Student self-report measures have been reported in numerous studies to assert that the use of case studies in college psychology courses can help students to better understand the relevance of course topics; however, few studies have directly measured the impact of case studies on students' learning. The present study differs from previous studies involving case studies in that a pretest-posttest design with within-test control items was utilized to investigate the effectiveness of four "National Public Radio's Teenage Diaries" used to facilitate students' (N = 35) learning and retention of course concepts in an adolescent psychology course. The present study also sought to determine if other educational variables, such as prior coursework in psychology and reading ability, had any influence on students' test scores. The statistically significant results indicated that the use of the diaries was an effective instructional intervention, and that reading ability in part plays a role in students' academic achievement.