The number of states restricting students’ cellphone use in schools over the past year has surged from just a few to more than half with laws on the books.
But as policymakers from both sides of the aisle have embraced the idea, there is little research on how effective cellphone bans are at achieving their stated goals: improving student learning and behavior.
Do cellphone bans improve students’ focus? How do policies affect classroom culture? And will teachers sour on cellphone bans over time when faced with the reality of having to enforce them?
Brigette Whaley, an associate professor at West Texas A&M University, is trying to answer these questions. She spent the past year studying the use of a so-called “bell-to-bell” cellphone ban in a Texas high school. The school required students to lock their phones away for the entire day in Yondr pouches. Students were not totally cut off from technology—they could still access education-related programs through school-provided Chromebooks.
For her research, Whaley, a former middle school math teacher, focused on the teachers’ perspectives, surveying them throughout the first year of their school’s phone-free policy. Whaley was scheduled to present her research during the ISTELive 25 + ASCD Annual Conference 25 in San Antonio June 29 to July 2. During an interview ahead of the conference, she shared her findings with Education Week and added additional insights.
The interview with Whaley has been edited for length and clarity.
How did teachers respond to the phone-free policy?
I really thought that this [policy] might be a problem for teachers because we use so much technology in schools and we are pushing educational technology tools so much. I thought that teachers were going to see this as more work in the way of having to redesign lessons and having trouble enforcing it and feeling like, “oh, this is just one more thing on my plate to do.” But it really wasn’t.
More than anything, they felt that students became more engaged in the classroom. Classroom management problems went down. That classroom culture that we used to have [before cellphones] that was very humanistic and interactive and engaging—the community was coming back because the distractions of the cellphones were gone.
Was it a struggle for teachers to enforce the policy?
There were a few concerns about enforcing the policy. [Teachers] mentioned that the challenge was that not all faculty were consistent in enforcing it, but the majority were. But one of the teachers definitely felt like if there are any teachers who are inconsistent with enforcing it, it has an impact on the whole school. Consistency is definitely key.
One of the other challenges that a couple of teachers mentioned was there’s always going to be a few students who try to circumvent the rules and bring a burner phone or say that they’ve left their phone in their car when they really have it on them. But [teachers] said for the most part, students did an excellent job of following the policy. And that goes back to the administration being very consistent as well.
You have to start with clear and strong leadership about the policy. You have to provide some professional development to teachers on how to implement this and have open communication with your teachers and the families of the students who are attending the school.
What stood out to you about the so-called ‘bell-to-bell’ approach?
I thought that the bell-to-bell was very interesting because it completely removed the cellphone from the whole day. There was a [total] lack of social media access, whether it was TikTok videos or Instagram pictures. Students were less anxious at school and just felt like it was a safer environment for them to learn in.
Other research that I’ve looked at [has found that] having cellphones in classes really causes stress and anxiety for students because they don’t know if another student is recording them. Also, because [students] are not looking at who has the latest and greatest technology, that equity really comes into play, too. You’re not competing with other students.