Innovative research, enduring impact: 100 years of the visual disabilities program at Peabody

By Jennifer Kiilerich

In rural Monroe County, Tennessee, the school district's only teacher of students with visual impairments (TVI) is approaching retirement. But her daughter, Andrea Leatherwood, is almost ready to step into the role. Leatherwood is among the first cohort of teachers accepted last summer into the new Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development low-residency training program for TVIs.

The offering is the latest in a history of groundbreaking developments made in the Peabody Visual Disabilities Program. Since 1921, the program's leaders and students have blazed trails in research and teacher training for the blind and visually impaired.

Flexible learning for today's teachers

Across the United States, TVIs are in short supply. Peabody's program is among fewer than 40 such educational paths nationwide. "But to be sustainable," said program coordinator Rachel Schles, "we needed to make this track accessible to working teachers. There's such a severe shortage, that any single person who wants to be in our field absolutely should have a pathway to becoming a TVI."

In a study she published this February, Schles (MEd'12), assistant professor of the practice of special education, found that in Tennessee, "the best guess is that more than half of TVIs are retiring or leaving the field in the next five years." She hopes Peabody's new low-residency option, which launched in June 2024, will help remedy the pending shortage. Enrollment was competitive; within three weeks of opening applications, there were 30 applicants for the eight available slots.

The Tennessee Department of Education is providing full tuition for 20 scholars to attend the rigorous two-year program; grant recipients are required to serve for two years in Tennessee following graduation. Teachers combine part-time, online classes with practicum experience and monthly in-person sessions to gain their TVI endorsement and master of education-all while continuing to work in their communities.

Andrea Leatherwood, the special education teacher in Monroe County who will soon replace her mom as their district's TVI, is keenly aware that her forthcoming role will be in demand. These specialists wear many hats, from advocating for students to sharing knowledge with fellow teachers. "You've got to have buy-in from other teachers. There's huge collaboration needed," Leatherwood said, "which is something that Dr. Schles has emphasized in this program."

An unexpected perk of the experience for Leatherwood has been the community she's found-not an easy feat given the small size of the TVI field. "Our cohort has become like a family. I've got a group of people that I can rely on," she said.

In addition to the TDOE grant, Schles received a federal Office of Special Education Programs grant in 2023. It offers robust financial support for both full-time and part-time scholars who are seeking either initial licensure or an add-on endorsement in visual disabilities. Both funding opportunities will play a key role in revitalizing the TVI pool. "It's really exciting what these opportunities mean for Tennessee three, five years down the road," said Schles. "Peabody graduates are working as faculty at TVI preparation programs around the United States. They are involved in professional development and public policy, and they are working in schools. Every new TVI we can train will make a difference."

Peabody pioneers: rewriting the playbook for teaching of the blind, visually impaired

Peabody's visual disabilities program is informed by a rich history of academic rigor and field-shifting research. It was set in motion in 1921 with the introduction of a summer program that included classes like History of Education for the Blind, and Kindergarten, Primary, Intermediate and High School Methods. At the time, the Peabody Reflector reported that it was "the first time that any institution in America has offered these special courses" and the first opportunity for teachers in schools for the blind "to take definite and systematic work in education, or methods courses."

In 1957, the Southern Regional Education Board and American Foundation for the Blind selected Peabody to house one of four regional teacher preparation programs in the nation. Peabody formalized the visual disabilities program at that time, making it year-round. It became a training hub for 16 states across the southern United States and continues to be a leader in the field.

Through the years, research milestones have included:

• Samual Ashcroft pioneered a regional program of preparation for teachers, launched a graduate track and conducted field-defining research on braille. Ashcroft, professor of special education, emeritus, and Kennedy Center investigator, was the department's first professor beginning in 1957. He spent his decades-long career researching braille and assistive technology for the blind and was instrumental in developing the visual disabilities program-a model that has been mirrored around the world, thanks in part to his extensive travels and ambassadorship. His textbook on braille instruction is still published, and his work continues to inform learners.
• Natalie Carter Barraga transformed long-held beliefs about visual impairments. Imagine blindfolding a visually impaired child for lessons. Before Barraga's studies, which she conducted as a Peabody doctoral student in the 1960s, people with low vision were essentially taught to act as though they were blind. Vision services and education focused on "sight-saving" techniques, which assumed that someone with a visual impairment would risk losing their vision the more they used it. Barraga (EdD'63) discovered that using vision efficiently would improve-not damage-vision access for these individuals. Her work launched a new field of study known as visual efficiency.

• Randall Harley joined Peabody's faculty in 1964, reshaping the teaching of braille and receiving more than 40 federal grants. Harley (MA'54, PhD'62), professor of special education, emeritus, taught in the visual disabilities program for 29 years. With significant grants from the U.S. Department of Education, he established graduate degree training programs for TVIs. He is noted for his role in educating teachers of the blind and visually impaired on how to use an Optacon, an electromagnetic device that converted printed images into electronic signals.
• Butch Hill designed the Hill Performance Test of Selected Positional Concepts to assess children in Orientation and Mobility. In 1979, Hill, professor of special education and Kennedy Center investigator, joined Peabody with a focus on orientation and mobility (O&M), an area of visual disabilities that teaches people who are blind or visually impaired to travel safely from one place to another. Before his studies, programs in O&M were based on models for adults. Supported by a federal research grant, Hill reconceptualized them to meet the needs of preschool children. Since then, thousands of children nationally and internationally have been assessed with and benefited from the Hill Performance Test of Selected Positional Concepts, as well as the accompanying training.
• A visually impaired student works on reading techniques.

  Anne Corn developed Project PAVE (Providing Access to the Visual Environment) to provide clinical low-vision services to children. Corn, professor of special education, ophthalmology and visual sciences, emerita, and Kennedy Center investigator, led Peabody's program beginning in 1992. Her research primarily focused on low-vision studies, but she also investigated young braille readers and literacy in students with low vision. In 1995, she spearheaded Project PAVE to support visually impaired children in Tennessee educational agencies and schools, and at the Tennessee School for the Blind. These organizations receive prescribed optical devices and instruction in their use for students, teachers and families. Now operating out of the Vanderbilt Eye Institute, PAVE's impact has been significant; it has been replicated around the United States and internationally.

Looking ahead: research and growth on the horizon

Rachel Schles continues to grow the visual disabilities program, one cohort at a time. This summer, through her two grant-funded training programs, she will welcome a new class of 13 teachers for TVI training.

Her ongoing research explores unmapped areas in the field, such as the role of population data in understanding needs of the blind and visually impaired, and how to improve identification of these students in a way that boosts access to special education services. She is also taking a closer look at states' eligibility criteria for vision-based support, professional development for TVIs and more.

"Our program's history serves as a guidepost as we move forward," said Camilla Benbow, Patricia and Rodes Hart Dean of Education and Human Development at Peabody College. "I am proud of all we have accomplished, and I am excited to see the far-reaching contributions that the Visual Disabilities Program at Peabody will continue to make both locally and around the globe."