Reading means opportunity

Of any 25 kids in a kindergarten class, five are likely to be dyslexic. The learning disorder, which makes it harder for someone to read due to problems identifying speech sounds and how they relate to letters and words (no, it’s not scrambling letters as many think), affects an estimated 20% of the population, and often bedevils youngsters as their peers start paging through books.

Thanks to volumes of research since the 1970s, educators understand well how to identify dyslexia and attend to those who have it — but New York City schools have never adopted a comprehensive strategy. That changed Thursday, under the watch of a dyslexic mayor and his schools chancellor.

Eric Adams speaks often about how dyslexia held him back academically, and cites statistics that nearly half of those in our prisons and jails are dyslexic. It’s true that the learning difference can be a hindrance. It’s also true that it in no way destines someone to read less or be less successful. George Washington was thought to be dyslexic, as was John Lennon. Steven

Spielberg was diagnosed late in life. As MIT Prof. Catherine Drennan, who struggled with the disorder early in school, says, “there is no dyslexia ceiling.”

It is highly commendable, therefore, that New York’s public schools are screening all kids for dyslexia; will this fall pilot special programs at 80 elementary and 80 middle schools; and, by next spring, will train teachers citywide to best serve dyslexic students. Relatedly, teachers in kindergarten through second grade will now stick to phonics-based curriculum, which is proven to be more effective in the early grades, casting aside a “balanced literacy” approach that’s part of the reason two-thirds of Black and Brown students struggle to read at grade level.

Eyes opened to dyslexia must also focus on fixing something that broke under Bill de Blasio — delivering timely evaluations and services to all children with disabilities — and, more broadly, what’s actually being taught in classrooms across the city. All the talk about accountability and standards is meaningless if kids aren’t acquiring lots of knowledge and skills.