Scaling Access, One Educator at a Time: How Perkins School for the Blind Earned a 2026 Novie Award for CVI Training

Key Takeaways:

• Perkins School for the Blind has won a 2026 Novie Award for Ignite Impact, NovoEd’s recognition for learning that creates opportunity, access, or meaningful human impact
• The award celebrates Perkins Academy’s “Understanding the Impact of CVI” course, which trains educators worldwide to recognize and support students with cerebral/cortical visual impairment
• CVI affects roughly one in 30 children, meaning nearly every classroom includes a student impacted by it, yet it remains widely underdiagnosed and misunderstood
• A team of just two people has been able to scale this training globally by building an active, hands-on learning experience powered by NovoEd’s collaborative platform and AI-powered tools

How do you prepare educators around the world to better support children with disabilities through meaningful, hands-on learning? For Perkins School for the Blind, the answer lies in active learning, thoughtful design, and a small team willing to think big. That approach just earned Perkins a 2026 Novie Award in the Ignite Impact category .

We’re proud to celebrate this recognition alongside Perkins because it captures exactly what the Novie Awards are meant to honor: learning experiences that create real opportunity, access, and meaningful human impact.

Who Is Perkins School for the Blind?

Perkins School for the Blind is dedicated to helping children with disabilities find their place in the world. Its mission extends far beyond its historic campus, aiming to make quality learning accessible to the 240 million children with disabilities globally. Last year alone, Perkins reached nearly two million of those children through its programs, resources, and educator training.

A core part of that mission is the work of the CVI Center at Perkins, a global leader in research, tools, and advocacy around cerebral/cortical visual impairment, or CVI. CVI is a brain-based visual impairment and the leading cause of childhood blindness and low vision, yet it remains significantly underdiagnosed. Perkins has made it a priority to close that gap, not only through direct research and family resources, but through training the educators who work with these children every day.

Meeting an Urgent, Widespread Need

CVI relates to how the brain processes visual information, rather than a problem with the eyes themselves, which is part of why it can be so easily missed. Statistically, roughly one in every 30 children has CVI, meaning that nearly every classroom includes a student affected by it. Despite how common CVI is, many educators have never received formal training on how to recognize it or adapt their teaching to support these students effectively.

Perkins Academy’s “Understanding the Impact of CVI” course was built to close that gap. The goal is to create a strong, accessible training opportunity that any educator, anywhere, could complete and then immediately put into practice in their own classroom.

Designing for Active Learning, Not Passive Viewing

One of the most important decisions Perkins made in building this course was refusing to settle for a passive video-based training model. In the Novie Award announcement shared on NovoEd’s YouTube channel, the Perkins team describes wanting something far more hands-on: active learning, observation, immediate feedback, and reflection, all working together to bridge the gap between theory and real classroom practice.

That emphasis on active engagement is central to why the course works. Rather than simply asking educators to watch a series of videos about CVI, the course design pushes learners to observe, apply, and reflect on what they’re learning in ways that mirror how they’ll actually use these strategies with students. This approach helps ensure that educators walk away not just understanding CVI conceptually, but equipped with practical strategies they can implement right away.

Scaling Global Impact With a Team of Two

Perhaps the most remarkable part of this story is the scale Perkins has achieved with a remarkably small-but-mighty team. The instructional design team behind this course consists of just two people, yet they’ve been able to scale a global training program without getting bogged down in administrative complexity.

Kerry Foley, Director of Learning Experience Design for Perkins Academy noted the platform’s workflow tools made that kind of lean scaling possible, and NovoEd’s AI-powered features have saved significant time. “We are only a team of two, but all of that wayfinding is so easy on the platform that allowed us to really be able to scale this program without getting bogged down. The AI features saves me as a designer a ton of time and it saves the instructor a ton of time.”

For a small team with an enormous mission, that time savings translates directly into more educators trained, and ultimately, more children supported.

Why This Recognition Matters

The Ignite Impact Novie Award exists to recognize learning experiences that create genuine opportunity and human impact, and Perkins’ CVI training embodies that mission at every level. This is a course built by a small, mission-driven team to solve a real and widespread problem: a lack of educator knowledge about a condition that affects millions of children worldwide.

For L&D leaders working with lean teams or ambitious global training goals, Perkins’ story offers real inspiration. It shows that impact at scale doesn’t necessarily require a large team or a massive budget. What it requires is thoughtful course design centered on active learning rather than passive content, and a platform that removes administrative friction so a small team can focus its energy on the work that matters most: reaching more educators and, through them, more children.

As Dr. Karen Lynch Scott, Perkins Academy General Manager, said, “This honor truly celebrates how their teaching training courses scale their impact and equip educators with the knowledge and tools they need to help build brighter futures for children with disabilities.”

Congratulations to Perkins School for the Blind

We want to extend our sincere congratulations to Dr. Karen Lynch Scott, CVI Center Senior Director Ilse Willems, Kerry Foley, and the entire Perkins School for the Blind team on this well-earned 2026 Novie Award. Their work bringing active, accessible CVI training to educators around the world reflects exactly the kind of meaningful human impact the Ignite Impact award was created to recognize.

If you’d like to hear more from the Perkins team about their experience partnering with NovoEd, you can watch the full customer story on our YouTube channel.

See What NovoEd Can Do for Your Organization

The Perkins School for the Blind story is a powerful reminder that a small team with the right platform can create outsized impact. Whether you’re training educators, healthcare providers, or any workforce where hands-on application matters as much as knowledge itself, NovoEd’s collaborative platform and AI-powered tools are built to help your team scale meaningful learning experiences without getting weighed down by administrative complexity.

Want to learn how NovoEd can help your organization build its own award-winning talent development program? Request a demo today and discover how we can help you turn your learning strategy into measurable impact.