Vision to Learn: A Program Making a Visible Difference in Education

Imagine a simple intervention, costing just over $100, that could significantly improve a child's self-esteem and academic performance. This isn't a hypothetical scenario; it's the reality of providing eyeglasses to children in need. Millions of children across the country could benefit from this "miraculous treatment," and organizations like Vision To Learn and Project Vision Hawaii are working to make it a reality.

Addressing a Critical Need: Vision Problems in Children

Approximately 1 in 4 children naturally require glasses. However, in low-income and rural communities, many children who need glasses go without them due to financial constraints, language barriers, unresponsive health bureaucracies, or a lack of eye care professionals in their neighborhoods. This lack of access can have severe consequences, increasing the likelihood of misdiagnosis with behavioral issues in kindergarten, being labeled as "slow" learners by fifth grade, and even dropping out of high school.

Vision To Learn: Bringing Vision Care to Schools

Vision To Learn is a non-profit organization that addresses this critical need by bringing vision screenings, eye exams, and glasses directly to children at their schools in low-income communities. This innovative approach eliminates barriers to care, ensuring that students receive the vision correction they need to succeed in school and in life. The program operates primarily in Title I schools, where staff and volunteers collaborate with school nurses to provide vision screenings to every child. Students who do not pass the screening are then examined in Vision To Learn vans, which are equipped with trained eye-care professionals. Eye exams and glasses are provided free of charge.

Impact on Academic Performance and Well-being

The impact of providing eyeglasses to students is significant. A study involving thousands of children from over 100 schools in Baltimore revealed that students who received glasses performed better in school. The positive effects were even more pronounced than those of more expensive interventions such as extending the school day, providing computers, or establishing charter schools. The children who demonstrated the greatest gains, equivalent to an additional four to six months of learning, were often those who are the most difficult to reach: students in the bottom quarter of their class academically and students with learning differences and disabilities.

Qualitative evaluations of Vision To Learn (VTL) have further revealed corrective lenses may positively impact families, teachers, and students coping with visual deficits by improving school function and psychosocial wellbeing.

Improved Focus and Engagement

Teachers, parents and students perceived that visual deficits contributed to poor school performance. The mechanisms cited for how poor vision disrupted a student’s ability to function in school varied. Some reported difficulty focusing in class and falling behind because of not being able to see the board. Participants felt the additional effort required to cope with poor vision ultimately led to students’ disengagement from classwork. This was manifested by poor class participation, giving up on school-related tasks, and disrupting other students.

Students themselves reported that they had trouble concentrating, and the additional effort to see led to disengagement in class. For example, students described that before glasses they couldn’t “pay attention to the board, or didn’t know what to do” and that they “get lost-- don’t know what’s going on." Participants felt the additional effort required to cope with poor vision ultimately led to students’ disengagement from classwork.

However, after receiving glasses, parents noticed that they didn’t have to try to keep Monica’s focus, and that now “she sees and tries”. Students similarly reported that they “would not get distracted as much and I would pay attention and get good grades too.” Teachers corroborated these accounts, noting that the children who were distracting other kids when they had to work independently stopped doing so after receiving glasses.

Willingness to Practice Academic Skills

Providing glasses also led to a willingness to practice academic skills. Teachers noted that “the fluency rate has increase for those students. They can see the words so they are more apt to practice reading because it’s not such a task for them.” Enthusiasm for learning increased, with one teacher noting that “I know one girl in particular that was struggling and she was so much more enthusiastic after she got the glasses and reading more.”

Reduction of Stress

All groups described significant stress related to uncorrected poor vision, though the etiology of that stress varied. Students reported stress as “my eye…it was too busy. It was fighting. Close this eye. No, open it. Close it.” They also reported stress related to poor school performance, noting “But when I didn’t have glasses, I had bad grades and my mom and dad weren’t happy.”

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Parents noted stress related to financial management. As one parent said, “I think in our communities…it’s more difficult because sometimes we think that it’s not something that we can provide. Our opportunities are more limited and sometimes we do not have access to them (glasses).”

However, after receiving glasses, students reported that they “don’t have any more headaches and my eyes they were hurting. Sometimes at night I would also get them. And when I got the glasses, it didn’t make my eye hurt.”

Academic Improvement

Teachers also noted improvements to academic performance, with one reporting that “I noticed with one or two of the students that got their glasses, the accuracy rate (on their math work) went up. Probably because they could see the numbers better in the books.” Parents similarly reported that their children’s grades improved after receiving glasses. One parent proudly reported that “She got an award…because she is one of the highest ranking children in her class in reading. So I said wow. And she said, ‘Yeah mom, I put on the glasses and I am reading!’”

Students confirmed these accounts, reporting that “I could do my homework faster."

Overcoming Barriers: Cost and Accessibility

Vision To Learn addresses the barriers of cost and accessibility by providing free services directly at schools. Parents expressed gratitude for the program, noting that they would have had to wait and save money to afford glasses otherwise. The convenience of the school-based program was also highlighted, eliminating the need for parents to take time off work and travel to appointments.

Decreased Stigma

Vision To Learn also decreases the stigma associated with wearing glasses. Parents reported that children are more excited to wear glasses when their friends are also getting them. Teachers observed that students were proud to wear their glasses, viewing them as a fashion statement.

Vision To Learn Across the Nation

Across the country, Vision To Learn has made a significant impact, providing more than 1.2 million children with vision screenings, 300,000 with eye exams, and nearly 250,000 with glasses. In Hawaii, more than 65,000 children have received vision screenings, and over 6,500 have received eye exams through the program.

Hawaii's Public-Private Partnership

In Hawaii, government leaders collaborated with Vision To Learn, Project Vision Hawaii, and philanthropic organizations such as the First Hawaiian Bank Foundation, the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation, Kamehameha Schools, and the Atherton Family Foundation to launch the program in 2015. Hawaii's MedQuest helps reimburse the cost of these efforts. This public-private partnership serves as a national model for addressing critical needs within communities.

Success Stories

Kelani, an eighth-grader from Molokai, suspected she needed glasses but her family couldn't afford an optometrist. Thanks to Vision To Learn, she received the eye care she needed, highlighting the program's life-changing impact.

In Chula Vista, California, Vision To Learn partnered with the San Diego Foundation and the San Diego Padres to provide vision services to students at Harborside Elementary School and over 25 other schools across San Diego County. At Harborside Elementary alone, 567 students received vision screenings, 129 received eye exams, and 123 received glasses, all at no cost to their families.

Quantitative Studies Supporting Vision to Learn

In 2013, the Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA initiated an analysis of the Vision To Learn model to determine its effectiveness. The UCLA team was led by Dr. Wendy Slusser and Dr. Rebecca Dudovitz. Teachers reported to UCLA that glasses helped students become more engaged in the classroom. UCLA also discovered that providing glasses in a group setting reduced the stigma associated with getting glasses. Parents interviewed for the study revealed that their kids’ getting glasses improved life at home. Many explained they could now understand their children’s previous academic struggles, and why their kids had been anxious about school.

One year later, UCLA returned to the schools to gather statistical data for their quantitative analysis. The study reviewed students’ grades for two years prior to receiving glasses and for one year after. As background research, UCLA doctors found that 80% of classroom learning is visual. In addition, over 20% of students have a vision problem that can be identified by screening and over 80-90% of those defects can be corrected with glasses.

The UCLA study supported the foundation of Vision To Learn’s mission: that providing children with the glasses they need improved the quality of their education, and the quality of their lives. This cluster randomized clinical trial found that a school-based vision program improved students’ reading scores over 1 year, especially girls, those in special education, and students in the lowest quartile at baseline.

Vision for Baltimore Study

A cluster randomized clinical trial conducted in Baltimore City Public Schools from 2016 to 2019, known as Vision for Baltimore (V4B), further demonstrated the effectiveness of school-based vision programs. The study involved vision screenings, eye examinations, and eyeglasses provided by Vision To Learn. Students receiving SBVP interventions with eyeglasses achieved better scores than controls on i-Ready reading assessments over 1 year. The findings highlighted that students with certain characteristics benefited more from the intervention. Over the course of 1 year, girls, SPED students, and those with SPLQ at baseline obtained higher scores on i-Ready reading, while students in elementary school grades achieved higher scores on i-Ready mathematics.

The study also found that the ES of 0.09 in this study is larger than that for other common interventions, with the exception of tutoring.

Vision Therapy: An Alternative Approach

While Vision To Learn focuses on providing corrective lenses, vision therapy is another approach to addressing vision problems. Vision therapy is paid for out of LAUSD’s special education division, but not through the Visually Impaired Program. LAUSD officials determine eligibility for vision therapy through the Individualized Education Program (IEP) and vision therapy assessments. Although studies supporting vision therapy have been published, Handler and others argue that they are not scientifically valid because sample sizes were too small or the studies were not appropriately controlled.

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