‘Huge Kudos to Our Schools’: Data Shows Success of Arizona’s Vision Screening Policy

Data reported by 1,547 public and charter schools to the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) shows that 465,364 students received a vision screening in the 2024-25 school year, the first year of implementation of Arizona’s new vision screening law.

“Huge kudos to all our school nurses, staff people, and everyone who worked so hard to get these screenings done and their reports submitted,” said Morgan Scadden, manager of the Children and Youth with Special Health Care Needs program at ADHS, which includes sensory screening.

The total number of students receiving vision screening last year is projected to exceed 700,000, as just 64% schools reported their screening results for 2024-25, when ADHS rules and requirements were first introduced to schools.

“It was not a small lift,” Scadden said. “I’m excited to see what the data will show for the current school year, now that we’ve had another year for people to get trained.”

About one in four school-age children in Arizona have an undetected or untreated vision problem that can affect their ability to learn and be successful in school. Vision screening is a quick and effective way to identify children with potential problems and help them on the path to healthy vision. Children who fail a vision screening are referred to an eye doctor for a full eye exam to determine if they have a vision problem that needs treatment, such as glasses.

Eyes On Learning, a public-private coalition dedicated to improving the vision health of Arizona’s children, developed recommendations that contributed to the passage of the vision screening law, which requires public and charter schools to provide vision screening to all students when they first enter school (pre-K or kindergarten), in third grade, and again in seventh grade. Schools may choose to screen children in other grades as well.

“Children don’t know what they can’t see,” said Laura Smith, director of Eyes On Learning, a public-private coalition dedicated to improving the vision health of Arizona’s children. “It is gratifying to see so many of our kids are being screened for vision problems, especially in the early grades when they’re learning to read. Most vision problems are easier to correct when treatment starts early.”

As outlined by the law, vision screenings in Arizona schools are performed by trained and ADHS-certified vision screeners and include visual acuity (near vision and far vision), color deficiency, and depth perception.

To support the implementation of the new law, Eyes On Learning also partnered with ADHS to reimagine the vision screener training and certification process and make screenings more consistent and effective.

“The online training piece has been a huge help,” said Nadine Miller, director of health services for Mesa Public Schools. “About 150 of our staff have gone through the certification — school nurses, health assistants, our audiology department, and some of our long-term subs. Now everyone has a better understanding of the process and why we’re doing it, too. There’s more buy-in all around.”

More than 1,200 individuals were trained and certified as vision screeners last year, according to Scadden. Certification is valid for four years. “Our schools have worked so hard to implement these policies,” Scadden said. “Giant progress everywhere in the state.”