11: The Outlier

Summary

Sold a Story: Episode 11 – The Outlier Release Date: February 20, 2025

Summary by APM Reports' Emily Hanford

---

Introduction

In Episode 11 of Sold a Story, titled "The Outlier," Emily Hanford delves into the exceptional success of East Garfield Elementary School in Steubenville, Ohio. Amidst a backdrop of struggling literacy rates nationwide, Steubenville stands out as a beacon of effective reading instruction. This episode explores the strategies and community efforts that have propelled the city’s students to outperform their peers academically, despite socio-economic challenges.

---

Steubenville: An Unexpected Success Story

Emily Hanford begins by recounting her meeting with Karen Chenoweth, an education reporter deeply invested in reading instruction. Karen shares her admiration for a story she encountered in one of Hanford's books about Steubenville—a city grappling with economic decline yet home to an elementary school where “every third grader was passing the state reading test” ([02:14]).

Karen Chenoweth:
"You would have been amazed, Emily. I mean, every kid knew how to read. They had a kid they were so proud of who had been measured with a very low IQ. And he was reading. I mean, like, this was an amazing school."
[02:27]

Despite the overarching poverty and abandoned infrastructure, Steubenville's elementary school exhibits remarkably high literacy rates, positioning its students “more than two grade levels ahead of kids in other school districts with similar levels of poverty” ([03:38]).

---

A Day in Steubenville’s East Garfield Elementary

Emily’s visit to East Garfield Elementary reveals a community deeply committed to meeting students' basic needs, recognizing that “children need to be fed and clothed and cared for in order to learn” ([07:55]). The school provides essential items like hair ties and socks, ensuring that students are comfortable and ready to engage in learning activities.

Nancy Beatty, Teacher:
"Mom doesn't have time. So we make time."
[07:03]

This holistic approach extends to a robust support system where instructional coach Jennifer Blackburn oversees a clothes closet, distributing necessities to students daily.

---

Innovative Reading Instruction Methods

At the heart of Steubenville’s success is its unique approach to reading instruction, which emphasizes phonemic awareness and phonics over traditional methods. In kindergarten, educators prioritize teaching the sounds of letters rather than their names, a “sounds first approach” that minimizes confusion and enhances reading fluency.

Amy Crow, Kindergarten Teacher:
"Why are you teaching them? Don't they have to know what the letter's called?"
[12:59]
Karen Chenoweth:
"Don't they have to know what the letter's called?"

This methodology contrasts with the conventional Alphabet song, focusing instead on the practical application of sounds in reading. Emily notes that while there's debate among cognitive scientists regarding the best approach, Steubenville's method effectively “reduces clutter and minimizes confusion” ([13:23]).

---

Cooperative Learning and Direct Instruction

Steubenville integrates cooperative learning alongside direct instruction, fostering an environment where students actively teach and support one another. This dual approach ensures that while teachers provide explicit guidance on reading skills, students also engage in peer-assisted learning, reinforcing their understanding through collaboration.

Emily Hanford:
"Cooperative learning provides something really important, something kids need to become good readers. It provides a lot of time for practice."
[17:54]

This balance addresses a common criticism of the science of reading—that it can be overly instructional with insufficient practice time—by embedding ample reading practice within cooperative frameworks.

---

Tailored Reading Classes and Tutoring

Every teacher in Steubenville, regardless of their primary subject area, instructs a reading class. This widespread responsibility allows for small, focused reading groups, often comprising as few as six students, ensuring personalized attention.

Mr. Josh Meyer, Gym Teacher and Reading Instructor:
"When I tell some of my other colleagues that may be at other schools that this is what I do, you know, in the morning, they would say, you kidding me?"
[19:27]

During the reading block (9:00 AM - 10:30 AM), students are grouped by their reading proficiency rather than grade level. This system facilitates targeted instruction, allowing students to progress at their own pace without being held back or rushed.

Tutors, including community volunteers and high school students, provide additional support. These tutors undergo training to ensure consistency in instruction, fostering a seamless learning experience for the students.

Jen Blackburn, Instructional Coach:
"So what are you gonna do?"
[22:04]

---

Attendance and Student Engagement

Recognizing that consistent attendance is crucial for academic success, Steubenville implements proactive strategies to minimize absenteeism. Suzanne Allen, the dean of students, spearheads efforts to ensure students attend school regularly, employing measures such as attendance contests and rapid response protocols for absences.

Dr. Suzanne Allen:
"If a kid is absent, it's her job to find out why right away."
[24:19]

These initiatives have resulted in one of the lowest absenteeism rates in Ohio, further contributing to the district's academic achievements.

---

Sustained Success and Community Commitment

Steubenville’s educational model has been in place for 25 years, providing consistency and sustained success. Teachers express confidence and a strong sense of preparedness, rarely feeling unequipped to handle students' reading needs.

Emily Hanford:
"Steubenville is a place full of confident readers and confident teachers."
[27:11]

Remarkably, many educators are unfamiliar with prevalent literacy programs like Fountas & Pinnell or Lucy Calkins, as Steubenville’s system operates independently of these trends, focusing instead on what consistently works for their community.

---

Conclusion and Teaser for Next Episode

Steubenville’s comprehensive and community-driven approach to reading instruction exemplifies how dedication and tailored strategies can overcome socio-economic barriers to literacy. In the next episode, Emily Hanford promises to explore the origins of Steubenville's reading program and its entanglement with federal education initiatives, shedding light on the broader implications for American education.

---

Notable Quotes:

• Karen Chenoweth:
  "You would have been amazed, Emily. I mean, every kid knew how to read."
  [02:27]

• Amy Crow, Kindergarten Teacher:
  "Don't they have to know what the letter's called?"
  [12:59]

• Emily Hanford:
  "Cooperative learning provides something really important, something kids need to become good readers."
  [17:54]

• Dr. Suzanne Allen:
  "If a kid is absent, it's her job to find out why right away."
  [24:19]

---

Key Takeaways:

1. Early Intervention: Emphasis on preschool attendance (80% participation) lays a strong foundation for literacy.
2. Phonics-Focused Instruction: Teaching letter sounds before names enhances reading fluency and comprehension.
3. Collaborative Learning: Cooperative learning and peer teaching reinforce reading skills through practice and interaction.
4. Comprehensive Support: Addressing students' basic needs ensures that they are prepared and able to focus on learning.
5. Community Involvement: Engaging local volunteers and integrating reading instruction across all teaching staff fosters a supportive educational environment.
6. Consistent Attendance: Proactive measures to ensure regular attendance contribute significantly to academic success.

Steubenville serves as a compelling case study for educators and policymakers aiming to elevate literacy rates amidst challenging circumstances.

Transcript

[Emily Hanford]

Previously on Sold a Story.

[Karen Chenoweth]

Judge talks.

[Emily Hanford]

He doesn't look at all the letters and words. He doesn't look at all the words and sentences. And reading is miserable for him.

[Karen Chenoweth]

Just.

[Emily Hanford]

The kids struggle and they suffer. You know, there's kids sinking everywhere and they're looking for help, and it's on us. I'm calling for a renewed focus on literacy and on the way we teach reading in the state of Ohio. My bill requires the science of reading. The challenge of bringing literacy on a.

[Karen Chenoweth]

Massive scale to entire population is a tall order. What I'm fearful of, because I've seen it so many times, is movements sometimes gloss over detail. And here the details are so critical.

[Emily Hanford]

A few years before this podcast came out, I met Karen Chenoweth at a conference.

[Karen Chenoweth]

You and I sat next to each other at lunch. We didn't know each other.

[Emily Hanford]

We hit it off immediately. We were both education reporters and we were both kind of obsessed with reading instruction, I think.

[Karen Chenoweth]

I asked you what you were working on and you started telling me, and I was very excited.

[Emily Hanford]

I knew more about Karen than she knew about me. For years, she'd been writing books about schools. I'd been reading her books. And in one of those books, she told the story of a school she visited back in 2008. A school in a small city in eastern Ohio. A place called Steubenville.

[Karen Chenoweth]

I had never been there. I'd never heard of it.

[Emily Hanford]

When she got there, she could immediately see that it was a city in rough shape.

[Karen Chenoweth]

It was one of the saddest places I've ever been to.

[Emily Hanford]

Steubenville's an old steel town. The mills had shut down, jobs had vanished.

[Karen Chenoweth]

There was a rusting hulk of a steel mill. There were abandoned buildings, a lot of rubbish, very little business downtown. The stores were empty.

[Emily Hanford]

In the heart of the depressed downtown was the elementary school Karen was there to see. A school where the majority of kids were from low income families.

[Karen Chenoweth]

It was astonishing to me how amazing that elementary school was.

[Emily Hanford]

All the third graders at this school were passing the state reading test. Every single one.

[Karen Chenoweth]

You would have been amazed, Emily. I mean, every kid knew how to read. They had a kid they were so proud of who had been measured with a very low iq. And he was reading. I mean, like, this was an amazing school.

[Emily Hanford]

The sad fact is, schools with lots of low income students usually have low reading scores. But according to state test score data, this school was one of the best in Ohio. Karen often thought about that amazing little school, wondered how things were going in Steubenville. And Then one day in 2016, Karen arrived at work and opened up the New York Times. And there was an article about a huge new data set from Stanford University that allowed you to compare academic achievement at schools across the country. This was new. Before, you could only compare schools within a state, this new data allowed you to compare schools across state lines. The New York Times story included a graphic. The graphic had thousands of dots on it. Each dot was a school district.

[Karen Chenoweth]

My eye was immediately drawn to to this little dot on the upper left corner.

[Emily Hanford]

The dots in the upper left were the poor school districts where the kids were doing well. And the dot Karen was looking at was out there all alone, doing far better than the others.

[Karen Chenoweth]

And that was Steubenville.

[Emily Hanford]

Kids in Steubenville were more than two grade levels ahead of kids in other school districts in the United States with similar levels of poverty. And kids in Steubenville were actually doing better than kids in some of the country's most affluent districts. Steubenville had some of the best little readers in the nation, and it still does. How did Steubenville do it? I'm Emily Hanford, and this is sold Oldest Story, a podcast from APM Reports. Today we have the first of three new episodes. In this episode, I'm going to take you to Steubenville and show you how they teach reading there. They do a bunch of stuff that a lot of other schools don't. In the next episode, I'm going to tell you about the program Steubenville uses and where it comes from. And then a surprising twist. For much of the past year, the program that Steubenville uses was under threat because of this podcast. After Sold A story came out, the state of Ohio created a list, a list of approved reading programs. And when that list first came out, the program Steubenville uses wasn't on the list. When I visited Steubenville, I stayed at a hotel across the river in West Virginia and drove to the city early in the morning, just after sunrise.

[Karen Chenoweth]

In about 3 miles, keep left towards Steubenville.

[Emily Hanford]

It's a gorgeous day. Beautiful blue sky as I drive down into the Ohio River Valley. From the hills of West Virginia, the blue sky disappears and I'm surrounded by thick fog. As I enter the city, I can just barely make out the street signs. Dean Martin Boulevard. A fun fact about Steubenville. The legendary singer Dean Martin was born here.

[Karen Chenoweth]

Destination is on your right.

[Emily Hanford]

East Garfield Elementary School. I'm headed to East Garfield elementary, which most people just call East. It's the school here with the most students living in poverty. The school is next to a public housing project. As I get out of my car, I see little kids with big backpacks emerging out of the morning fog from the projects. Kids who live in the neighborhood walk to school. Others take a bus or get dropped off.

[Karen Chenoweth]

Morning, girls. Have a good day.

[Emily Hanford]

When I arrive, teachers, staff and a couple of local police officers are greeting students at the door.

[Karen Chenoweth]

Are you a policeman? Of course I am, my friend.

[Emily Hanford]

Just inside the school entrance, there's a girl standing in the hallway looking unhappy.

[Karen Chenoweth]

What's wrong, girl? Come here.

[Emily Hanford]

She's a little blonde girl with skinny legs wearing a dirty tan skirt and sneakers. She's upset about her hair. It's tied up in a messy ponytail, uncombed hair kind of spilling out everywhere. Apparently, she's often upset about her hair when she arrives at school. And what's the story? She just doesn't get it done at home the way she wants? Yes, at all.

[Karen Chenoweth]

She doesn't get it done at home.

[Emily Hanford]

She says she doesn't have. Mom doesn't have time. So we make time. This is Nancy Beatty, a teacher at the school. Ms. Beatty bought a brush and hair ties that she keeps at school just for this little girl. And she fixes the girl's hair when she needs it. Sometimes the girl needs socks too, or a sweatshirt. There's a clothes closet for that.

[Karen Chenoweth]

We also have like shoes, socks and stuff in here.

[Emily Hanford]

This is Jennifer Blackburn. She's an instructional coach at east and the keeper of the clothes closet. Oh, winter boots.

[Karen Chenoweth]

Yeah, winter boots.

[Emily Hanford]

Sneakers.

[Karen Chenoweth]

Sneakers. I just went and bought sneakers and socks. I stuck them in here.

[Emily Hanford]

How often do you have to give kids clothing?

[Karen Chenoweth]

Every day. Every day. We have one parent homes, no parent homes. Kids there coming from the homeless shelters.

[Emily Hanford]

The staff and teachers at this school know that they have to meet kids basic needs first, that children need to be fed and clothed and cared for in order to learn. And the staff and teachers here clearly care deeply about their students and take the time to do the little things that matter, like fixing a girl's hair or giving her socks. This is true in many high poverty schools I visit. The kids have a lot of basic needs and the staff does a lot to try to meet those needs. But in a lot of those schools, a lot of the kids aren't learning how to read very well. In Steubenville, they are ready. My tour guide is Jen Blackburn, the instructional coach and keeper of the clothes closet. She takes me first to preschool.

[Karen Chenoweth]

Let me make sure my Friends are sitting nice crisscross applesauce, hands in their lap.

[Emily Hanford]

The preschoolers are on the rug, looking up at their teacher eagerly. She's assigning jobs for the day.

[Karen Chenoweth]

I pulled dier. So, dier, you're my cool kid today.

[Emily Hanford]

Dier is beaming.

[Karen Chenoweth]

I'm good. I go today. Yeah, you're gonna be my cool kid today. So what does my cool kid do, friends? I'll be the line leader. You're gonna be the line leader. You're right. All right, let me.

[Emily Hanford]

Line leader is clearly the best job, but there are other jobs.

[Karen Chenoweth]

Ryan, do you want to be at the door holder, the electrician, teacher's assistant, or caboose? Oh, remember, put it in a sentence. I want to be in a teacher. Thank you. Very nice. Sentence.

[Emily Hanford]

These preschoolers are constantly being reminded to speak in full sentences.

[Karen Chenoweth]

Oh, put it in a sentence. Thank you. She said, I would like to be.

[Emily Hanford]

The door holder in preschool. You will want to get kids really good at talking because that's going to be a huge help when they start learning how to read. Knowing lots of words, how to pronounce them, what they mean is essential. And teaching kids to speak in full sentences helps them learn grammar and syntax, how words and phrases are arranged in the English language. This also helps with reading and with writing, too.

[Karen Chenoweth]

The early childhood program is really the foundation for successful readers.

[Emily Hanford]

This is Lynette Gorman. She's the principal of west elementary in Steubenville.

[Karen Chenoweth]

A lot of oral language in those early preschool years.

[Emily Hanford]

There's a preschool program at all of Steubenville's elementary schools. That's not unusual to find a preschool inside an elementary school. What's unusual is how many kids here go to preschool. Across the country, fewer than half of children attend a preschool program. In Steubenville, it's nearly 80%. Children can start when they're 3 years old, and it's free for the poorest families. Everyone else pays $100 a month. You heard that right. Just $100 a month for all day preschool. So where are we going now?

[Karen Chenoweth]

Ramsey Kindergarten.

[Emily Hanford]

I'm back with Jen Blackburn on our tour of reading instruction in Steubenville, Kindergarten is where formal reading instruction begins. And there's something kind of unusual going on here, too, with how kids are taught the letters of the Alphabet.

[Karen Chenoweth]

All right, let's make the sounds that they make.

[Emily Hanford]

The teacher is holding up cards with letters on them, and the kids are saying the sounds of the letters, but they're not saying the names of the letters. This is a particular way of teaching letters, it's sometimes referred to as the sounds first approach. And it's not the way letters are typically taught in American schools. Typically, kids are taught the names of letters first. The Alphabet song.

[Karen Chenoweth]

A, B, C, D, E, F, G.

[Emily Hanford]

I remember learning the Alphabet song. I still sing it in my head when I need to remember the order of letters, like when I'm alphabetizing books. You need to know the names of letters and the order of the Alphabet to be a literate person. But what do you need to know to learn how to read? To learn how to read, you don't need to know the names of the letters. In fact, the letter names can be confusing. For example, the most common sound of the letter e in English is not e, it's eh, as in bed and fed. And the most common sound of the letter I is not I, it's I as in sit and pin. The idea in a sounds first approach is to focus children's attention on the sounds of letters. So when they're trying to read a word, the sounds are what immediately come to mind. There's no interference, no confusion with the names of the letters. Like I said, it's unusual.

[Karen Chenoweth]

I even had my parents kind of question it.

[Emily Hanford]

Amy Crow teaches kindergarten in Steubenville. They were like, why are you teaching them?

[Karen Chenoweth]

Don't they have to know what the letter's called?

[Emily Hanford]

And I said, actually, to read the.

[Karen Chenoweth]

Word, it's more important for them to know the sound first. So my son was 20 months old, and he. And he was naming letters like ah, b. And my dad was frustrated by it. He was like, no, it's not.

[Emily Hanford]

It's called a.

[Karen Chenoweth]

And I'm like, no, dad, I did this for a reason, and this is what I do in my school, and this is what works.

[Emily Hanford]

There's actually some disagreement among cognitive scientists about whether it's better to start with the letter names or the letter sounds. The bottom line is that kids need to learn both. And it's not that kids in Steubenville aren't taught the names of letters. They are. It's just that there's an emphasis on letter sounds to try to reduce clutter, to minimize the chances that a child will be confused. In other words, there's an emphasis on how children learn and what might be difficult for a beginner. This is one of the things that stood out to me in Steubenville. There's a focus here not just on what kids learn, but on how they learn. I think how kids learn is sometimes missing in the conversation. About the science of reading these days. It's one thing for everyone to agree that reading instruction must include phonics. For example, it's another to ask, how are you teaching phonics? Does your approach take into account how children learn? Steubenville stands out because they are paying attention to learning. And the Alphabet is just the beginning. More after a break.

[Karen Chenoweth]

Think about what happened on page two.

[Emily Hanford]

And I want you two to come up with a nice retell. We're in a first grade classroom now.

[Karen Chenoweth]

What happened on page two? On page two, the mom and the dad was driving to work.

[Emily Hanford]

Notice how the kids are speaking in full sentences on page two.

[Karen Chenoweth]

Eric drawed his house.

[Emily Hanford]

They haven't mastered perfect grammar yet.

[Karen Chenoweth]

He drawed his car.

[Emily Hanford]

And they still need reminders about what to do when they come to a word they don't know, sound it. But by first grade, these kids are putting it all together. They're reading and writing. I saw a lot of writing built into the reading instruction in Steubenville. What does your sentence say? Can you read it?

[Karen Chenoweth]

Sipping did not help Scott.

[Emily Hanford]

The students just read a story about a boy who's trying to get rid of his hiccups. Now they're writing about it. Each student has a partner whose job is to provide feedback on their sentences. And what are you pointing at? Araya. Araya thinks her partner's sentence should include what Scott was sipping. Scott was sipping water. Do you see what she's telling you about what is missing?

[Karen Chenoweth]

You're missing water, so you wasted this and white water.

[Emily Hanford]

The boy erases his sentence and writes, sipping water did not help Scott. Araya gives him a high five. There's a lot of this in kids working together in pairs and small groups, actually teaching each other. One moment that stood out to me was in a third grade class. The kids were taking turns reading a book about rainforests.

[Karen Chenoweth]

Orangutans spend most of their lives in the treetops, swinging from branch to branch.

[Emily Hanford]

I was walking around the classroom, and as I approached one group, a girl was giving her classmates some instructions.

[Karen Chenoweth]

So what I want you to do is we're gonna re read the sentence because you're just kind of reading like a robot. And we want to have perfect fluency.

[Emily Hanford]

It's kind of a blunt critique, but the boy seems unfazed, gives it another shot.

[Karen Chenoweth]

Bats are common in the rainforest. They are not birds, but the world's only flying mammals.

[Emily Hanford]

Many bats hunt inside this teamwork thing. Kids working together and actually teaching each other. It's a central component of how Steubenville teaches reading. They call it cooperative learning. And I was kind of skeptical at first. When you look at the research on effective reading instruction, what you see over and over are references to the importance of direct instruction. That's when a teacher explicitly teaches students how to do something, like how to sound out a word. Putting kids together in small groups and having them teach each other is kind of the opposite of that. But in my tour through Steubenville schools, I did see teachers provide direct instruction, quite a bit of it, even in preschool. But there's always this cooperative learning time built in, too.

[Karen Chenoweth]

My turn. What can we learn?

[Emily Hanford]

What I realized is that cooperative learning provides something really important, something kids need to become good readers. It provides a lot of time for practice.

[Karen Chenoweth]

Relatives. Relatives.

[Emily Hanford]

This is because one of the concerns I hear about schools trying to do the science of reading is that sometimes there's not enough time for practice, that schools may now be providing too much instruction and not giving kids enough time to actually read.

[Karen Chenoweth]

What? Local zoo?

[Emily Hanford]

Good job, you guys. So here are my observations so far on reading instruction in Steubenville. The district has preschool, and most children go. There's a big focus on spoken language skills. There's phonics instruction. There's a lot of writing, not just reading. And there's direct instruction, but there's also cooperative learning, and that provides a lot of time for practice. And perhaps one of the most unusual things about how Steubenville approaches reading instruction is that every teacher teaches reading. Okay, like, even this guy. Get out your collection of readings. This is Josh Meyer. He's wearing shorts and a hoodie with the sleeves cut off. He looks like a football coach. And he is. He's also the gym teacher at one of the elementary schools, but in the mornings, he. He's not in the gym. He's teaching a second grade reading class.

[Karen Chenoweth]

All right, here we go. Follow along as Mr. Maya reads.

[Emily Hanford]

Big escapes. Gorillas are the biggest.

[Karen Chenoweth]

When I tell some of my other colleagues that may be at other schools that this is what I do, you know, in the morning, they would say, you kidding me?

[Emily Hanford]

But it's part of the deal when you teach in a Steubenville elementary school. Gym teachers, music teachers, science teachers, they all teach a reading class. And here's why. If you have a lot of teachers to teach reading, the reading classes can be really small. I was in one that had only six kids.

[Karen Chenoweth]

We turn closets into classrooms so that we can teach anywhere. We can teach in this building.

[Emily Hanford]

This is Jen Blackburn again, my tour Guide.

[Karen Chenoweth]

At one time, this was my office. We changed it into a classroom.

[Emily Hanford]

And it's not just that every teacher teaches reading, it's that every student in the school has reading class at the same time every morning from 9 to 10:30. That's the reading block. Having all the kids in a school in reading instruction at the same time means students can be assigned to a reading class based on their skill level, regardless of what grade they're in. So if a second grader is still reading on a first grade level, she goes to a first grade class during the reading block. And if a first grader is reading on a second grade level, she goes to a second grade class. This way of grouping kids is rare in American schools. In fact, it's controversial. Standard practice is for all kids to get instruction at their grade level. The idea is to prevent kids from getting stuck behind. But Steubenville has a system to make sure that doesn't happen.

[Karen Chenoweth]

I'm just going to show you around the data tool that our teachers use.

[Emily Hanford]

Jen Blackburn pulls up a window on a computer screen.

[Karen Chenoweth]

You can click on an individual student. These are first graders.

[Emily Hanford]

It shows every child at her school and where they are in reading and not just what grade level they're on, but more detailed information about the specific skills they've mastered and what they still need to learn.

[Karen Chenoweth]

So I can look at this student right here.

[Emily Hanford]

She clicks on a first grader who's behind. It's about two months into the school year, and he's still working on reading skills from the end of kindergarten. So during the school's reading block, he goes to a class with other kids who are still working on the end of year kindergarten skills. The underlying philosophy here is moving a child ahead before he's mastered the basics is like trying to build a house without finishing the foundation. And so what are you gonna do? So this kid is currently behind. Not way behind, but a little behind.

[Karen Chenoweth]

Yeah, he's pretty behind in comparison to his peers. So he is placed in a.

[Emily Hanford]

There's a plan to get this child reading on grade level. He's in a small reading class, so he can get plenty of attention from a teacher. And he gets tutoring during the school day. In fact, every first grader at this school gets a reading tutor until they've mastered all the first grade material. And as kids reach mastery and their tutors are freed up, the first graders who are still behind get even more tutoring. I ask Jen Blackburn how much tutoring the boy we've been talking about could.

[Karen Chenoweth]

End up getting probably 25, sometimes 40 minutes, sometimes twice a day, four days a week.

[Emily Hanford]

That's a lot of tutoring, but that's what it could take to get this kid up to grade level. Where does Steubenville find all these tutors? Some are paid staff, others are community volunteers, and a lot of them are students. College students from a local university and students from Steubenville High School. Can I listen in for a couple minutes?

[Karen Chenoweth]

You want to read this page for her?

[Emily Hanford]

A high school student is tutoring a first grader at a small table tucked into the corner of a hallway.

[Karen Chenoweth]

All the men who am to help.

[Emily Hanford]

All the tutors get training so kids get consistent instruction. But this high school tutor was already familiar with how Steubenville teaches reading. It's the way she was taught when she was a little kid in Steubenville schools.

[Karen Chenoweth]

Yeah. Seen books?

[Emily Hanford]

Steubenville has been teaching kids to read the same way for 25 years. I think consistency may be one of the secrets of their success. Something else that's critical for success. Attendance. Attendance is huge. A school can offer fantastic reading instruction, but kids aren't going to get that instruction if they're not in school. So Steubenville puts a lot of effort into making sure kids show up.

[Karen Chenoweth]

I am Dr. Allen.

[Emily Hanford]

Suzanne Allen is the dean of students at East. She's in charge of attendance. If a kid is absent, it's her job to find out why right away.

[Karen Chenoweth]

So when I receive the attendance cards from the teachers, if a parent hasn't called, I make sure that I give them a call. Hi, this is Dr. Allen.

[Emily Hanford]

The idea is rapid response.

[Karen Chenoweth]

I'm just calling to check on your son.

[Emily Hanford]

She's calling about a kindergartner. He wasn't feeling well on Monday, but now it's Friday. He's been absent four days. No word from his mom. Dr. Allen gets voicemail every time she calls. She's worried about this kid.

[Karen Chenoweth]

This is a homeless child.

[Emily Hanford]

If he doesn't show up on Monday, she says she'll drive to the homeless shelter and find out what's going on. She does this a lot. Knocks on doors, brings kids to school. If she has to, she does other things to get them there, too.

[Karen Chenoweth]

I have attendance contests. It's called stay in the game.

[Emily Hanford]

Homerooms compete against each other for the best attendance.

[Karen Chenoweth]

Good morning, staff and students.

[Emily Hanford]

Every morning, Dr. Allen gets on the intercom to announce the homerooms that had perfect attendance. The previous day.

[Karen Chenoweth]

We had kindergarten, Ms. Blackburn. We had second grade.

[Emily Hanford]

Mrs. D'Angelo the homerooms with the best attendants win prizes.

[Karen Chenoweth]

They can choose from a frosty. They can choose from ice cream sandwich, extra recess, or just a little extra time on the computer.

[Emily Hanford]

My first reaction to the attendance contest was, isn't getting little kids to school more of a parent thing? Like, don't you need to motivate the parents more than the students? Not necessarily.

[Karen Chenoweth]

A lot of our kids live right here.

[Emily Hanford]

They live in the housing projects next to the school. And this first grade teacher, Julie Battistell, says a lot of kids are responsible for getting themselves to school and their younger siblings, too.

[Karen Chenoweth]

They are getting themselves up and getting themselves dressed and getting themselves to school.

[Emily Hanford]

So I think what we're doing here.

[Karen Chenoweth]

Is making them want to come, pushing them to be responsible. Get out the door and get over here.

[Emily Hanford]

Absenteeism is a big problem in many American schools, especially since COVID in Ohio. More than a quarter of students were chronically absent last year. That means they missed close to a month of school, sometimes more. But Steubenville has one of the lowest absenteeism rates in the state. They're getting kids to school and teaching them to read. Here's what it sounds like by the time students are in middle school.

[Karen Chenoweth]

After a while, he thought he could make out the shape of the mountains through the haze.

[Emily Hanford]

This is a fifth grade English class. Middle school starts in fifth grade.

[Karen Chenoweth]

Here he could see there was nothing ahead of him. Nothing but emptiness.

[Emily Hanford]

I told you that Students in Steubenville are grouped for reading instruction based on their skill level. What you're hearing now is the lowest level English class at the middle school, and they're all reading on grade level. There are no kids here who are behind.

[Karen Chenoweth]

There wasn't any water. It was a mirage. What is it called? Mirage. Mirage.

[Emily Hanford]

Steubenville is a place full of confident readers and confident teachers. I asked teachers here if they ever feel unequipped to teach a child how to read. They looked at me funny, like they didn't understand the question.

[Karen Chenoweth]

No.

[Emily Hanford]

You have not faced a kid where like, I don't know what to do?

[Karen Chenoweth]

No, I've never felt that way. I do feel very equipped, prepared, and felt that I could get that job done.

[Emily Hanford]

I asked another question that got me some baffled looks. I asked if they'd heard of the authors we focused on in this podcast. Have you ever heard of Fountain Pennell?

[Karen Chenoweth]

No, I'm sorry.

[Emily Hanford]

Have you ever heard of Lucy Calkins?

[Karen Chenoweth]

No, I'm sorry, no. Mm. Mm.

[Emily Hanford]

You've, like, literally never heard of these people? No. I also asked about the term balanced literacy, a term used to describe the Calkins and Fountain Pennell approach, a term that had become ubiquitous in American education, or so I thought. Balanced literacy teachers in Steubenville had no idea what I was talking about.

[Karen Chenoweth]

Is that what you said, balanced literacy? I do not know what that is.

[Emily Hanford]

No.

[Karen Chenoweth]

I mean, no.

[Emily Hanford]

You've never, like, heard of it?

[Karen Chenoweth]

I mean, not that I can. No, not really.

[Emily Hanford]

Steubenville had no need to pursue the latest trend, to even know what the latest trend was, because what they were doing was working. It's been working for 25 years. And what Steubenville has been doing is not something they invented here. They didn't come up with this way of teaching reading. Everything you heard, the focus on preschool and language development, the Sounds first approach to teaching letters, the way they group kids, the gym teacher teaching reading, the direct instruction, the cooperative learning, the tutoring, the attendance, it's all part of a program. In our next episode, I'm going to tell you about this program, where it came from and how it got caught up in that big federal effort to improve reading instruction more than two decades ago.

[Karen Chenoweth]

The program known as Reading first is.

[Emily Hanford]

Mismanaged, the auditors say, and full of conflicts of interest.

[Karen Chenoweth]

He was so frustrated by the policy landscape here in the US that he left. He left the US Altogether? Yeah, it was horrendous.

[Emily Hanford]

If you like this podcast, please follow us in your podcast app and leave a review. It's one of the best ways to help other people find the show. Reporter Karen Chenoweth wrote a couple of books that include Steubenville and she has a podcast too. We'll have links in the show notes. There will also be a link to our website where you can find much more about this podcast and sign up for our newsletter. Soul to Story is an APM Reports podcast produced by me, Emily Hanford. My co reporter is Christopher Peak. Our data reporter is Kate Martin. Our editor is Curtis Gilbert. We had mixing and sound design by Chris Julen and reporting, production and editing help from Olivia Cilcote, Carmela Walianone, Emily Havik, Emily Corwin and Lindsay Sievert and fact checking by Betsy Towner Levine. Andy Cruz is our digital editor. Final mastering of this episode was by Derek Ramirez. Our theme music was created by Wonderly. Tom Scheck is the Deputy Managing Editor of APM Reports and our Executive editor is Jane Helmke. Leadership support for Zolda's story comes from Hollyhock foundation and Oak Foundation. Support also comes from IBIS Group, Esther A. And Joseph Klingenstein Fund, Kenneth Raynan foundation, and the listeners of American Public Media.