Sold a Story

Zig Engelmann gets the chance of a lifetime: Put Direct Instruction to the test in one of the largest education experiments ever conducted. The results could have changed the direction of American education. Instead, they’re contested — and ultimately cast aside.

Read: Why America’s massive educational experiment didn’t transform schools
Read: The forgotten voices of Project Follow Through
Video: The biggest education experiment you’ve never heard of

Read: Transcript of this episode

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At an experimental preschool in Illinois, Zig Engelmann and his colleagues begin turning his ideas into a classroom teaching method. Along the way, they make a series of discoveries about effective instruction. Their mantra: “If the student hasn’t learned, the teacher hasn’t taught.”

Read: What is Direct Instruction?
Video: The 5 key concepts of DI
Video: Who was Zig Engelmann?

Read: Transcript of this episode

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Email us: soldastory@apmreports.org
Call us: (612) 888-7323
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Dive deeper into Sold a Story with a weekly email newsletter from host Emily Hanford.

In the 1960s, an education outsider named Zig Engelmann begins challenging conventional ideas about what young children can learn. He teaches his 4-year-old twins basic algebra. But he has a hard time getting anyone in education to take him seriously, until a professor gives him a chance to see if his ideas will work in a classroom.

Read: What is Direct Instruction?
Video: The 5 key concepts of DI
Video: Who was Zig Engelmann?

Read: Transcript of this episode

Support: Donate to APM Reports
Email us: soldastory@apmreports.org
Call us: (612) 888-7323
More: soldastory.org

Dive deeper into Sold a Story with a weekly email newsletter from host Emily Hanford.

Sold a Story is back with a new season that goes beyond reading. Emily Hanford explores an approach to teaching that's been largely rejected by the education system — despite decades of evidence that it works.

Video: Watch the trailer on YouTube
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Dive deeper into Sold a Story with a multi-part Extra Credit email series from Emily Hanford.

The New Yorker staff writer David Owen opened a recent piece with a personal story: To hide that she couldn’t read, his niece turned pages when her classmates did. Owen joined Sold a Story host Emily Hanford for a live conversation about his December 2025 article “Dyslexia and the Reading Wars.” The event was part of the Eyes on Reading series at Planet Word, a museum in Washington, D.C., dedicated to words and language.

Read: Transcript of this episode
Watch: All Eyes on Reading videos
Connect: Sold a Story discussion guides

Support: Donate to APM Reports
Email us: soldastory@apmreports.org 
Call us: (612) 888-7323
More: soldastory.org

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