More states are banning students’ devices during school hours this year. Students learn better in a phone-free environment, according to Education Week.
Getting cell phones out of the classroom is a rare issue in that it has significant bipartisan support, allowing a rapid adoption of policies across red and blue states alike. Some 31 states and the District of Columbia now restrict students’ use of cell phones in schools, reports NPR.
In Texas, every public and charter students are not allowed to have their phones with them during the school day. Brigette Whaley, an associate professor of education at West Texas A&M University, tracked the success of a cell phone ban in one west Texas high school last year by surveying teachers. They reported more participation by students. The teachers also said they saw student anxiety drop, mainly because students weren’t afraid of being filmed at any moment and embarrassing themselves.
Alex Stegner, a social studies and geography teacher in Portland, OR, said his school saw similar results when it adopted a ban during the 2024-25 school year. Their old policy had each teacher at Lincoln High School collect phones at the start of class in a lock box. He told NPR that last year was the first one in a decade he didn’t spend class time chasing cell phones around the room.
With the cell phone ban going statewide this year, things are changing. Students’ phones are locked away for the entire day, not just class time.
Stegner thinks it will be a learning curve not just for teachers and students. His school has been fielding calls from anxious parents worried about not being able to contact their kids throughout the day.
There is a cost to going phone-free. Like a lot of schools, Lincoln High School is distributing individual locked bags, called Yondr pouches, to students this year. The same pouches were used in the district Whaley studied in Texas, and for about 2 million students nationwide. The pouches cost about $30 each, so for a school like Lincoln with more than 1,500 students, this year’s policy comes with a high price tag, notes NPR.
Other states have anticipated the high cost and set aside money for districts to make the transition. In Delaware, Rosalie Morales oversees the state’s pilot program for cell phone bans and the $250,000 cost. As the program enters its second year, she’s surveyed the schools that participated last year.
Students have different opinions about the bans. Zoë George, a student at Bard High School Early College in New York City, sees her state’s ban as “annoying” especially as she starts her last year of high school.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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