PODCAST · society
APM Reports Documentaries
by APM Reports
The documentary unit of APM Reports (formerly American RadioWorks) has produced more than 140 programs on topics such as health, history, education and justice.
Episodes
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Introducing: Sold a Story
Emily Hanford introduces the first episode of her new podcast, Sold a Story. There's an idea about how children learn to read that's held sway in schools for more than a generation — even though it was proven wrong by cognitive scientists decades ago. Teaching methods based on this idea can make…
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No Excuses: Race and Reckoning at a Chicago Charter School
Producer DJ Cashmere spent seven years teaching Black and brown students at a Noble Street charter high school in Chicago. At the time, Noble followed a popular model called "no excuses." Its schools required strict discipline but promised low-income students a better shot at college. After DJ…
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Standing in Two Worlds: Native American College Diaries
Native American students are just a tiny fraction of all the college students in the United States. They come with different histories, confronting an education system once used to erase their languages and cultures. In this project, three Indigenous college students tell how they are using…
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In Deep: One City's Year of Climate Chaos
Most scientists believe climate change is increasing the severity of the storms we experience, and how quickly they intensify. After suffering two hurricanes, a winter storm, and devastating flooding in less than a year, Lake Charles, Louisiana, offers a troubling view of the wrenching,...
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Under Pressure: The College Mental Health Crisis
Even before the pandemic, campus counselling services were reporting a marked uptick in the number of students with anxiety, clinical depression and other serious psychiatric problems. What is a college’s responsibility for helping students navigate mental health challenges, and how well are...
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Who Wants to Be a Teacher?
Many schools around the country are struggling to find enough teachers. Large numbers of teachers quit after a short time on the job, so schools are constantly struggling to replace them. The problem is particularly acute at rural schools and urban schools. The most common level of experience of...
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Fading Beacon: Why America is Losing International Students
Colleges and universities in the United States attract more than a million international students a year. Higher education is one of America’s top service exports, generating $42 billion in revenue. But the money spigot is closing. The pandemic, visa restrictions, rising tuition and a perception…
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The Jail Tapes in the Dumpster
Sixteen-year-old Myon Burrell was sent to prison for life after a stray bullet killed an 11-year-old girl in Minneapolis in 2002. Amy Klobuchar, who was Minneapolis’ top prosecutor, brought first-degree murder charges as part of a national crackdown on gang violence — a crackdown that engulfed...
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The Bad Place
More than 40 states have sent their most vulnerable kids to facilities run by a for-profit company named Sequel. Many of those kids were abused there. 00:00:00 1. 'Youth were abused here' 00:04:30 2. 'It looked good from the outside' 00:18:21 3. 'We aren't equipped to handle that' 00:20:49 4. 'A...
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Black at Mizzou: Confronting race on campus
Lauren Brown says college was "culture shock." Most of the students at her high school were Black, but most of the students at the University of Missouri were white. And she got to the university in the fall of 2015, when Black students led protests in response to a string of racist incidents.…
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What the Words Say
Everyone agrees that the goal of reading instruction is for children to understand what they read. The question is: how does a little kid get there? Emily Hanford explores what reading scientists have figured out about how reading comprehension works and why poverty and race can affect a child’s...
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Covid on Campus
The coronavirus pandemic represents the greatest challenge to American higher education in decades. Some small regional colleges that were already struggling won’t survive. Other schools, large and small, are rethinking how to offer an education while keeping people safe. This program explores…
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Soldiers for Peace
During the Vietnam War, roughly one in five GIs actively opposed the conflict. Many servicemen and women came to believe they were not liberating the country from communism but acting as agents of tyranny. In the combat zone, they rebelled against their commanders' orders. At home, they staged...
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Uprooted: The 1950s plan to erase Indian Country
In the 1950s, the United States came up with a plan to solve what it called the "Indian Problem." It would assimilate Native Americans by moving them to cities and eliminating reservations. The 20-year campaign failed to erase Native Americans, but its effects on Indian Country are still felt today.
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Fading Minds: Why There's Still No Cure for Alzheimer's
In the 1970s, the founder of the National Institute on Aging convinced a nation that senility was really Alzheimer's and could be cured. Research money flowed to one theory, leaving alternatives unexamined — today it's come up short.
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At a Loss for Words: What's wrong with how schools teach reading
For decades, schools have taught children the strategies of struggling readers, using a theory about reading that cognitive scientists have repeatedly debunked. And many teachers and parents don't know there's anything wrong with it.
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Students on the Move: Keeping uprooted kids in school
A growing body of research finds that repeatedly uprooted children are more likely to struggle in school and more likely to drop out. But there are ways to help them succeed.
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Under a Watchful Eye: How colleges are tracking students to boost graduation
At Georgia State in Atlanta, more students are graduating, and the school credits its use of predictive analytics. But critics worry that the algorithms may be invading students' privacy and reinforcing racial inequities.
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When Tasers Fail
Tasers have become an essential tool for police, but how effective are they? An APM Reports investigation finds that officers in some big cities rated Tasers as unreliable up to 40 percent of the time, and in three large departments, newer models were less effective than older ones. In 258 cases...
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Hard Words: Why Aren't Our Kids Being Taught to Read?
Scientific research has shown how children learn to read and how they should be taught. But many educators don't know the science and, in some cases, actively resist it. As a result, millions of kids are being set up to fail.
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Old Idea, New Economy: Rediscovering Apprenticeships
You might think apprenticeships are a relic from an earlier era, but a growing number of Americans are using them as a way into the middle class.
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Still Rising: First-Generation College Students a Decade Later
They bet that college would help them move up. Did it pay off?
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Changing Class: Are Colleges Helping Americans Move Up?
Colleges have long offered a pathway to success for just about anyone. But new research shows that with the country growing ever more economically divided, colleges are not doing enough to help students from poor families achieve the American Dream.
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Order 9066, Part 3: Leaving Camp
At the end of 1944, the U.S. government lifted the order barring people of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast. Many people freed from camp faced racism and poverty as they tried to rebuild their lives.
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Order 9066, Part 2: Fighting for Freedom
At the beginning of World War Two, Japanese Americans not already in the military were declared ineligible for service. The government said it doubted their loyalty. But as the war dragged on, the need for manpower grew urgent.
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Order 9066, Part 1: The Roundup
Japanese warplanes bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Hours later, the FBI began rounding up people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast.
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Ethics Be Damned, Part 3
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is a major investor in Neurocore, a company based in Michigan that claims to help kids with various attention deficit disorders. Since taking office, she's kept her stake in the company and invested even more money in it. In the third and final installment of…
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Ethics Be Damned, Part 2
It all started with a fur coat and an expensive rug. It ended with the resignation of President Eisenhower's chief of staff. That incident led to the government ethics system of today. In the second installment of our series, APM Reports investigative journalist Tom Scheck joins Lizzie O'Leary of...
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Ethics Be Damned, Part 1
More than half of Trump's 20-person Cabinet has engaged in questionable or unethical conduct since taking office. The nation's top ethics official says "these are perilous times." In the first installment of "Ethics Be Damned," APM Reports investigative journalist Tom Scheck joins Lizzie O'Leary…
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Shadow Class: College Dreamers in Trump's America
President Trump is ending DACA, which allowed some 800,000 undocumented young people to stay and work in the United States. For some, that may mean the end of a dream of going to college. This program profiles DACA students and their opponents and examines a key court case and political forces…
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Hard to Read: How American schools fail kids with dyslexia
Public schools are denying children with dyslexia proper treatment and often failing to identify them in the first place.
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Shackled Legacy: Universities and the Slave Trade
Profits from slavery and related industries helped build some of the most prestigious schools in New England. This documentary focuses on three universities -- Harvard, Georgetown and the University of Virginia -- as they grapple with a deeply troubling chapter in their vaunted histories.
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Keeping Teachers
There may be nothing more important in the educational life of a child than having effective teachers. But the United States is struggling to attract and keep teachers.
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Historically Black, Part 3
The Question of Black Identity, Black Love Stories
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Historically Black, Part 2
Tracking Down a Slave's Bill of Sale, The Path to Founding an HBCU, The Fiddler who Charmed Missouri
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Historically Black, Part 1
NASA's Human Computers, Harlem Through James Van Der Zee's Lens, The Spirit of the Million Man March
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Rewriting the Sentence: College Behind Bars
After an abrupt reversal 20 years ago, some prisons and colleges try to maintain college education for prisoners.
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What It Takes: Chasing Graduation at High-Poverty High Schools
The nation's high school graduation rate is at an all-time high, but high-poverty schools face a stubborn challenge. Schools in Miami and Pasadena are trying to do things differently.
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Spare the Rod: Reforming School Discipline
A get-tough attitude prevailed among educators in the 1980s and 1990s, but research shows that zero-tolerance policies don't make schools safer and lead to disproportionate discipline for students of color.
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Stuck at Square One: The Remedial Education Trap
A system meant to give college students a better shot at succeeding is actually getting in the way of many, costing them time and money and taking a particular toll on students of color.
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Thirsty Planet
Scientists say most people on Earth will first experience climate change in terms of water — either too much or too little.
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Bought and Sold: The New Fight Against Teen Sex Trafficking
Advocates for kids are pushing for a new approach to combating underage prostitution: treating young people caught up in sex trafficking as victims, not delinquents.
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Beyond the Blackboard: Building Character in Public Schools
This documentary explores the "Expeditionary Learning" approach, traces the history of ideas that led to its inception, and investigates what American schools could learn from its success.
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From Boots to Books: Student Veterans and the New GI Bill
The longest war in American history is drawing to a close. Now, the men and women who served are coming home, and many hope to use higher education to build new, better lives.
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Teaching Teachers
Research shows good teaching makes a big difference in how much kids learn. But the United States lacks an effective system for training new teachers or helping them get better once they're on the job.
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The Living Legacy: Black Colleges in the 21st Century
Before the civil rights movement, African Americans were largely barred from white-dominated institutions of higher education. And so black Americans, and their white supporters, founded their own schools, which came to be known as Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
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The First Family of Radio: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt's Historic Broadcasts
When Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president in 1932, he and first lady Eleanor Roosevelt both used the new medium of radio to reach into American homes like never before.
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Ready to Work: Reviving Vocational Ed
Vocational education was once a staple of American schooling, preparing some kids for blue-collar futures while others were put on a path to college. Many experts say it's time to bring back career and technical education.
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The New Face of College
Just 20 percent of college-goers fit the stereotype of being young, single, full-time students who finish a degree in four years. College students today are more likely to be older, part-time, working, and low-income than they were three decades ago.
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Greater Expectations: The Challenge of the Common Core
The United States is in the midst of a huge education reform. The Common Core State Standards are a new set of expectations for what students should learn each year in school.
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
The documentary unit of APM Reports (formerly American RadioWorks) has produced more than 140 programs on topics such as health, history, education and justice.
HOSTED BY
APM Reports
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does APM Reports Documentaries have?
APM Reports Documentaries currently has 188 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is APM Reports Documentaries about?
The documentary unit of APM Reports (formerly American RadioWorks) has produced more than 140 programs on topics such as health, history, education and justice.
How often does APM Reports Documentaries release new episodes?
APM Reports Documentaries publishes regularly with 188 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to APM Reports Documentaries?
You can listen to APM Reports Documentaries on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts APM Reports Documentaries?
APM Reports Documentaries is created and hosted by APM Reports.
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