Families with children who have dyslexia have long pushed lawmakers to respond to a pressing concern: Too many young students struggle for years to learn to read, before schools recognize the problem.

In response, nearly every state in the U.S. passed some sort of dyslexia laws over the past decade. Most of these laws encourage or require schools to screen young children for reading difficulties, train teachers in evidence-based reading instruction and provide targeted support to students who show early signs of dyslexia.

Families of children with dyslexia, educators and dyslexia advocacy groups widely praised these laws. If schools could identify dyslexia early and respond with evidence-based instruction, reading outcomes would likely improve and fewer children would fall behind.

But what actually happened after these laws passed?

My colleagues and I examined nearly two decades of national student data to answer this question. The results tell a complicated story.

Dyslexia is a brain-based learning difference that makes reading words slow and effortful, even when children have typical intelligence and education.

About 5% to 15% of U.S. children experience persistent reading difficulties consistent with dyslexia. Without early support, these difficulties can have long-term academic and emotional consequences.

Before the 2000s, dyslexia was rarely mentioned explicitly in education policy. Students with dyslexia were typically grouped under a broad learning disability category, often without focused instruction or support.

Parent advocacy groups and dyslexia advocacy organizations began pushing lawmakers in the early 2010s to recognize dyslexia in state education policy. They also lobbied for states to require early screening for reading difficulties and to teach reading with rigorous methods backed by scientific research.........

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