Kids didn’t know how to play kickball at Baltimore City’s Brehms Lane Elementary School, and recess used to end in fights.
That was before Sports4Kids brought structure to the chaos. The national nonprofit uses classic games such as kickball and tag to give low-income students a safe environment in which to stay active, a component of school that studies have shown helps improve students’ behavior and learning.
Sports4Kids debuted in Baltimore in 2005 at five schools, including Brehms Lane, but this year, with the help of an $18 million donation from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the program has expanded from 12 to 24 Baltimore schools, reaching 10,000 students. The Oakland, Calif.-based program is now in seven cities, and officials hope to expand to 20 more.
“Usually, a low-income school recess ends in fights, and kids are sitting on the side,” said David Gilmore, director of Sports4Kids in Baltimore. “We basically give kids a safe and healthy recess.”
Classroom behavior improved in 83 percent of classes at a Boston elementary school that used Sports4Kids, and kids were more cooperative in 91 percent of classes, according to a survey with teachers conducted by the Harvard Family Research Project.
Each school must come up with $23,500 for Sports4Kids, and the program funds $26,500 per school.
But Andre Spencer, principal at Brehms Lane, says the program is worth it.
“When I look at some of my students and how they’ve grown, they may not be your ideal students, but I see how their decision-making has changed,” Spencer said. “I equate that to Sports4Kids.”
But the program, studies show, is fighting an uphill battle. With No Child Left Behind testing standards demanding better scores each year, more schools for minority and low-income students are cutting time for recess and adding it to English and math classes, according to a national study released last month by the Center for Public Education, a research group formed by the National School Boards Association.
Nearly one out of every five elementary schools where at least 75 percent of students come from low-income families do not have recess for first-grade students, the study shows.
Erik McFadden, known to everyone at Brehms Lane as Coach Erik, coordinates the Sports4Kids program at the school in North Baltimore. On Monday, he set up stations for students to jump rope, twirl a hula hoop or play a game with him called “Mr. Fox,” in which he acts as the fox, trying tag as many kids as he can before they reach a “safe zone.”
Coach Erik selects up to 20 fourth- and fifth-grade students to act as junior coaches, helping him explain the rules for games and keep order. The programs’ four core principles – respect, inclusion, healthy play and healthy environment – help teach students leadership skills, and a simple game of rock-paper-scissors defuses arguments before they escalate.
“I think it’s fun,” said Shian Salveson, 10, a fifth-grade student and junior coach. “I want to set a good example for other kids.”
