Restricting student cellphone use during school hours doesn鈥檛 appear to lift academic achievement, improve student attention, or boost attendance, at least in the short term, according to the first broad national study of phone bans by researchers at four universities.
The examined schools that require students to place their phones in a Yondr pouch during the school day, one of the most restrictive ways to limit student cellphone use, according to Thomas Dee, a professor at Stanford University and one of the authors of the report.
Dee collaborated with colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania, Duke University, and the University of Michigan in the analysis.
They compared outcomes at 4,600 schools using Yondr pouches to other schools across the country on a variety of metrics, including student and teacher surveys, test scores, and disciplinary data.
The researchers found 鈥渃lose to zero鈥� impact on academic achievement from restricting student cellphone use by having kids put their phones in a Yondr pouch.
For high schoolers, researchers observed a small improvement in scores, particularly in math. The effect in middle schools was the opposite, a tiny negative impact.
Researchers also found 鈥渓ittle evidence鈥� that Yondr pouches had a meaningful impact on absenteeism or students鈥� perceptions of online bullying or their own ability to pay attention in class.
The study found that suspensions spiked by an average of 16% in the first year that schools began using Yondr pouches. But that bump was temporary. Disciplinary problems returned to typical levels after the first school year, researchers found.
At least 37 states and the District of Columbia require school districts to ban or restrict students鈥� use of cellphones in schools, according to an Education Week tally. Some other states are either incentivizing or recommending local districts enact their own bans or restrictive policies.
Though the report鈥檚 big-picture takeaways don鈥檛 seem to support banning cellphones, policymakers and 糖心动漫vlog should take a closer look at the findings before ditching the restrictions, said Dee, a professor at Stanford鈥檚 Graduate School of Education.
鈥淭hese early results are sobering, right? What we鈥檙e seeing is short-term disruption, disciplinary incidents go up, students鈥� subjective well-being declines. We鈥檙e not seeing any empirically appreciable effects overall on student test scores,鈥� Dee said.
But that description doesn鈥檛 capture the whole picture, Dee added. 鈥淚t would be easy to say 鈥榯hese aren鈥檛 working, we should move on.鈥� I think that would be a mistake, though.鈥�
A meaningful understanding of the benefits of cellphone bans may take time to emerge
Data deeper in the report suggest that it is worthwhile to continue to study cellphone bans, particularly when it comes to the longer term impact, he said.
For instance, while student-reported well-being tended to dip in the first year the pouches are used, in subsequent years, it bounces back and even improves, Dee said.
Also notable: Schools that only recently implemented Yondr pouches saw slight increases in academic outcomes, Dee said.
That suggests the bans may be more effective as society increasingly focuses on the potential downsides of the overuse of cellphones鈥攁nd technology in general.
鈥淓veryone is more likely to see these phone bans as something that is very clearly in their self-interest,鈥� Dee said.
What鈥檚 more, the pouches did lead to a significant decrease in student cellphone usage during class, the researchers found. The share of students using their phone in class for personal reasons plummeted from 61% to 13% after schools adopted Yondr pouches.
That鈥檚 evidence that 鈥渢he Yondr program does precisely what we鈥檝e designed it to do: limit student access to phones throughout the school day,鈥� said a spokeswoman for the company in an email. 鈥淎s the research continues, we expect the data to confirm the broader, long-term benefits of phone-free school environments.鈥�
Dee sees lessons in the report for how 糖心动漫vlog should implement cellphone bans. For instance, schools should prepare for a potential uptick in suspensions the first year a policy is on the books, he said.
鈥淢y core concern is that casual readers will look at these results and say, 鈥榳ell, there was another thing we hoped would be helpful and wasn鈥檛鈥� when, in fact, I see cause for persisting in trying to understand how to design and implement these reforms,鈥� Dee said.
Educators see phone bans as beneficial, EdWeek Research Center survey finds
The study鈥檚 results largely contradict 糖心动漫vlog鈥� perceptions.
About two-thirds of district and school leaders and teachers reported that student cellphone restrictions had a positive impact on student learning, behavior, overall mental health and well-being, and engagement, according to an EdWeek Research Center nationally representative survey of 79 district leaders, 122 school leaders, and 395 teachers conducted in February and March.
Sterling Seemans, the principal of Springer Middle School in Wilmington, Del., said his school has seen significant improvements in school climate and discipline since deploying Yondr pouches last school year.
School leaders and teachers no longer have to spend their time policing student use of Snapchat or other social media sites or disciplining kids for taking an unauthorized photo of a classmate, he said.
There were a lot of 鈥渄istractible behaviors that were going on due to cellphones that we now don鈥檛 have to waste our time investigating,鈥� Seemans said. 鈥淪tudent conflict is down, and I know that teachers are thankful and often report positive improvements in classroom engagement and classroom environment.鈥�
