Think back to your earliest school memories. Chances are, instead of a classroom of desks, you remember swing sets, impromptu races, and squabbles over who gets that color of chalk next for the hopscotch grid. However, recess is more than a mere repository of happy memories. Time and time again, research has shown that regular, active playtime is a crucial part of a student's education.
Despite this, many public school districts are slashing their recess periods with no replacements—and many parents across the country are transferring to private schools to keep their children on the playground.
ISM's Perspective on Recess
ISM believes that recess is an irreplaceable part of every school's curriculum. Students at all grade levels need breaks away from the classroom and opportunities for relaxation and socialization. The following are some of the reasons why we encourage all schools to incorporate recess into the admittedly packed academic schedule.
- Students need unstructured time to socialize. Recess allows children to interact and learn basic social skills like sharing, teamwork, and cooperation.
- All students need time to exercise. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says that children aged 6-17 need at least one hour of physical activity a day to stay healthy.
- Free play—unstructured, imaginative play not organized with rules or restrictions beyond what the children themselves impose—is vital for developing students. It's necessary for children to grow into "cooperative, egalitarian adults," according to Boston College developmental psychologist Peter Gray.
- Recess improves academic performance, both by allowing students to get rid of their "jitters" due to imposed inactivity and through the benefits of exercise.
- Recess enhances several of the seven possible "intelligences" that students possess, according to Gardner's multiple intelligences theory, namely visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, and Interpersonal intelligences. Each should be valued and developed along with the more conventional academic intelligence.
- Offering recess and similar breaks gives children an opportunity to eat and snack during the day, which should improve class attention and performance. (A morning break/recess is especially important in this context, considering as many as 30% of adolescent students don't eat breakfast.)
- Similar to Point 6, breaks and recess allow for students to hit the restroom without disrupting classwork.
- With a physical and social outlet freed from the scripted interactions in classrooms, recess can result in reduced disciplinary problems in school. (Note: While some administrators have argued that recess is the time when most bullying or other referrals occur, proper monitoring and training can eliminate these problems while allowing students to "let off some steam" in constructive ways.)
Finding Instructional Time in a Packed Schedule
In the wake of sweeping educational reform a la “No Child Left Behind” and—more recently—Common Core, some public schools have cut recess for increased instructional time in primary subject areas, despite increased pressure from the White House for more physical activity in schools.
In Syracuse, New York, for example, recess was abolished for one school district during schedule changes over the summer. As the district’s Chief Academic Officer, Laura Kelley, told the local news: “If [teachers] are going to opt to do recess, they are going to be taking time from ELA [English-language arts] and math, and that’s a choice I hope every teacher considers very carefully.”
Deputy Superintendent of Instruction for the Clark County School District, Agustin Orci, also believes that recess takes away from instructional time, even beyond the theoretical “scheduled” limit.
If you have a 15-minute recess scheduled, you spend five minutes getting (students) to the playground, another five getting back and then five more minutes getting them calmed down and ready to learn back in the classroom. You end up blowing 30 minutes of potential instructional time to gain the limited benefits of having recess. It’s become a luxury we can’t afford.
Public schools in Washington, Florida, and Georgia have followed suit—all reported within a week of each other this November. It’s a trend that local parents find disturbing; the same media outlets discuss the grassroots petitions and campaigns to restore their children’s time on the playground.
Exodus to Private Schools
But perhaps more interesting to private schools aren't the articles themselves, but the accompanying comment sections. Concerned parents chime in on nearly every media story or blog post, saying that they transferred their children to a private school—specifically to ensure their children enjoyed an extended recess period.
Katrina wrote that when her daughter attended kindergarten, she anticipated schedules like those she had enjoyed as a child: A fifteen-minute recess in the morning, an outdoor lunch break of an hour, and another fifteen-minute recess in the afternoon. She was shocked to discover that her daughter—enrolled in a public school—had played only a few times outside during a two-month period. In the end, Katrina “pulled her from that school and put her in a private school where they at least got one hour lunch to play outside.”
Andrea Ptak, a former public school mother in Seattle, Washington, said in the comments section for a parent group seeking to re-establish recess that she was “absolutely fed up with fighting the system and seeing my daughter’s good school get undermined by bad decisions from the central office.” Ultimately, Andrea decided to “scrape together [enough] resources to transfer to private school.”
And the list of comments goes on.
- “This is why you send your kids to a $20,000 a year private school.” ~Tom
- “One of my complaints about our local public school (my kids go to private) was that they disciplined misbehaving children or kids who missed turning in work by having them SIT OUT at recess. I thought that was ludicrous.” ~Pamela
- “None of the [the Board of Education members] have young children, or if they do, they go to a private school that gives them recess.” ~streetfest
- “Many of the best/most successful magnet schools and private schools in the country are moving to TWO recesses for the early grades.” ~cuseinchina99
Comments like these give the impression that private schools are a haven for families that value recess and other play breaks—and experts seem to agree. Dr. Rhonda Clements, a former president of the American Association for the Child’s Right to Play, said that she’s never heard of a complaint from a parent concerning a lack of recess in private schools. Instead, recess is “valued” in private schools, along with other subjects slashed from public schools' curricula like art, music, and drama.
Keeping recess in your school is not a liability or a sacrifice for more lucrative or appealing educational opportunities, as your public school counterparts seem to think. Indeed, as the CEO of Playworks, Jill Vialet, said to the TEDMED 2014 conference in October:
It's so easy to dismiss play as trivial or unimportant, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Play matters, because it gives us a brief respite from the tyranny of apparent purpose. Play matters, because it compels us to choose to put a stake in the ground and say, "I care." And in doing that, we better come to know ourselves. Play matters, because people matter. [It] reminds us of our interdependence, and it gives us a chance to see other people—and in return, be really and truly seen.
Recess is an important part of all curricula, but it and many other vital subjects can seem practically impossible to squeeze into an already packed schedule. If you're having trouble assembling all of your individual classes into a cohesive whole, sign up for "Scheduling Without Conflict," our hands-on workshop featured at ISM's Summer Institute. Immerse yourself in ISM scheduling theory, practice forming practical class lineups, and return to your school willing and able to get the most out of your school's valuable time and resources.
Additional ISM resources:
ISM Monthly Update for Division Heads Vol. 11 No. 5 Snow, Snow, Go Away: Winter-Recess Policies
ISM Monthly Update for Risk Managers Vol. 4 No. 6 Winter Playground Safety
Additional ISM resources for Gold Consortium members:
I&P Vol. 34 No. 11 Recess May Be More Than You Think
I&P Vol. 38 No. 15 Match Points Ease Scheduling Challenges
