APM Reports: Focus on Education

Series produced by American Public Media

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From preschool to the post-secondary years, this series of documentaries explores the question, "What kinds of education are needed for people and communities to thrive in the 21st century?"

From preschool to the post-secondary years, this series of hour-long documentaries explores the question, "What kinds of education are needed for people and communities to thrive in the 21st century?" Stephen Smith and Emily Hanford pursue meaning behind research in how we learn and teach, and what's being done across the country to strengthen our systems of education.


30 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Keeping Teachers
From: American Public Media
Series: APM Reports: Focus on Education
Caption: Teacher Christopher McFadden is a member of The Fellowship, a group in Philadelphia trying to recruit and retain black male teachers. Only 2 percent of teachers in American public schools are black men., Credit: Emily Hanford
(8/28/2017) There may be nothing more important in the educational life of a child than having effective teachers. But the United States is struggl...

Bought by WMUU-LP, KUER, Georgia Public Broadcasting, KOSU, WRST-FM Oshkosh and more


  • Added: Aug 28, 2017
  • Length: 52:58
  • Purchases: 10
Shackled Legacy: Universities and the Slave Trade
From: American Public Media
Series: APM Reports: Focus on Education
Caption: Frank Campbell was a teenager when he was sold to keep Georgetown University afloat. He was one of some 272 enslaved people sold by Jesuits in Maryland to plantations in Louisiana., Credit: Ellender Memorial Library, Nicholls State University
(9/4/2017) As more schools begin to confront their participation in slavery, they also consider how to make amends.

Bought by WWNO, WMUU-LP, WNCU, WUFT, KOSU and more


  • Added: Sep 05, 2017
  • Length: 59:00
  • Purchases: 13
Hard to Read: How American Schools Fail Kids With Dyslexia
From: American Public Media
Series: APM Reports: Focus on Education
Caption: Kindergartners in an Ohio classroom learning letters. One in five American kids struggles to read, and many of them have dyslexia. But public schools are failing to identify or treat dyslexia, even though there are proven ways to help kids with dyslexia l, Credit: Emily Hanford
(9/11/17) Public schools are denying children with dyslexia proper treatment and often failing to identify them in the first place.

Bought by WUFT, WMUU-LP, KUER, KCBX, WOSU and more


  • Added: Sep 13, 2017
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 11
Changing Class: Are colleges helping Americans move up?
From: American Public Media
Series: APM Reports: Focus on Education
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Colleges have long offered a pathway to success for just about anyone. But new research shows that with the country growing ever more economically ...

Bought by WUNC, WMUU-LP, WLPR , WAER Syracuse, NY, and KMXT


  • Added: Sep 24, 2018
  • Length: 59:57
  • Purchases: 5
Still Rising: First-generation college students a decade later
From: American Public Media
Series: APM Reports: Focus on Education
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At 19, Mario Martinez felt fortunate to have escaped his rough neighborhood and enrolled in a community college. But the odds that he would earn hi...

Bought by 'The Sea', WUNC, WMUU-LP, WLPR , WUFT and more


  • Added: Sep 24, 2018
  • Length: 59:59
  • Purchases: 7
Old Idea, New Economy: Rediscovering Apprenticeships
From: American Public Media
Series: APM Reports: Focus on Education
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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. I...

Bought by 'The Sea', Interlochen Public Radio, WOSU, WMUU-LP, WLPR and more


  • Added: Sep 24, 2018
  • Length: 59:59
  • Purchases: 8
Hard Words: Why aren't our kids being taught to read?
From: American Public Media
Series: APM Reports: Focus on Education
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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 case...

Bought by 'The Sea', WUNC, Interlochen Public Radio, KOSU, WMUU-LP and more


  • Added: Sep 24, 2018
  • Length: 59:59
  • Purchases: 8
Under a Watchful Eye: How colleges are tracking students to boost graduation
From: American Public Media
Series: APM Reports: Focus on Education
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Colleges are using big data to track students in an effort to boost graduation rates, but it comes at a cos

Bought by WUFT and WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: Oct 01, 2019
  • Length: 58:59
  • Purchases: 2
Students on the Move: Keeping uprooted kids in school
From: American Public Media
Series: APM Reports: Focus on Education
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Moving a lot is hard on school kids. And millions of children in the United States have unstable housing. A growing body of research finds that re...

Bought by WUFT


  • Added: Oct 01, 2019
  • Length: 58:58
  • Purchases: 1
At a Loss for Words: What's wrong with how schools teach reading
From: American Public Media
Series: APM Reports: Focus on Education
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For decades, schools have taught children the strategies of struggling readers, using a theory about reading that cognitive scientists have repeate...

  • Added: Oct 01, 2019
  • Length: 58:59

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