Visual Defects as Factors Influencing Achievement in Reading

T HE PURPOSE Of this study was to determine whether or not visual defects influence the achievement in reading of school children of the seventh grade in the Oakland public schools. In particular, answers have been sought to the following questions: (1) Do different types of eye defects when studied separately affect achievement in reading ? (2) Do eye defects when considered collectively influence achievement in reading ? (3) Are defective eyes when optically corrected more or less proficient than defective eyes not provided with lenses as evidenced through achievement in reading? (4) Are defective eyes when optically corrected generally more or less proficient than normal eyes as evidenced through achievement in reading? The procedure in the collection of data involved the giving of intelligence tests, the administration of tests for visual efficiency, and the giving of achievement tests in reading at the beginning and end of the study. The Kuhlman-Anderson Intelligence Test and the Stanford Achievement Test in Reading were given late in October 1930 to approximately nineteen hundred H-6 grade pupils. From these tests, summaries of which were on file at the Department of Research, Oakland public schools, the chronological age, intelligence quotients, and reading scores were obtained for use later in the