{"id":684593,"date":"2026-06-04T21:02:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T21:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/684593\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T21:02:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T21:02:10","slug":"cellphone-bans-show-little-academic-gain-in-first-major-study-but-big-steps-in-student-wellbeing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/684593\/","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\u00a0bans at thousands of American schools<\/a>\u00a0showed notable improvements in student wellbeing \u2013 but few of the testing gains proponents hoped for.<\/p>\n

The May study amassed data from about 40,000 schools between 2019 and 2026, and found student wellbeing notably improved within just two years of phones being completely banned from the day\u2019s first bell to last.<\/p>\n

Wellbeing declined in the first year of bans, but rebounded and broke even by the end of the second, the study found.<\/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

\u201cI think it\u2019s reasonable to view these results as sobering,\u201d said economist Thomas Dee, who co-led the study carried out by researchers from Stanford University, Duke, and the Universities of Pennsylvania and Michigan.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents\u2019 well-being is actually above what it was at baseline,\u201d\u00a0he told the Associated Press.<\/p>\n

The study looked at schools requiring students to keep their phones in lockable Yondr pouches throughout the day, and used data from the company to track phone usage against the likes of test scores, student wellbeing and bullying incidents over three year periods.<\/p>\n

It was the largest such study to date, and came as teachers have overwhelmingly complained of student phone usage in their classrooms \u2013 with about 75% calling it a \u201cmajor problem\u201d in a 2024 Pew Research Study.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers have also increasingly backed calls for bans at public schools, with many predicting student test scores would increase without the distractions phones bring.<\/p>\n

But the study did not yield the testing teachers lawmakers touting the bans hoped they would, as scores over the first three years of bans were \u201cconsistently close to zero.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

Dee admitted the testing results were \u201csomewhat disappointing,\u201d but urged skeptics to let a few more years pass for scores 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 he said.<\/p>\n

Phone usage also predictably plummeted under the bans \u2013 with an 80% overall decrease in phone use in the classroom showing over three years.<\/p>\n

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And part of the temporary wellbeing decline mirrored a 16% spike in disciplinary actions like suspensions during the first year, which then declined in later years as wellbeing increased.<\/p>\n

Bullying 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 60% of\u00a0teachers said they\u2019ve seen a decline<\/a>\u00a0in 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\u00a0bans at thousands of American schools\u00a0showed notable improvements in student wellbeing \u2013 but few…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":684594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[11265,12749,526,165,232,74,194],"class_list":["post-684593","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-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=684593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/684594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}