px;"><script> PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: "https://hechingerreport.org/sold-a-story-get-ready/", urlref: window.location.href }); } } </script> <a href="//cdn.parsely.com/keys/hechingerreport.org/p.js">//cdn.parsely.com/keys/hechingerreport.org/p.js</a>

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