9486 in the collection  

Americans Want Schools to Take Recess Seriously

Ohanian Comment: A new
poll reveals that parents see school playground
as key to helping kids stay physically active,
focused in the classroom.

So why don't the NEA and AFT get behind a
national campaign for recess? Here is a chance
for them to do something positive, something
that doesn't look self-serving.

NOTE: Dogs working at airport baggage claim
areas sniffing out illegal food and plant
matter in the U. S. Department of Agriculture
Beagle Brigade get a 20 minute rest period
during every hour of work.least 20 minutes of
each work hour. This rest helps them keep
alert.

Pres Release
Americans overwhelmingly believe that schools
have a major role to play in advancing the
health of our nation’s kids, and they are
specifically concerned about the lack of recess
and physical activity in schools, according to
new polling results released today by the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Sports4Kids,
a national nonprofit that brings safe and
healthy playtime to low-income elementary
schools.

This survey represents the most up-to-date
overview of public attitudes on recess in
schools and helps to explain the growing
momentum of public support to make play and
physical activity an essential part of the
school day. It also reveals that Americans
intuitively understand the critical
relationship between our health and where and
how we live, work, learn and play, and that the
physical and social environment in our schools
have an outsized impact on the health of our
kids.

"All Americans increasingly understand that if
we want to improve the health and well-being of
our children, especially those in low-income
communities, we have to reach them where they
are already living and learning," explained
James Marks, M.D., M.P.H., senior vice
president and director, Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation Health Group. "The fact that kids
spend so much of their lives at school and on
the playground offers one of our best chances
to help children develop into healthy, active
adults who know how to work together and
resolve conflicts. Those are life skills every
child in America needs to learn."

Some key findings from the survey include:



Nearly four out of five parents believe that
children aren’t getting enough physical
playtime on a daily basis.
Seven out of 10 Americans disagree with
schools’ policies of eliminating or reducing
recess time for budgetary, safety or academic
reasons.

An overwhelming majority of Americans believe
that recess serves many important functions for
both students and teachers. For example, 91
percent believe that having a break with
physical activity helps children stay focused
and learn in the classroom.

Nine in 10 agree that schools should be
responsible for ensuring that children partake
in a healthy amount of physical activity during
the school day.

Over 82 percent of Midwesterners believe
children are getting less than enough physical
playtime on a daily basis, compared to 76
percent of the rest of the country.
Southerners are particularly concerned about
cuts to recess, which is not surprising given
that schools in that region are most likely to
scale back or eliminate recess compared to
other U.S. regions.

The Northeast and Midwest are most unhappy with
recent bans in school yard games such as tag
and dodgeball—three out of four adults in each
region disagree with these changes.



“Americans intuitively understand that a well-
managed recess can have a positive impact on
many important parts of a child’s life by
making physical activity fun and helping kids
learn better,” said Jill Vialet, president of
Sports4Kids. “After 13 years on America’s
playgrounds, we see firsthand the positive
impact an inclusive recess has on individual
children who may not otherwise have a safe
place to play, as well on the overall school
climate. The benefit is tremendous.”

This survey of American attitudes toward school
playtime follows Recess Rules, a 2007 report
issued by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
that named recess as the single most effective—
yet the most underfunded—strategy for
increasing physical activity among children.

The new findings come at a time when many
schools and school districts are making the
difficult choice of cutting back on recess to
make more time for standardized test
preparation, as outlined in a report issued
this fall by the Center for Public Education.
Cutbacks to recess tend to be concentrated in
schools serving the highest number of minority
students or students in poverty, making
underserved children the least likely to get
this valuable playtime. Consider the following
recent examples:

In Georgia, one third of Bibb County’s
elementary schools—all of which overwhelmingly
serve low-income, African-American student
populations—lack recess altogether. This is in
part because of a lack of playground equipment,
but largely because they are struggling to meet
testing goals under No Child Left Behind.

An elementary school in West Brookfield, Mass.,
recently decided to replace its 15 minute
outdoor recess period with an indoor working
snack period. The decision prompted a group of
unhappy parents to voice their concerns at a
regional school committee meeting.

Schools in Okaloosa County, Fla., eliminated
recess for a number of reasons including safety
concerns and a lack of space—much of the school
playground has been taken up by portables that
allow the school to provide smaller class
sizes.

The good news is that many school districts and
states across the country—including Virginia,
Connecticut and Wisconsin—require schools to
set aside time for recess and playtime on a
regular basis, and that list is growing each
year. Arizona, New Jersey, Illinois, South
Carolina and Washington are just a few of the
states that have proposed legislation.

The poll was conducted by Kelton Research on
behalf of Sports4Kids between September 25 and
September 29, 2008. A total of 1,000 U.S.
adults (ages 18 and over) were polled for this
survey.


The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses
on the pressing health and health care issues
facing our country. As the nation's largest
philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving
the health and health care of all Americans,
the Foundation works with a diverse group of
organizations and individuals to identify
solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful
and timely change. For more than 35 years the
Foundation has brought experience, commitment
and a rigorous, balanced approach to the
problems that affect the health and health care
of those it serves. When it comes to helping
Americans lead healthier lives and get the care
they need, the Foundation expects to make a
difference in your lifetime.

Sports4Kids is a national nonprofit that has
pioneered an effective model for using play to
transform the learning environment at
elementary schools serving America’s minority
and low-income children. Sports4Kids puts
trained coaches on the playground to introduce
classic games that are disappearing from
schoolyards, like kickball and four square, as
well as new games designed to build leadership
and foster teamwork. They currently bring safe
and healthy playtime to 170 schools in seven
cities nationwide, serving 65,000 students
daily, and they plan to expand into more than
600 schools in 27 cities by 2012. For more
information visit www.sports4kids.org.

— poll
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
2008-12-10


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