{"id":844502,"date":"2026-06-04T20:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T20:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/844502\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T20:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T20:02:13","slug":"cellphone-bans-show-little-academic-gain-in-first-major-study-but-big-steps-in-student-wellbeing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/844502\/","title":{"rendered":"Cellphone bans show little academic gain in first major study \u2014 but big steps in student wellbeing"},"content":{"rendered":"

A nationwide study of cellphone bans at thousands of American schools<\/a> showed little improvement in test scores \u2014 but significant gains in student wellbeing.<\/p>\n

The May study amassed data from over 40,000 schools between 2019 and 2026, and compared the experience of students with minimal phone restrictions over three year cycles against those required to lock their phones in Yondr pouches from the day\u2019s first bell to last. <\/p>\n

It found mixed results, but ones many teachers desperate to get their students attention back will be immediately pleased to see \u2014 stringent phone bans led to an 80% decrease in phone usage in the classroom, dropping personal phone use from 61% of students to just 13% over three years.<\/p>\n

\"AmerianaA high school student locks her cellphone in a Yondr pouch, where it must remain throughout the school day. The Citizens’ Voice via Getty Im<\/p>\n

With about 75% of teachers calling phone use a \u201cmajor problem\u201d in a 2024 Pew Research study, those reductions alone could justify pleas for intervention from lawmakers and administrators.<\/p>\n

But the study \u2014 carried out by researchers from Stanford and Duke University, and the University of Pennsylvania and Michigan \u2014 did not yield the results many lawmakers<\/a> touting the bans hoped they would, as test score changes were \u201cconsistently close to zero\u201d in the first three years of phone bans.<\/p>\n

Those muted results were found in standardized test scores, and across individual subject grades.<\/p>\n

Some experts, however, urged educators and lawmakers not to be dissuaded by the lack of test results and explained it may take a few years for those improvements to show.<\/p>\n

\u201cI firmly believe that getting student phone use down, recapturing their attention in classrooms within schools, is a critical antecedent to realizing their academic potential,\u201d said Stanford economist and study co-lead, Thomas Dee.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s reasonable to view these results as sobering,\u201d he told the Associated Press, while admitting the test score results were \u201csomewhat disappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AThousands of schools across the country have begun requiring students to lock their phones away during the day. AP<\/p>\n

But Lee touted perhaps the study\u2019s most significant findings \u2014 student well-being improved with phone bans.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents\u2019 well-being is actually above what it was at baseline,\u201d Dee said.<\/p>\n

That change took place over just two years, with well-being declining in the first year of the ban before breaking even and going positive by the end of the second year, according to the study. <\/p>\n

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Part of that temporary decline in well-being mirrored a 16% spike in disciplinary actions like suspensions during the first year, which then declined in later years.<\/p>\n

Bully incidents saw little change during the study.<\/p>\n

It comes as New York released similar results in a comprehensive survey of its own \u201cbell to bell\u201d phone ban at public schools, with about 75% of 600 teachers surveyed saying their classrooms had significantly improved since the rule was rolled out statewide in September.<\/p>\n

New York wasn\u2019t able to look at test results as the year\u2019s marks won\u2019t be in until the end of June, but a majority 60% of teacher said they\u2019ve seen a decline<\/a> in bullying. <\/p>\n

Another 80% reported seeing social connections flourish between students.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re participating in class discussions, and teachers can finally teach,\u201d Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday while revealing the study findings. \u201cWe have finally kids talking to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A nationwide study of cellphone bans at thousands of American schools showed little improvement in test scores \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":844503,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[17],"tags":[85755,17441,407,611,3060,158,67,132,68,1154],"class_list":["post-844502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mobile","tag-bans","tag-cell-phones","tag-education","tag-mobile","tag-schools","tag-technology","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-us-news"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116693628785620233","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/844503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}