2015/05/18 – The Mississippi Vision Foundation is vying for a $25,000 grant to provide free eye exams and reading coaches to Canton third graders who failed last month’s statewide reading assessment.

Some seven dozen children in the school district – and more than 5,600 statewide – failed the test that determines whether they advance to the fourth grade or repeat another year in third. Their retention is part of a new law called the Literacy-Based Promotion Act.

Designed to catch struggling readers early, the act requires schools retain and remediate these students through intensive instruction. But for some children, the solution could be as simple as a pair of eye glasses.

One in four school-aged children have a vision problem, but 80 percent never get the help they need, said Linda Ross Aldy, executive director of the Mississippi Optometric Association. The problem is even more pronounced in low-income areas like Canton.

“We know there will be some for whom that’s not the case, but if there are children out there with undetected vision problems that can be corrected, then this project might make a difference in a child’s life,” Aldy said.

The Mississippi Optometric Association runs the Mississippi Vision Foundation, whose “Project Eyes” is among 200 proposals nationwide competing for part of the $1 million available through State Farm’s Neighborhood Assist grant program.

Internet voters will chose the winners, which will be announced June 16. If selected, the Mississippi Vision Foundation will implement its program immediately.

Vote for “Project Eyes” here.

“We encourage everyone to go out and vote,” said State Farm spokeswoman Emily Clark.

The grant would cover the cost of comprehensive eye exams by an optometrist, corrective lenses if needed and if parents cannot afford them, as well as reading intervention by a professional literacy coach throughout the summer.

The goal is to get children prepared for the next opportunity to take the Third-Grade Reading Summative Assessment. Students across Mississippi who failed the first time will retest Monday and, if they still failed, can try again this summer.

Others students, such as limited English learners, can get an exemption to advance to the fourth grade.

Located in the Jackson metro area, the Canton Public School District had one of the state’s lowest passing rates on the Third-Grade Summative Reading Assessment at 69 percent. The statewide average was 85 percent.

It’s also a socioeconomically disadvantaged district, as evidenced by its high number of students eligible for the federal free-and-reduced lunch program. Nearly nine out of 10 academically and behaviorally at-risk children in such districts have undetected or untreated vision problems, according to a 2008 study for the Dallas-based Essilor Vision Foundation.

Elementary schools routinely screen students for vision problems using an eye chart, but the simple procedure catches only a fraction of cases, said Canton Optometrist James Bearden, who is participating in “Project Eyes.”

Common issues that slip through the cracks, he said, include farsightedness and problems involving eye tracking, eye focusing and eye coordination – all of which are quite common among elementary school children.

“A lot of it is age specific,” Bearden said. “It just so happens that the age the test is given is the age they have it.”

Bearden also said that, while most children eventually outgrow the conditions, such problems can interfere with learning if not treated.

“The parents really want their children to do better,” Bearden said. “We’re trying to get rid of as many distractors as there can be to make sure these kids excel.”

Source: The Clarion-Ledger 

Emily Le Coz