Recess may help boost school attendance
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Schools that dedicate trained staff to support recess time see their students show up to school more regularly, according to new research.
Why it matters: Recess has shrunk in importance as schools devote more time to classroom learning, but this research suggests well-planned outside time is also important.
Zoom in: The research from UC Berkeley looked at low-income California schools that pay an outside company called Playworks to bring in AmeriCorps Coaches to lead games at recess.
- It found that those schools had a 1.7 percentage point lower chronic absenteeism rate than similar schools without Playworks.
- For Latino students, the rate was 2 percentage points lower.
- But schools with staff trained by Playworks without bringing in outside staff saw no difference.
Between the lines: Those results should speak to principals, who lose money when students are absent, Hannah Thompson, one of the study's authors, told Axios.
- "Then obviously, if they're not attending, they're not learning all of the things that matter," she said.
How it works: Thompson's theory is that engaging and safe recess makes kids want to come to school.
- "When you have a trusted coach who's at the school supervising recess, that helps children feel safe," she said. "It helps them build relationships, and then those strong relationships build connections, and connections are what helps students feel welcome and increase their desire to attend school."
Caveat: There are many reasons for absenteeism, and fixing recess won't solve the entire problem, Thompson said. But this research suggests it has potential to be one of many solutions.
In San Diego, chronic absenteeism dropped to 18% in late 2025 from 37% during COVID, according to the school district.
- But it's still above the pre-pandemic 12% level.
What's next: Thompson hopes to study all different kinds of recess and the variety of impacts it can have, from emotional to physical.
- She's also studying the impact of California's new statewide recess law on schools across the state.