For Immediate Release: May 6, 2019

Listenwise and WAMU 88.5 Bring Public Radio to Classrooms DC Public School Students Will Learn From 1A Interviews

Boston, MA (5/6/19) Listenwise, an award-winning listening skills platform, and WAMU 88.5, Washington’s NPR news station, announced today a collaboration that enables teachers to bring the conversations from 1A, a public radio program about the most important issues of our time, to teach real-world topics in their classrooms.

Produced by WAMU and distributed nationally by NPR, 1A is a weekday show hosted by Joshua Johnson and inspired in name by the First Amendment. The program delves into policy, politics, technology, as well as pop culture, sports and humor, providing a “national mirror — taking time to help America look at itself and to ask what it wants to be.”

Since 2016, NPR and Listenwise have partnered to bring public radio to the classroom. By adding access to 1A, Listenwise builds a more comprehensive collection of current events and lessons accessible to students and teachers on their listening skills platform. This gives teachers new opportunities to bring meaningful conversations about critical issues into the classroom, where students can engage with the topics and spark further conversations.

Initial 1A content available through Listenwise will include stories about gangs in America, girls playing baseball and the confidence gap between boys and girls.

“WAMU’s mission is to connect Washingtonians with each other and the world, so we are thrilled that Listenwise will allow us to extend that impact to students and schools,” said Andi McDaniel, senior director of content and news, WAMU. “1A offers thoughtful, balanced conversations about the most important issues of our time — and we know the content will help students better understand the forces shaping their world.”

“Listenwise is the bridge between public school students and local public radio stations. By providing 1A content, we will bring new voices, topics and perspective to D.C. students and middle and high school students around the country,” said Listenwise Founder and CEO Monica Brady-Myerov.

You can click here to listen to the first 1A story to be published on the Listenwise website.

### About Listenwise Listenwise is an award-winning listening comprehension platform. We harness the power of listening to advance literacy and learning in all students. Our collection of podcasts and public radio keeps teaching connected to the real world and builds student listening skills at the same time. The curriculum aligned podcasts are paired with learning tools and listening comprehension assessments to transform them into rigorous academic content. Students are motivated by the interesting real world stories, and Listenwise provides the literacy supports and differentiated instruction necessary for diverse classrooms including ELs and reluctant readers. Find more information at: listenwise.com

About WAMU WAMU 88.5 is the NPR station in the nation’s capital and Washington’s source for local and national news, podcasts and smart, thoughtful programming. WAMU produces the nationally acclaimed program 1A, the daily local talk show The Kojo Nnamdi Show, the Diane Rehm: On My Mind podcast and award- winning regional news that spans topics from race and power to business and the arts. WAMU also publishes DCist, a local news and culture site. WAMU is member-supported and licensed to American University. Founded in 1961, WAMU reaches an audience of more than one million listeners on-air, online and on demand. Learn more about WAMU or listen live at www.wamu.org.

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Media Contacts: Karen Gage, Listenwise, (617) 304-9057, [email protected] Anna Fry, WAMU, (202) 885-8905, [email protected]