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40% of teacher training programs in the United States are using outdated methods to teach teachers to teach kids how to read. Learning to read is not something that happens naturally by being in an environment full of books and print. Some people don't need much instruction, they start to figure out a lot of it on their own,. But some people need a lot of instruction, including very, very smart people.

For decades, American schools have taught reading with an approach that doesn’t work very well. Emily Hanford of the podcast “Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong” explains how things are starting to change.

This episode was produced by Miles Bryan, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard and Victoria Chamberlin, engineered by Michael Raphael, and hosted by Noel King.

We're taking Monday off for Juneteenth and will be back with a new episode on Tuesday, June 20.

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