About Playworks Oakland and the East Bay

History

In 1996, Jill Vialet was sitting across from a principal of an elementary school in Oakland. The principal looked haggard, emerging from an earlier meeting trailed by three 5th grade boys. The principal launched into a tirade about…recess. From seeing the same kids hauled in to her office everyday for fighting, to dealing with teachers who looked for any excuse to avoid the chaos on the playground, this principal was tired.

Within the year, Vialet founded Sports4Kids, which is now Playworks, in two Berkeley schools. Our goal: transform recess and the school day with safe and healthy play so that our teachers can teach and our kids can learn.

Today, fifteen years later, Playworks Oakland/East Bay continues to thrive, expanding our reach beyond recess time to include class game time workshops, a youth leadership program (Junior Coaches), before/after school programs and developmental sports leagues. In the current school year, we'll serve roughly 13,000 kids everyday in 32 elementary schools across six East Bay school districts.

Impact

“Coach Antoine has offered training for students that is positive and powerful. This has been one of the best programs that has come to Garfield School in the past decade”
            -Jan Nuno, Principal San Leandro Unified School District

 “Playworks has been essential to developing positive culture on our playground and providing leadership opportunities for our students”
            - Manzanita SEED Elementary Teacher, Oakland Unified School District

Over 300 principals, teachers, and other staff at schools receiving Playworks Oakland/East Bay programming were surveyed during the 2010-11 school year. According to those responding here is a brief snapshot of our successes:

•    88% report a decrease in incidents of bullying and disciplinary referrals during recess
•    97% report a positive impact on the overall school climate
•    81% report a positive impact on students’ overall academic success
•    95% report an increase in the students’ abilities to focus on class activities
•    92% report a decrease in the amount of time spent transitioning from recess to classroom instruction

With an average of nearly 8 minutes of recovered teaching time per day – school teachers reclaimed 23 hours of teaching time over the course of the school year!

This increase is worth upwards of $75,000 per school for school districts in the East Bay.