Vision for Baltimore is a city-wide program to expand school-based vision services for all students in grades pre-kindergarten through eighth grade in Baltimore City public schools. The program was established, in part, due to the Baltimore Reading and Eye Disease study, which aimed to determine the prevalence of vision problems in an early school age population with reading difficulty, and evaluated the impact treatment had on vision function and reading performance.

• Over the next three years, the Health Department will screen every student from pre-K through eighth grade in Baltimore City public schools.
• For students who fail the Health Department vision screening, Vision To Learn will bring its mobile vision clinic to each school to conduct eye exams and prescribe glasses, if they are needed, at no cost to families.
• Vision for Baltimore will start in fall 2016 and will serve all children by spring 2019. Approximately 50 schools will be served each school year.

Research Study

As part of the Vision for Baltimore program, faculty from the Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute and the Johns Hopkins School of Education’s Center for Research and Reform in Education will be conducting a research study with the following goals:

• Evaluate the impact of school-based eye care on academic performance
• Develop school-based strategies to promote eyeglass wear and to reduce the rate of lost or broken glasses
• Conduct a cost analysis of the short-term and predicted long-term economic impact of expanded vision screening program and school-based eyeglass distribution
• Perform a longitudinal process evaluation of the program to identify barriers to school-based vision care delivery and assess sustainability

Johns Hopkins Faculty

• Megan E. Collins, M.D.
• Michael X. Repka, M.D.
• Nancy A. Madden, Ph.D.

Testimonials

• "This is an awesome program- our kids need glasses!" -School secretary
• "My glasses have been broken for three years. I'm so excited I don't have to wear small, broken glasses anymore!" -5th grade student
• "My students love participating now to read to the class." -4th grade teacher
• "I had no idea that this was all I needed. I thought something else was wrong with me!" -2nd grade student
• "Hey! I don't look bad in glasses after all!" -7th grade student

Vision for Baltimore in the News

2019