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TAbLE 6-1 Change in Recess Time, 2001-2007
Districts with 
At Least 
One School 
Identified as 
“In Need of 
Improvement”
Districts with 
No Schools 
Identified as 
“In Need of 
Improvement”
Total
Percent decreasing recess time
22 
19 
20 
Average decrease in recess (minutes per week)
60
47
50
SOURCE: Center on Education Policy, 2007.

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Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
Approaches to Physical Activity in Schools
 
273
FIGURE 6-4
Percent of schools that do not provide recess to 1st graders.
NOTE: Poverty rate is based on the proportion of students eligible for free or reduced-price 
lunches.
SOURCE: Parsad and Lewis, 2006. Reprinted with permission.
Figure 6-4.eps
<6%
6-20%
21-49%
50%+
<35%
35-49%
50-74%
75%+
Rural
Town
Urban Fringe
By School
Minority
Enrollment
2
5
4
14
0
25
By School
Poverty Rate
By School
Location
Urban
4
4
3
18
3
6
6
14
2005. The survey found that while most children, regardless of location, 
continue to get recess on a regular basis, children who attend high-minority, 
high-poverty, or urban schools are far more likely than other children to get 
no recess at all (see Figure 6-4). Also:
•
The proportion of public elementary schools with any scheduled 
recess ranged from 87 to 93 percent across elementary grades.
•
The proportion of public elementary schools with no scheduled 
recess ranged from 7 to 13 percent across elementary grades. 
•
Fourteen percent of elementary schools with a minority enrollment 
of at least 50 percent scheduled no recess for 1st graders, compared 
with 4 percent of schools with 21-49 percent minority enrollment, 
5 percent of those with 6-20 percent minority enrollment, and 2 per-
cent of those with less than 6 percent minority enrollment. 

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Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School
274