A Los Angeles Based Resource that Every Parent Should Know About: Vision To Learn

04Sep
by La Comadre Connections

La Comadre is launching a “La Comadre Resources” section for our community featuring organizations who are doing important work to help our students succeed. Today, we are featuring Vision to Learn. Please send us your suggestions for other resources we should highlight that are putting students’ needs first.

Sometimes it’s the most basic things that hold children back, and with the high cost of housing, medical care, vision exams and glasses are sometimes forgone with families who are struggling to make ends meet. Fortunately, there’s a Los Angeles-based organization that steps up and helps bridge the gap for families in need and children who need vision correcting glasses.

Vision To Learn is a non-profit organization that partners with school districts to provide vision screening in mobile clinics. Students who are prescribed glasses are able to select frames and have them fitted so that they can see clearly.

Austin Beutner, who is now the Superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District, founded Vision To Learn in 2012, and the organization has now helped over 125,000 children, expanding its reach into places like Atlanta, Newark, Baltimore, and other cities.

Vision to Learn is meeting needs of students and asking a fundamental question, what do students need to learn? Not being able to see adequately has academic consequences. Most of the learning that a child does in the first 12 years of life is visual, and students who are not proficient in reading by the third grade are more likely to drop out. Nationally, at least 2 million children who need glasses do not have them. For children with vision issues, not having the proper glasses can mean missing out on course content, feeling frustrated, and falling behind in class.

UCLA conducted research showed that Vision To Learn has a direct impact on education outcomes for children supported by the program and improves the learning environment for the entire classroom and school. Teachers reported that the students who received glasses felt more confident in participating in classes and there were less disruptions in the class for the rest of the students. The UCLA research can be found at https://visiontolearn.org/impact/ucla-study-impact-analysis-of-vision-to-learn/.

Vision To Learn has been partnering with key Los Angeles partners such as the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation and the Los Angeles Clippers bringing team players to school sites for eyeglass distribution events, making eyeglass giveaways “cool.” Kids light up when Dodgers such as Justin Turner show up on their campuses. Some of the most popular have been the Dodger Blue eyeglasses!

To learn more, check out the organization’s web page. And if your child needs an eye exam or if you need resources about this service, don’t hesitate to contact the organization directly.

Send us your “La Comadre Resources” suggestions by emailing us: [email protected]

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