Early Playworks Implementation in Six Bay Area Elementary Schools
Description:
Playworks is a national nonprofit organization that aims to provide safe, healthy, and inclusive play and physical activity to elementary school students at recess and throughout the entire school day. This report is the first from the study of Playworks implementation in the San Francisco Bay Area conducted by the Gardner Center and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The study aims to understand the ways that Playworks affects students' recess and classroom experiences, school personnel, and school climate overall, as well as document and understand the implementation process with a focus on varying school experiences in the context of different school environments. It uses mixed methods--including interviews, focus groups, observations, student and teacher surveys, and teacher diaries--and includes six newly implementing schools as well as two mature schools located in the San Francisco Bay Area. This report focuses on the early implementation experiences of the six newly implementing schools.
Suggested Citation:
London, R.A., Mallonee, N., Stokes-Guinan, K., Westrich, L. (2010) Early Playworks implementation in six Bay Area elementary schools. Stanford, CA: John W. Gardner Center for Youth and their Communities.