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October 20, 2022 51 mins

Sixty years ago, Marie Clay developed a way to teach reading she said would help kids who were falling behind. They’d catch up and never need help again. Today, her program remains popular, and her theory about how people read is at the root of a lot of reading instruction in schools. But Marie Clay was wrong.  


Read: Emily Hanford’s reading list 
Read: Transcript of this episode 
Watch: The story behind Sold a Story
Support: Donate to APM Reports 
More: soldastory.org 
En español: soldastory.es 


Dive deeper into Sold a Story with a multi-part email series from host Emily Hanford. We’ll also keep you up to date on new episodes. Sign up at soldastory.org/extracredit.

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