Schools that partnered with Playworks, a national nonprofit that works to help educators provide opportunities for safe play during recess and throughout the school day, have been able to reduce bullying and improve learning time for their students, a new report from Mathematica Policy Research and Stanford University finds.

Sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the report, Findings from a Randomized Experiment of Playworks: Selected Results from Cohort 1 (46 pages, PDF), found that students in Playworks schools displayed better behavior at recess and readiness for class than students at control schools in five cities across the country. The report also found that teachers at Playworks schools had fewer difficulties and spent significantly less time transitioning to learning activities after recess than teachers in control schools and that students felt safer and more included at recess.

The findings contribute to a growing body of evidence that a safe, healthy recess environment is a key driver of better behavior and learning. For example, a recent study from the University of California, San Francisco found that Playworks improved physical and emotional health outcomes for students, while a different study from the Harvard Family Research Project found that the program bolstered cooperation and strengthened bonds among students and between kids and adults.

"This research confirms what we have seen as schools across the nation partner with Playworks to provide kids with healthy play every day," said RWJF special advisor for program development Nancy Barrand. "These new findings, taken together with existing data, tell us that kids better relate with one another, resolve conflicts constructively, get plenty of physical activity on the playground, and return to class focused and ready to learn. Increasingly, health and education leaders are recognizing that recess and play are effective ways to strengthen schools and foster children's social, emotional, and physical development."