Playworks Southern California

Playworks exists because, for many low-income children, recess is not a fun experience. Recess is where bullying happens, fights break out, and student become too upset to absorb lessons taught in the classroom. A 2009 nationwide Gallup Poll of 2,000 elementary school principals revealed that 89 percent of discipline-related problems occur during recess and lunch. (“Gallup Survey of Principals on School Recess”, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2010.) Principals block out time every day to deal with discipline problems from recess, and teachers deal with the aftermath. Additionally, many low-income children live in areas where safety is a concern. They often come from neighborhoods challenged by poverty and crime with limited opportunities to engage in healthy play with their peers. As a result, these children come to school not knowing how to appropriately engage with peers which contributes to a playground experience riddled with conflict. Students who return to class angry, frustrated and scared cannot learn. However, the American Academy of Pediatrics notes in its 2012 policy statement The Crucial Role of Recess in School, that “Recess serves as a necessary break from the rigors of concentrated, academic challenges in the classroom. Equally important is the fact that safe and well-supervised recess offers cognitive, social, emotional, and physical benefits that may not be fully appreciated when a decision is made to diminish it. The American Academy of Pediatrics believes that recess is a crucial and necessary component of a child’s development and, as such, it should not be withheld for punitive or academic reasons.” (http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/131/1/183.full.pdf+html) Playworks has a solution to the chaos on the playground that maximizes recess and uses play as a transformational tool for educators and children. We believe that building a high-functioning, positive recess climate directly affects the creation of a positive school climate. A 2010 report entitled School Climate Brief from The Center for Social and Emotional Education, founded at Columbia University, states “Research supports the notion that positive school climate promotes students’ ability to learn. A positive school climate promotes cooperative learning, group cohesion, respect and mutual trust. These particular aspects have been shown to directly improve the learning environment.” Playworks places a highly trained program coordinator at each of our partner schools to run games and physical activity before, during and after school, teaching respect, inclusion, empathy and problem-solving through play. Playworks also trains student leaders, through the Junior Coach program, to resolve conflicts on the playground and beyond. Playworks gets all kids in the game, regardless of background, skill or physical ability. By using play, a universal activity accessible to every school child, Playworks creates a positive school climate where students know what is expected of them and their peers. As a result of this improved learning environment, students can do better in school. According to Playworks’ year-end surveys of teachers and staff, our partner schools have seen an increase in class participation, teachers have been able to reclaim an average of 19 hours of teaching time that would have otherwise been lost dealing with student conflict and students have experienced a dramatic reduction in bullying and disciplinary incidents.