How important is recess?
What are the keys to improving student success? More technology incorporated in the classroom? Improving STEM education? Better evaluations of teachers or principals? The suggestions and even the blame (is it the fault of the parents? of the teachers? of the students?) continue.
Now, even recess is up for debate.
According to a new master schedule released earlier this month, elementary students in Syracuse, NY, will no longer have recess. In addition to a half-hour lunch, the schedule outlines every minute of their 6-hour school day for specific instruction:
- 120 minutes for English language arts
- 80 minutes for math
- 45 minutes each for science and social studies
- 40 minutes for special subjects like art or gymnastics, and
- 30 minutes for lunch.
This minute-by-minute schedule leaves no time for recess. And while Laura Kelly, the district’s chief academic officer, says teachers can decide to insert recess into the assigned schedule, she doesn’t recommend it.
“If they’re going to opt to do recess, they’re going to take time off ELA (English language arts) and math, and that’s an option that I hope all teachers consider very carefully,” Kelley told the Post-Standard.
The new master program is intended to help student achievement in Syracuse, which has some of the worst student results in the state. Last year, fewer than 30 percent of its students in grades 3 through 8 met state proficiency standards, only 13 percent of high school students scored at least year 85 on the English Regents exam, and only 51 percent of its students graduated from high school on time.
The new schedule was meant to ensure teachers in all schools spent adequate time on core subjects to meet state requirements, a part of the state’s new teacher accountability rules.
According to a 2010 report, as many as 40 percent of US school districts have cut recesses, either by reducing or eliminating them, to focus more on core subjects. One in 5 principals say they have had to reduce recess per federal requirements.
“A lot of schools, actually most of our elementary schools, haven’t offered recess for quite some time. They’ve chosen to spend as many minutes as they can on instruction,” Kelley explained.
However, the school psychologist at Meachem Elementary School in Syracuse, Michael Gilbert, disagrees with the new schedule. Meachem’s 15-minute break has now been removed, and Gilbert sees this as a problem that is also part of a much larger problem.
Gilbert told the Post-Standard that in recent years, the push to improve student test scores has eroded students’ opportunities for social and emotional learning.
Last week, Meachem readjusted his schedule to include recess after there was a public outcry from teachers and parents about the proposed change. During a PTO meeting last Tuesday with a total of 100 in attendance, including concerned parents and teachers, Meachem Elementary School Principal Melissa Evans said the school would put recess back on the schedule.
Other states are also reassessing recess: Recently, Chicago and Atlanta public schools have been slowly introducing recess into their schedules. This year in August, some Chicago public schools had a scheduled recess for the first time in thirty years. In May, Illinois passed a state bill requiring at least 20 minutes of daily recess for K-5, with provisions that school boards could extend recess for middle school students if necessary, and prohibiting schools withhold recess as a disciplinary measure.
“Our children deserve the opportunity to play and relax during the school day. Learning to make friends and use their imaginations is just as important as learning multiplication and grammar,” said Sen. Kimberly Lightford, who introduced the bill.
Studies have shown that a short break in the middle of the day can actually help learning: the later the break is introduced, the more students lose their ability to concentrate. Studies show that physical activity and free time increase academic performance.
A major report published in the journal Pediatrics in 2009 found that among 11,000 children ages 8 to 9, those who had more than 15 minutes of recess a day performed much better in class than children with shorter or no breaks.
Another report by a children’s advocacy group in 2009 found that the poorest districts were among the first to eliminate recess in an attempt to improve student achievement (as in Syracuse): nearly half of poor children They spend the whole day without a break. The American Academy of Pediatrics also reported this correlation between poverty and what they call “play deprivation.” In Chicago, almost 100 elementary and secondary schools do not have playgrounds.
While some school officials may argue that allocating 15 or more minutes for recess is just a waste of time, researchers say play is essential to a child’s social, emotional, cognitive and physical well-being. Other schools are taking this research seriously and trying to incorporate recess into the schedule as an important part of the curriculum.
“Playing the monkey” may be more important than it seems.
