Impact of eyeglasses on academic performance in primary school children

Abstract Objective To assess the impact of eyeglass administration after a vision-screening program on standardized testing scores in school-aged children. Design Retrospective study of children who participated in a vision-screening program that provided free eyeglasses where indicated. Participants Students in kindergarten through grade 5 in a large urban school district in North America. Methods Children in kindergarten through grade 3 were administered the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA), and children in grades 3 through 5 were administered the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA). Classroom teachers completed eyeglass adherence questionnaires. Results A total of 4523 children participated in the vision-screening program. Eyeglasses were worn most of the time (>75%) by 67.4% of the children and never or rarely worn ( Conclusions In some children, wearing eyeglasses was associated with maintenance in standardized reading scores. High adherence to wearing eyeglasses suggests that children perceive a benefit, perhaps beyond that which these standardized test results were able to document.