The Effects of Targeted Follow-Up in School Health Programs on Children’s Health and Academic Achievement

Public schools provide a range of health care through screening programs aimed at identifying health issues early. Even when health needs are identified, limited engagement with parents can be a barrier to supportive treatment. We estimate the effectiveness of targeted intensive family-follow-up in the vision screening program in the largest school district in the country. The follow-up is successful at improving glasses wearing and vision outcomes. There is no effect on downstream academic and health outcomes, though that may be because measurable outcomes are too distal or coarse to identify important relationships between them and vision acuity.