Howie Erin K, Harden Samantha M, Lemus Juan, Stone Brett, Barr-Anderson Daheia J, Long Christopher R
Department of Health, Human Performance and Recreation, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA.
Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA.
J Sch Health. 2025 Oct;95(10):837-845. doi: 10.1111/josh.70055. Epub 2025 Aug 8.
Little is known on the implementation of school recess policies to explore the policy-to-practice gap and to ultimately promote quality recess for all students. The purpose was to determine recess scheduling in a state requiring 40 min of daily recess.
A cross-sectional document analysis of public elementary schools' recess schedules from the 2023 to 2024 school year (n = 526 available schools). Schedules by grade level were compared between school grades, rurality, and minority enrollment.
Schedules were obtained from 113 (n = 535 grade-level schedules) schools. Overall, 51.4% of grades received two daily recess periods. The average total duration of recess was 34.4 (SD 11.8) minutes. A total of 43% of grades had recess before lunch. Upper grades had a shorter recess duration compared to lower grades (B -1.2 min, p = 0.009) and were more likely to have their first recess in the afternoon (OR 4.8, p < 0.001). Urban (p = 0.017) and high minority enrollment (p = 0.020) schools were more likely to have recess immediately following lunch.
IMPLICATIONS FOR SCHOOL HEALTH POLICY, PRACTICE, AND EQUITY: Schools should consider providing equal opportunities for recess duration and scheduling across grades and consider options for recess before lunch.
Recess scheduling varies in frequency, duration, and timing within one state-level recess requirement.
对于学校课间休息政策的实施情况，人们了解甚少，难以探究政策与实践之间的差距，也无法最终促进所有学生享有高质量的课间休息。本研究旨在确定在一个要求每日课间休息40分钟的州内，课间休息的安排情况。
对2023至2024学年公立小学的课间休息时间表进行横断面文件分析（共有526所学校可供分析）。比较了不同年级、农村地区和少数族裔入学率学校的课间休息时间表。
从113所学校（共535个年级的课间休息时间表）获取了时间表。总体而言，51.4%的年级每天有两次课间休息。课间休息的平均总时长为34.4（标准差11.8）分钟。共有43%的年级在午餐前进行课间休息。高年级的课间休息时长比低年级短（相差 -1.2分钟，p = 0.009），且高年级更有可能在下午进行第一次课间休息（比值比4.8，p < 0.001）。城市学校（p = 0.017）和少数族裔入学率高的学校（p = 0.020）更有可能在午餐后紧接着进行课间休息。
对学校健康政策、实践和公平性的启示：学校应考虑为各年级提供平等的课间休息时长和安排机会，并考虑午餐前课间休息的选择。
在一项州级课间休息要求范围内，课间休息的安排在频率、时长和时间上存在差异。
