Audio Documentaries

The APM Reports documentary unit, formerly American RadioWorks, produces programs about education, history, justice and more.

April 17, 2021

The Jail Tapes in the Dumpster

A murder conviction sent Myon Burrell to prison for life when he was a teenager. An investigative reporter dug into what seemed a hopeless case. What she found helped free him.

November 22, 2020

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.

August 14, 2020

Black at Mizzou: Confronting race on campus

"Black Mizzou" is a thriving campus-within-a-campus that Black students have built over decades to make the University of Missouri a more welcoming place.

August 6, 2020

What the Words Say

A false assumption about what it takes to be a skilled reader has created deep inequalities among U.S. children, putting many on a difficult path in life.

July 29, 2020

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.

November 7, 2019

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 massive protests. Soldiers for Peace offers a first-person look at how GIs were transformed by Vietnam, and the strategies veterans and active-duty personnel used to bring the war to an end.

November 1, 2019

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.

October 15, 2019

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.

August 22, 2019

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.

August 14, 2019

Students on the Move: Keeping Uprooted Kids in School

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 repeatedly uprooted children are more likely to struggle in school and more likely to drop out. But there are ways to help them succeed.

August 6, 2019

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.

May 9, 2019

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 over three years, a Taser failed to subdue someone who was then shot and killed by police.

September 10, 2018

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.

September 3, 2018

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.

August 27, 2018

Still Rising: First-Generation College Students a Decade Later

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 his degree and achieve the life he wanted were still against him.

August 20, 2018

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.

July 11, 2018

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.

July 11, 2018

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.

July 11, 2018

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.

March 19, 2018

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 "Ethics Be Damned," APM Reports investigative journalist Tom Scheck joins Lizzie O'Leary of Marketplace Weekend to parse DeVos' potential conflicts of interest. Plus, what happens if watchdog groups use ethics as a political weapon?

March 19, 2018

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 Marketplace Weekend to discuss the history of U.S. ethics rules, and the complicated financial holdings of current Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

March 19, 2018

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 of Marketplace Weekend to discuss whether the federal ethics system is broken.

September 11, 2017

Shadow Class: College Dreamers in Trump's America

President Trump is ending a program that allowed some young, undocumented immigrants to stay and work in the United States. For some, that may mean the end of a dream of going to college. APM Reports tells the stories of young immigrants fighting for a piece of the American Dream and examines the historical events that brought us to this moment.

September 11, 2017

Hard to Read: How American Schools Fail Kids with Dyslexia

There are proven ways to help people with dyslexia learn to read, and a federal law that's supposed to ensure schools provide kids with help. But across the country, public schools are denying children proper treatment and often failing to identify them with dyslexia in the first place.

September 4, 2017

Shackled Legacy: Universities and the Slave Trade

As more schools begin to confront their participation in slavery, they also consider how to make amends.

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