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Stories about education, opportunity, and how people learn. From APM Reports.

APM Reports

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 this idea can make it harder for children to learn how to read. In this podcast, Hanford investigates the influential authors who promote this idea and the company that sells their work. It's an exposé of how educators came to believe in something that isn't true and are now reckoning with the consequences — children harmed, money wasted, an education system upended.Subscribe: soldastory.org

Introducing: Sold a Story

Producer DJ Cashmere spent seven years teaching Black and brown students at a Noble Street charter high school in Chicago. At the time, Noble followed a popular model called "no excuses." Its schools required strict discipline but promised low-income students a better shot at college. After DJ left the classroom to become a journalist, Noble disavowed its own policies — calling them "assimilationist, patriarchal, white supremacist, and anti-black." In this hour, DJ, who is white, revisits his old school as it tries to reinvent itself as an anti-racist institution. And he seeks out his former students to ask them how they felt about being on the receiving end of all that education reform, and what they think now about the time they spent in his classroom.

No Excuses: Race and Reckoning at a Chicago Charter School

Camille Leihulu Slagle is Native Hawaiian. She always knew she wanted to go away for college. Education would help her afford to stay in her homeland. Life in the islands is expensive. Camille wants to give back to her people through science, studying the volcanoes central to Hawaiʻi's landscape and culture.Audio documentary: Standing in Two Worlds

Standing in Two Worlds BONUS episode

Native American students are just a tiny fraction of all the college students in the United States. They come with different histories, confronting an education system once used to erase their languages and cultures. In this project, three Indigenous college students tell how they are using higher education to strengthen ties to their Native roots and support their people.Photos: See portraits of the students in this documentary

Standing in Two Worlds: Native American College Diaries

Even before the pandemic, campus counselling services were reporting a marked uptick in the number of students with anxiety, clinical depression and other serious psychiatric problems. What is a college’s responsibility for helping students navigate mental health challenges, and how well are colleges rising to the task?Read more: Inside the college mental health crisis

Under Pressure: The College Mental Health Crisis

Colleges and universities in the United States attract more than a million international students a year. Higher education is one of America’s top service exports, generating $42 billion in revenue. But the money spigot is closing. The pandemic, visa restrictions, rising tuition and a perception of poor safety in America have driven new international student enrollment down by a jaw-dropping 72 percent.Read more: The U.S. may never regain its dominance as a destination for international students. Here's why that matters.

Fading Beacon: Why America is Losing International Students

Today, more Black and Hispanic teachers enter the classroom through alternative pathways than through traditional teacher degree programs. The number of teachers of color in the United States has more than doubled since the 1980s in large part due to the growing number of preparation and certification pathways and recruitment efforts from the federal level down. But there's a catch: Many of these teachers won’t stay for long, further undermining efforts to get diversity in the teacher labor force to reflect the diversity of students in the United States.Learn more: Who wants to be a teacher?

Who wants to be a teacher? Episode 4: This very leaky pipeline

Critics of the rise in alternative and for-profit programs will claim teacher quality, and student learning, suffers when people are fast-tracked into the classroom without comprehensive training. But it’s hard to know for certain whether that’s true. The problem is, despite decades of trying, we haven’t agreed on how to measure teacher quality. There’s a lot of research that shows having a good teacher makes a huge difference in the outcomes of students, but it’s much less clear what makes a teacher good.Learn more: Who wants to be a teacher?

Who wants to be a teacher? Episode 3: The trouble with grading teachers

Beginning in the early 1980s, a lot of states began to open up the pathways to becoming a teacher. People who already had a bachelor’s degree in something else didn’t need to go back to college to get trained in teaching. Policymakers hoped this would solve teacher shortages by getting more people into the profession, but it’s also opened up a whole new business model in educator preparation: Online for-profit teacher training programs have proliferated, and they’re growing fast. One program in Texas has become the single largest educator preparation program in the United States by enrollment, and it’s expanding into other states.Learn more: Who wants to be a teacher?

Who wants to be a teacher? Episode 2: The rise of the for-profit teacher training industry

Every president since Eisenhower has talked about the need for more teachers, especially in certain rural and urban schools, and in subjects such as math and science. For decades, policies have been made and laws changed in order to recruit and train more and more teachers. But research shows we’ve been looking at the problem wrong, and that these efforts haven’t solved teacher shortages at all, but have created an oversize labor force with less training, less experience and high rates of turnover.Learn more: Who wants to be a teacher?

Who wants to be a teacher? Episode 1: The teacher emergency

Lauren Brown says college was "culture shock." Most of the students at her high school were Black, but most of the students at the University of Missouri were white. And she got to the university in the fall of 2015, when Black students led protests in response to a string of racist incidents. The protests put Mizzou in the national news. But the news stories didn't match what Lauren saw. They made it seem like racism on campus was an aberration. And they made it seem like Black student organizing was new at Mizzou.  What Lauren saw was "Black Mizzou," a thriving campus-within-a-campus that Black students have built over decades to make the university a more welcoming place.

Black at Mizzou: Confronting race on campus

Everyone agrees that the goal of reading instruction is for children to understand what they read. The question is: how does a little kid get there? Emily Hanford explores what reading scientists have figured out about how reading comprehension works and why poverty and race can affect a child’s reading development. Read the full story.

What the Words Say

The coronavirus pandemic represents the greatest challenge to American higher education in decades. Some small regional colleges that were already struggling won’t survive. Other schools, large and small, are rethinking how to offer an education while keeping people safe.This program explores how institutions are handling the crisis, and how students are trying to navigate a major disruption in their college years.Colleges on the brinkThe long tradition of students attending small, residential liberal arts colleges around the country was already shaky before the pandemic. Students are choosing less expensive options and more practical degrees. Experts warn that 10 percent of American colleges — about 200 or more institutions — are on the verge of going under. The pandemic is accelerating that trend. A digital divideThe pandemic is making getting through college harder for students on the wrong side of the digital divide. In rural Arizona, when campuses closed, some students couldn’t log on from home, because they had no access to the internet. A local sheriff flew laptops and hotspots to community college students on the Navajo Nation.Reopening in a virus hotspotColleges and universities are under pressure to reopen, but bringing students back on campus safely means dealing with dizzying logistics. As the virus surges in Miami, a large commuter campus gets ready.

Covid on Campus

The coronavirus pandemic has left West Virginia schools particularly hard hit. The Us & Them podcast from West Virginia Public Radio brings us stories of teachers grappling with virtual classes for students who don't have access to the internet and how schools are trying, still, to keep kids fed.

Same Pandemic, Unequal Education (from Us & Them podcast)

Editor-in-chief of The Hechinger Report, Liz Willen, shares what she's heard from high school seniors who are feeling anxious and overwhelmed as they face pandemic-fueled challenges.

Facing uncertain futures, high school seniors weigh tough college options and alternate paths

Teachers, students and families talk about how they've adapted while schools and campuses stay closed.

Listeners tell us how they're adapting to at-home education

A federal court recently ruled that underfunded schools in Detroit violated students' right to a basic education. Advocates hope the case is the beginning of a trend.

Is learning to read a constitutional right?

Delece Smith-Barrow of The Hechinger Report shares some hopeful stories about education during the pandemic.

A few silver linings emerge in a dark time of closed schools

Sarah Garland of The Hechinger Report on how (and whether) education carries on while schools are closed.

'Everything has changed': A look at K-12 education under coronavirus

A conversation with Hechinger Report higher education editor Jon Marcus on how learning and the college experience are changing, and what's yet to come.

College in the time of coronavirus

As fewer college students opt to major in history, there's an effort by history departments to prove the practical value of their discipline.

What good is a history major?

The percentage of Native students graduating from the U of M has doubled in the past decade.

Graduation rate for Native students surges at the University of Minnesota

When it was time for me to enroll in a four-year college, I chose North Dakota State, a school that's mostly white, conservative and insular -- everything I wasn't. It was the hardest year of my life.

Black girl, white college

Some students say they want campuses to remain open.

College administrators struggle with whether to close their classrooms in response to COVID-19

Unlike protesters at many universities, activists at Harvard seek social justice reforms beyond campus.

A conundrum for student advocates: change their school or change society?

After decades of declining enrollment, HBCUs are seeing an uptick in new applicants, especially among Latino and international students.

At some HBCUs, enrollment rises from surprising applicants

Most states and districts have adopted science standards that require teaching climate change. Teachers are left to get up to speed and help students understand the impacts.

With more students demanding action on climate change, teachers try to keep up

A first of its kind review finds Lucy Calkins' materials don't align with the science of reading.

Reading update: Experts say widely used reading curriculum is failing kids

Several powerful people and organizations have weighed in on the national conversation prompted by APM Reports' podcast episodes.

New salvos in the battles over reading instruction

Correspondent Emily Hanford talks about the latest NAEP results and what they say about the state of reading instruction in the U.S.

National assessment shows more K-12 students struggling to read

Hanford talks about her reporting on what's wrong with how schools teach reading.

A conversation with Emily Hanford on reading instruction in the U.S.

There's a growing movement at colleges and universities to create classrooms where students take the lead.

Ditching the lecture for active learning

As administrators navigate issues of inclusion and free speech, students of color have been left to find their own way.

How colleges are mishandling racial tensions on campus

Do administrators have to choose between protecting free speech and creating a civil climate on campus?

As colleges navigate inclusion and free speech, students of color work to find their own way

Across the country, a gap persists between the number of black and Latino students graduating from state high schools and the number enrolling in state flagship schools.

Flagship universities don't reflect their state's diversity

Paul Dorr is a master of tactics to defeat referendums intended to finance public schools. He believes schools run by government steer kids away from Christianity. His campaigns — most of them in the Midwest — have also created lingering bitterness within communities.

The Bond Buster

For decades, schools have taught children the strategies of struggling readers, using a theory about reading that cognitive scientists have repeatedly debunked. And many teachers and parents don't know there's anything wrong with it.

At a Loss for Words: What's wrong with how schools teach reading

A growing body of research finds that repeatedly uprooted children are more likely to struggle in school and more likely to drop out. But there are ways to help them succeed.

Students on the Move: Keeping uprooted kids in school

At Georgia State in Atlanta, more students are graduating, and the school credits its use of predictive analytics. But critics worry that the algorithms may be invading students' privacy and reinforcing racial inequities.

Under a Watchful Eye: How colleges are tracking students to boost graduation

A recent survey from the APM Research Lab found most Americans think college is worth the cost.

Tens of thousands of dollars later, most college grads say the degree was worth it

A survey from the APM Research Lab shows that many people think funding has increased or stayed the same.

Majority of Americans don't know that government has cut billions from higher education funding

A lack of highly skilled workers leaves American employers unable to fill jobs.

U.S. continues to slip behind other countries in percentage of population with degrees

A businessman struggling to recruit employees opened the school despite objections from the local school board.

Oklahoma charter school becomes lightning rod in debate over rural education

If the Trump administration has its way, Jose would be forced from the U.S. just a few months before graduation.

Hundreds of thousands of people could lose their legal status. One hopes to graduate with his college degree first

The number of black faculty on college campuses has gone down during the last decade.

Despite decades of pledging to hire more black faculty, most universities didn't

Colleges nationwide have added more than 40,000 new degree and certificate programs in last six years, but are they better serving students?

As they lose customers, universities try expanding the menu

Across the country, schools wrestle with how sexual assault is defined and how much proof is needed.

In the fight over Kavanaugh, echoes of a battle being waged on college campuses nationwide

An elite university helped her climb but changing class can be a lonely journey.

Poverty, perseverance and a PhD

Scientific research has shown how children learn to read and how they should be taught. But many educators don't know the science and, in some cases, actively resist it. As a result, millions of kids are being set up to fail. 

Hard Words: Why Aren't Our Kids Being Taught to Read?

You might think apprenticeships are a relic from an earlier era, but a growing number of Americans are using them as a way into the middle class.

Old Idea, New Economy: Rediscovering Apprenticeships

They bet that college would help them move up. Did it pay off?

Still Rising: First-Generation College Students a Decade Later

Colleges have long offered a pathway to success for just about anyone. But new research shows that with the country growing ever more economically divided, colleges are not doing enough to help students from poor families achieve the American Dream.

Changing Class: Are Colleges Helping Americans Move Up?

A little-known program has been helping the children of migrant farmworkers graduate for more than 50 years.

School on the move

Dissatisfied with low pay and school funding, teachers in more red states are poised to protest.

Edged out of the middle class, teachers are walking out

Last year, almost a million students who qualified for state financial aid didn't get it.

State financial aid money dries up before many low-income college students get help

Students held back were at high risk of dropping out.

Louisiana ends policy that held thousands of students back a grade or more

Programs are being cut to make way for degrees with "clear career pathways."

Liberal arts face uncertain future at nation's universities

Other countries offer clues about how effective nationwide school choice would be in the U.S.

Giving parents more freedom to choose doesn't guarantee better schools

A first-generation college graduate reflects on moving up America's class ladder.

'I never want to be in a neighborhood where I'm shot at again'

Economists dig into the data to understand which schools are doing the most to help revive the American Dream.

Are America's colleges promoting social mobility?

Cybersecurity is a growing concern as schools collect an increasing amount of data on students.

Schools prove soft targets for hackers

Most students with disabilities can make it to and through college, but are hindered by low expectations.

High schools push few students with disabilities to consider college

Most American students practice "active shooter" drills in school. Fewer than one in a million of them will need it.

Is the trauma of training for a school shooter worth it?

A growing number of colleges and universities are guaranteeing a job after graduation.

A college degree, or your money back

Almost a third of Americans who take out loans to pay for college don't get a degree.

Overwhelmed by student debt, many low-income students drop out

Charter schools cut football to win minds. Now to win hearts, they're bringing it back.

High school football makes a comeback in New Orleans

Struggling to juggle school, work and child care, most of them won't make it to graduation.

Nearly 1 in 5 female college students are single moms

Despite efforts to require lessons on civil rights, outdated textbooks indicate little has changed.

History of civil rights movement gets short shrift in Mississippi classrooms

They're being ignored as the nation tries to ramp up degree completion.

Rural students are the least likely to go to college

The doors are locked at this special ed school in Minneapolis so no one runs away. It's a surprising place to find kids doing breathing exercises.

Yoga and dogs bring calm to school for troubled kids

It's one of the best defenses against recidivism, but investment is lacking.

Some prisons trying to maintain college education

Teachers with DACA serving low-income, immigrant communities could be tough to replace.

Mr. Rodriguez is undocumented and unafraid

When predominantly white cities secede from larger districts, it has a segregating effect.

Resegregation in Alabama

As small private colleges struggle to survive, we look at one that almost didn't make it.

How alumni revived a dying college

President Trump is ending DACA, which allowed some 800,000 undocumented young people to stay and work in the United States. For some, that may mean the end of a dream of going to college. This program profiles DACA students and their opponents and examines a key court case and political forces that led to this moment. 

Shadow Class: College Dreamers in Trump's America

Public schools are denying children with dyslexia proper treatment and often failing to identify them in the first place.

Hard to Read: How American schools fail kids with dyslexia

Profits from slavery and related industries helped build some of the most prestigious schools in New England. This documentary focuses on three universities -- Harvard, Georgetown and the University of Virginia -- as they grapple with a deeply troubling chapter in their vaunted histories.

Shackled Legacy: Universities and the Slave Trade

There may be nothing more important in the educational life of a child than having effective teachers. But the United States is struggling to attract and keep teachers.

Keeping Teachers

A descendant of slaves sold to save Georgetown University in 1838 will be a member of this year's freshman class — at age 63.

'The oldest not-18-year-old'

People who lived through the desegregation era see their former schools fall back into segregation.

Segregation's Back

There are millions of kids in America who the USDA considers "food insecure" -- they live in households without regular access to nutritious food. For them, school feeding programs are essential.

What children in food deserts do during the summer

A state law says Maine high school students have to prove they have mastered specific skills to get a diploma.

When a diploma means more than just 'seat time'

At a public charter school in Boston, students spend years preparing to go to college. But paying for it is another story.

College is a leap of faith - and funds - for first-generation students

Thirty-five years ago, four immigrant families won a landmark Supreme Court case that protects the rights of children in the United States to attend public schools, whether they have papers or not.

'All they wanted to do was get an education'

A new study shows selective colleges could bring in many more talented low-income students. So why don't they?

Making room for poor kids at rich schools

English learners are the least likely to graduate from high school when compared to other groups of students. There's a new high school in Bowling Green, Kentucky, that's trying to help new immigrant students beat the odds.

A public school that's just for immigrants

New York's new scholarship promises free college, for a price.

Is free college free?

A mother and her dyslexic daughter tell their story. It's a preview of an upcoming documentary from APM Reports.

Kids with dyslexia are not getting what they need in American public schools

Collision over college dreams for undocumented students.

Immigration enforcement has DACA students on edge

Can the excitement about My Brother's Keeper last now that Obama's out of office?

Improving the odds for young black men

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos recently called HBCUs "real pioneers of school choice." We thought this would be a good time to revisit our documentary, "The Living Legacy: Black Colleges in the 21st Century."

Protecting the legacy of HBCUs

Reforming School Discipline

Are we asking too much of America's high-poverty schools?

The great equalizer

There are proven techniques to help children with learning disabilities, but can affected kids get what they need in public schools?

'Dick and Jane were not my friends'

One reporter chronicles a neighborhood school in need of the American dream.

The View From Room 205

How much will anti-immigrant rhetoric dissuade foreigners from studying in the United States?

Chinese students ponder Trump

The nominee for secretary of education has a long history of funding school-choice efforts and charter schools in Michigan.

What Betsy DeVos might bring to the Department of Education

In a system that prioritizes struggling students, what happens to everybody else?

High achievers left behind

The suit claims Michigan is denying Detroit students their fundamental right to literacy.