No Cells for You: The Impacts of Cellphone Bans on Student Outcomes in the U.S.

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

Disruptive cellphone use in the classroom is common; a recent survey reported that a majority of high school teachers and a third of middle school teachers stated this as a major problem (Pew, 2024). Many states and school districts in the United States have decided to take action to remedy this. As of April 2026, 37 states have passed a policy restricting or banning the use of cellphones in public schools. These bans, as written, suggest that banning cellphone use in school will increase focus and attention to core education material and improve students’ socioemotional and mental health. These policies may also limit teacher distractions and lead to more focused instructional time. A debate on the usefulness, ethics, and feasibility of these policies is ongoing in many local and national news sources all asking a similar question: what effects do these policies have on student outcomes in schools? That is a question our panel of researchers hope to answer.
The four papers that form our panel all look at the impact of cellphone bans on student outcomes, but in a variety of different contexts that can help inform differential policy decisions. The first paper looks at the implementation of an instructional ban on cell phone usage in a large urban county-level school district in Florida. Using student-level administrative data and cell phone ping data, the study measures the effect of high and low implementation fidelity on student achievement, attendance, and discipline for two years post-ban.
The second paper on our panel analyzes the effects of locking cellphone pouches in an urban school district on student achievement, attendance, discipline, school climate, and mental health. The study also collects data from school leaders on the implementation of these pouches to illuminate the successes and challenges associated with implementing cellphone bans at the school level.
The third and fourth papers measure the effects of school-level cell phone bans, through the use of lockable cellphone pouches, on student outcomes nationwide. The third paper establishes that use of lockable cellphone pouches reduces overall cellphone use in schools. Then, the study analyzes the effects of use on school-level achievement, attendance, discipline, and climate surveys.
Finally, the fourth paper on the panel uses student-level benchmark testing data to measure the effect of lockable cellphone pouches on student achievement growth compared to matched schools. This data allows the study to examine heterogeneous effects from different parts of the achievement distribution and student demographic characteristics.
Through the research outlined in these four papers, we hope to provide insights as to the impact of cellphone bans overall and inform future state- and district-level policy.

Policy Area

• Education

Chair

• Elizabeth Burland, Harvard University

Discussants

• Maggie Reeves, Urban Institute

• Joshua Goodman, Boston University

Organizer

• Samantha A Cullum, Harvard Graduate School of Education

Individual Presentations

• How Using Yondr to Restrict Student Cell Phone Use Affects Student Outcomes - Presenting Author: Carolyn J. Heinrich, Vanderbilt University

• A National Study of the Effects of School Cell Phone Bans on Achievement - Presenting Author: Samantha A Cullum, Harvard Graduate School of Education

• The Impact of Cellphone Bans in Schools on Student Outcomes: Evidence from Florida - Presenting Author: Umut Ozek, RAND Corporation

• The Effect of School Phone Bans: National Evidence from Lockable Pouches - Presenting Author: Tom Dee, Stanford University