Turning Phones Off During School Day Has Mixed Results

Cellphones may now be shoved into pouches during the school day, but test scores aren't exactly soaring as a result. A new working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research finds that school cellphone bans, now in place in some form in about two-thirds of states, have "consistently close to zero" impact on academic performance or attendance, per the Washington Post. The multiyear study, led by researchers from Stanford, Penn, Duke, and the University of Michigan, also reports little change in reports of online bullying or student engagement in class as a result of the restrictions.

The bans do change some behavior inside classrooms. Using data from more than 41,000 schools, including almost 5,000 that employ lockable pouches, researchers found that in-class phone use dropped by roughly 80%. Teachers, meanwhile, said they were more satisfied with their jobs under stricter phone rules.

Initially, schools saw more disciplinary run-ins—the New York Times notes that suspension went up by an average of 16% in the first year after bans took effect—and a decline in student well-being, which researchers link to enforcement clashes and frustration with the new rules, per the Post. Those effects faded by the second year, however, with students later reporting feeling better—possibly, one author suggested, because they were talking more with classmates and scrolling less.