Please sign this petition to indicate your support for increasing recess time at RISD elementary schools.

Recess for K-6th Grades at RISD Schools

RISD’s current recess policy provides elementary students with 15 minutes of recess per day within a 7 hour school day. Starting with the 2016-2017 school year, RISD schools will start an extra 10 minutes earlier than the current schedule.

Some DFW area schools have implemented programs through the Liink Project (link in reference section), in which they incorporated four 15 minute recess breaks throughout the day, for a total of one hour of recess a day. Principals, teachers and parents at those schools have been impressed with the results.

In addition, the DISD Board recently approved a mandatory recess policy requiring 30 minutes of daily recess. Other schools, such as Frisco ISD and Houston ISD, have also adopted or recommended policies of at least 30 minutes of daily recess.

The Importance of Recess

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has published a report finding that recess is a crucial and necessary component of a child's development offering enhanced cognitive processing, improved attention and productivity in the classroom, improved social and communication skills, diminished stress, as well as improved physical well-being.

The AAP considers recess as unstructured physical activity and play and views recess as having unique benefits that are separate and distinct from P.E. Many schools offer P.E., “walk and talk” and other movement-based activities within the classroom. While these efforts are notable, they are not substitutes for recess.

The AAP finds that “to maximize cognitive benefits, recess should be scheduled at regular intervals, providing children sufficient time to regain their focus before instruction continues.” In addition, “minimizing or eliminating recess may be counterproductive to academic achievement, as a growing body of evidence suggests that recess promotes not only physical health and social development but also cognitive performance.”

We ask educators and education administrators to view recess as a valuable and essential component of our children’s academic development. We recognize the pressure that all schools face to improve test scores and that creating school schedules is a complex undertaking with many different components to be considered and evaluated. However, research supports that a reduced recess should not be part of the solution to addressing test scores and school schedules.

Request for More Recess Time

We, the current and future parents of children at RISD elementary schools, hereby support increased recess time. We petition the RISD School Board to consider up to 60 minutes of recess a day, with a minimum of 30 minutes a day.

References

American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The Crucial Role of Recess in Schools. Pediatrics Vol. 131 No. 1 January 1, 2013 pp. 183 -188 Available at: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/131/1/183.full

Liink Project. Available at: http://liinkproject.tcu.edu/

Today Show: Want kids to listen more, fidget less? Try more recess.. this school did. Available at: http://www.today.com/parents/want-kids-listen-more-fidget-less-try-more-recess-school-t65536