SPRINGFIELD, PA – March 31, 2022 – More than 3,500 of the 12,400 students that make up Upper Darby School District go to school every day without the glasses they need to see the board, read a book, or participate in class. Senator Tim Kearney and the non-profit Vision To Learn have teamed up to bring vision services directly to students. With $50,000 funding secured with help from Senator Kearney, Vision To Learn has provided 334 students with vision exams and 267 with pairs of glasses—all free of charge.
For the last 10-years, Vision To Learn has been helping kids in urban and rural communities across the US. Vision To Learn visits schools, where their staff works with classroom educators and school nurses to make sure every child receives a vision screening. For children who do not pass the screening, the Eagles Eye Mobile Powered by Vision To Learn, staffed with trained eye care professionals, visits schools to provide eye exams and glasses–all free of charge to the child and their family.
“As a member of the Education Committee, I’m happy to have been able to secure this funding to meet the needs of the children within the Upper Darby School District,” said Senator Kearney. “I know that equity for students is essential to their success. Sometimes equity means providing students with educational resources like updated textbooks—other times, equity means ensuring children have reading glasses to see the words in the textbooks. It’s about creating a level playing field.”
A groundbreaking study recently published in The Journal for the American Medical Association Ophthalmology by researchers from the Center for Research and Reform in Education and the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University shows the impact of providing glasses to children at schools. The researchers conducted the largest and most rigorous study in the U.S. to measure the impact of providing eyeglasses to students directly in their schools. Thousands of children from more than 100 schools in Baltimore participated in the study. The results were clear. Children who received glasses did better in school, and the impact was greater than more costly measures such as lengthening the school day, providing computers, or creating charter schools. The children who showed the biggest gains, the equivalent of an additional four to six months of learning, are those who are often the hardest to help—students in the bottom quarter of their class academically and students with learning differences and disabilities.
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