National Registry for TVIs Launches

Success Beyond Sight, (SBS), a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization, has created a FREE National Registry for TSVIs/TVIs (NRTSVI) to empower a national voice for TSVIs/TVIs and to provide a means to reach, on a national level, TSVIs/TVIs with free resources and important professional information.

Success Beyond Sight recognizes the crucial role that Teachers of Students with Visual Impairments (TSVIs/TVIs) play in the long-term success of their students. Strong instruction and mentorship by TSVIs/TVIs are common denominators for many highly accomplished adults who were born without vision or who lost their vision as children.

Because TSVIs/TVIs are licensed/credentialed/certified/endorsed in their state of practice, there has not been a Registry recognizing them as a nationally important profession demonstrating the power of their numbers. SBS formed an Advisory Board to help guide the development of the NRTSVI. Advisory Board members are Dr. Laura Bozeman, Dr. Rona Pogrund, Dr. Amy Parker, Dr. Cheryl Kamei-Hannan, Jill Brown and Dr. Nicole Johnson and Dr. L. Penny Rosenblum.

“I am very pleased that Success Beyond Sight has launched this National Registry for TSVIs/TVIs. There is a critical need on a national level to identify all of the teachers, so that they can have the support, tools and resources they need to teach blind and low vision students. National Braille Press is developing a free resource kit program for TSVIs/TVIs that will be a natural complement to NRTSVI” said Brian Mac Donald, President of National Braille Press. 

SBS is providing FREE access to the Journal of Vision Impairment & Blindness (JVIB) for all Registrants. JVIB is the resource for peer-reviewed research and articles for professionals serving individuals who are blind or have low vision.

TSVIs/TVIs will be able to be directly engaged with, and have a voice in, national discussions regarding: 

• the funding needed to train current and future professionals and to secure the survival of this very important profession
• efforts to ensure sufficient funding for all students who require specialized services from a TSVI/TVI
• the sharing of important information and opportunities to be included in relevant surveys and research to benefit the profession
• appropriate caseloads
• legislative advocacy

SBS recognizes that there are important professional membership organizations that provide TSVIs/TVIs a voice among other professional voices, but the Registry will provide the forum for TSVIs/TVIs to be highly visible and have their own unique voice on the national stage.

If you are a TSVI/TVI or teacher licensed, credentialed, certified, or endorsed in at least one state to teach children who have visual impairments go to https://www.successbeyondsight.org/tsvi-landing to learn more and to register.

Participating in this Registry is voluntary, For questions or additional information please email: NRTSVI@successbeyondsight.org.