In a Massachusetts school distirct, discipline referrals dropped by 75 percent when students were required to put their cellphones in a locked pouch during the school day, the assistant superintendent, Timothy Callahan, told Education Week. Fights, arguments and cutting classes were reduced "massively."
In districts across the country, school leaders and teachers are seeing students behave better and learn more when no-phone rules are enforced, reports Olina Banerji.
The Bentonville district in Arkansas piloted a cellphone ban in one of its high schools in 2023, she writes. By pilot's end, 86 percent of teachers said students were more engaged, 75 percent said they socialized more with classmates and 57 percent reported fewer verbal and physical fights, according to Superintendent Debbie Jones. Drug-related offenses were halved. The district now enforces the policy in all its schools.
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