Effect of NCLB on Recess

Effect of NCLB on Recess

One of the perceived failures of the No Child Left Behind Act is that it has reduced or eliminated recess time for elementary school children. In an effort to meet the requirements of NCLB, many schools have sacrificed what some may consider extra-curricular activities such as music, arts, physical activity and even recess. The NCES published data specifying the percentage of elementary schools that offered scheduled recess for students in grades 1 through 6 for the year 2005. Data was collected from 1,055 respondents to a survey regarding recess activities. The sample was then weighted to represent 49,390 public schools in the US.

The data shows, for example, that 87 percent of schools provided recess at grade six. This may appear to be reasonable value at first glance, but this statistic also indicates that 13 percent of schools did not provide scheduled recess at grade six. The weighted value for 13 percent represents more than 3,400 schools. This represents a significant amount of students when you consider the numbers of sixth grade students that may attend 6,400 schools. The number of students easily equates to hundreds of thousands across the nation with no scheduled recess.

The data at Chart 1 shows that more than 85 percent of all US public schools engaged in scheduled recess during 2005 and more than 80 percent of the schools provided recess for 5 days of the week at each grade level.

Chart 1: Distribution of Percent of Elementary Schools Offering Scheduled Recess More Than 5 Days per Week by Grade
The data at Chart 2 shows that of the schools that provided scheduled recess, most schools (55-66%) provided recess once per day, 21 – 28% provided recess twice per day and from 4 to 10 percent provided recess three or more times per day.
Chart 2: Distribution of Percent of Elementary Schools Offering Recess Once, Twice and Three or More Time per Day by Grade

To meet the requirements for accountability, many schools have restructured the school day to provide time to teach core subjects, primarily reading and math. As part of that restructuring, time for recess was reduced to provide more time for the other core subjects…