A friend who works in educational policy recently sent me a podcast, and after listening, I think it is one of the most remarkable pieces of content I’ve ever come across.

It’s called Sold a Story (Apple Podcasts, Spotify). The series is produced by a small team at American Public Media, led by journalist Emily Hanford, who has been reporting on a specific topic for years: how we teach children to read, and how it’s gone wrong. The first season came out in 2022, as parents exposed to Zoom classrooms started noticing en masse that their kids couldn’t read, and that little was being done to help them.

How Cueing Theory Took Over Reading Education

The short version of the story is that early reading education has long been shaped by a body of work called Cueing Theory, which taught kids to guess words using pictures or context clues rather than sounding them out letter by letter. It was first developed in the 1970s by a woman named Marie Clay, whose influence and stature became legendary.

Her theory and related ones spread to the U.S. and much of the English-speaking world in the subsequent decades, becoming a movement with its own textbooks, teacher training programs, certifications, and more.

There’s just one problem: Cueing Theory was proven to be deeply flawed starting as early as the 1970s and 1980s. Hundreds of scientific studies clearly showed that it wasn’t effective at teaching kids to read. Skilled readers don’t guess what a word is. They process every single letter in a word, and they do so incredibly rapidly.

Here’s where the story takes an incredible turn: all that counter-evidence didn’t stop the growth of this flawed approach. It only seemed to accelerate. Cueing Theory formed the backbone of the Whole Language movement in the 1980s and the Balanced Literacy programs of the 1990s and 2000s, eventually becoming one of the most popular reading curricula in U.S. schools.

The established way of teaching was so entrenched by then, espoused by university professors and authors such as Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell, the textbook publisher Heinemann, and even the prestigious teacher’s college at Columbia University led by Lucy Calkins, all of whom made many millions selling their reading materials. These and other forces pushed back against the research, undermined policy changes meant to integrate it, and stuck to their guns in the face of credible evidence that they were failing kids.

There are several reasons why the podcast and the story it tells are so remarkable, in my opinion.

A Masterclass in Storytelling

First, because it’s a masterclass in engaging long-form storytelling, investigative journalism, and public advocacy. Even if you don’t care about this particular topic, anyone who is trying to communicate any message in a way that’s compelling and creates change has a lot to learn from it.

The podcast has changed policy and laws in dozens of states and fueled a worldwide backlash against Cueing Theory (and the methods based on it, such as Balanced Literacy and Leveled Literacy) in school districts across the country. There’s a nationwide movement forming to replace it with phonics and other science-backed methods that have been shown to work.

Why This Topic Matters So Much

Second, it’s such a staggeringly important topic for anyone who cares about children and their education, and even the future of our society. What could be more fundamental than reading? All other forms of learning across one’s lifespan are rooted right there, in the early school years.

I was brought to tears driving in my car, hearing the heartbreaking stories of kids who had suffered because they weren’t given the right tools. One of them said he felt like he was “lost in the darkness” as he advanced through first, second, and third grade without being able to read. Many kids pretended they could read, feeling ashamed that they couldn’t get it. Another was diagnosed with a reading disability and placed in special education, because it was assumed to be his fault. How many millions of children had their intellectual potential snuffed out and their learning stifled? In how many cases did no one ever notice the shortfall and intervene to correct it?

I wonder if this explains so much of the supposed decline of recent generations’ reading habits, critical thinking, and executive function that we’ve heard so much about. Of course, all kinds of thinking would take a hit if you can’t acquire information reliably in the first place.

I had no particular opinion on literacy education previously, but Sold a Story has radicalized me into taking control and oversight of my kids’ education. It’s woken me up to the realization that I tend to trust whatever is happening in their classrooms, and to assume that the material and techniques are based on credible evidence, despite having so much evidence to the contrary.

The Lesson for Content Creators

Third, I think there’s an unexpected and important implication for educational content creators like me.

This story shows that an idea can be many things – compelling, entertaining, romantic, popular, profitable, socially contagious – but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s effective.

Cueing Theory had a lot going for it. It allowed both students and teachers to avoid the hard work of sounding out words and decoding their meaning, which wasn’t pleasant for either of them. It painted a romantic picture that if you just gave kids enough exposure to books in a supportive environment, they would naturally figure it out themselves. It made teachers feel empowered, like they knew what to do.

But none of that matters, because it didn’t accomplish the goal: training successful readers.

The deeper lesson is that education has to be research-based and proven to work measurably, not just based on positive emotions or customer satisfaction. When I think about the content that’s published online every day, dispensing advice on everything from health to relationships to finances to learning, I doubt most of it conforms to that standard.

I think a lot of traditional sources of information and education – from cable news to newspapers to textbooks to teachers – are being replaced by digital content creators. It’s where we turn to when we need advice on losing weight, saving money, or improving our mental health. These creators are largely uncertified, unlicensed, unvetted, unconstrained by any laws or regulations. That’s a lot of what makes them good. They can promulgate new and innovative approaches that don’t stand a chance inside institutions. But it also means it’s a wild west out there. The only law in the online world is “survival of the most viral idea.”

In a way, Cueing Theory was an early example of social virality, spreading from teacher to teacher and from one school district to another before that kind of thing happened more easily online. This story demonstrates the importance of questioning one’s beliefs, being willing to change your mind, and resisting groupthink at every level, from a single student reading a book to entire nations deciding what to teach their children.

The second season of Sold a Story is coming soon, in October 2026, and this time they’ll widen the scope from reading education to learning in general, and look at some of the flawed and ineffective theories that underlie our modern education system. 

I encourage you to check it out. You can find it on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. 

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