Back to Search
Start Over
The Impact of Providing Vision Screening and Free Eyeglasses on Academic Outcomes: Evidence from a Randomized Trial in Title I Elementary Schools in Florida
- Source :
- Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. 37:265-300
- Publication Year :
- 2017
- Publisher :
- Wiley, 2017.
-
Abstract
- More than 20 percent of all school-aged children in the United States have vision problems, and low-income and minority children are disproportionately likely to have unmet vision care needs. Vision screening is common in U.S. schools, but it remains an open question whether screening alone is sufficient to improve student outcomes. We implemented a multi-armed randomized controlled trial (RCT) to evaluate the impact of vision screening, and of vision screening accompanied by eye exams and eyeglasses, provided by a non-profit organization to Title I elementary schools in three large central Florida school districts. We find that providing additional/enhanced screening alone is generally insufficient to improve student achievement in math and reading. In contrast, providing screening along with free eye exams and free eyeglasses to students with vision problems improved student achievement as measured by standardized test scores. We find, averaging over all students (including those without vision problems), that this more comprehensive intervention increased the probability of passing the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Tests (FCATs) in reading and math by approximately 2.0 percentage points. We also present evidence that indicates that this impact fades out over time, indicating that follow-up actions after the intervention may be necessary to sustain these estimated achievement gains.
- Subjects :
- genetic structures
Public Administration
Sociology and Political Science
media_common.quotation_subject
education
Standardized test
law.invention
Vision care
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Randomized controlled trial
law
Intervention (counseling)
Reading (process)
0502 economics and business
Achievement test
Vision test
050207 economics
At-risk students
media_common
Medical education
business.industry
05 social sciences
General Business, Management and Accounting
eye diseases
030221 ophthalmology & optometry
business
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 02768739
- Volume :
- 37
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of Policy Analysis and Management
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........9d40d997421e5c6bec94b5c52ec986a3