When one Florida school district banned cellphones, disciplinary issues initially spiked as schools worked to enforce the new rule.
By the second year, however, suspension rates returned to normal and test scores rose significantly, according to a new study published in October by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
According to the researchers, student scores in the school district notably increased by “about 2-3 percentiles” in the second year of the ban compared to year before the ban.
The rise in test scores followed what researchers described as “a significant jump in student disciplinary incidents and suspensions” immediately after “the transition period in the first year of the ban when the district started referring students for disciplinary action due to cellphone use infractions.”
“Suspension rate more than doubled in the month after disciplinary enforcement started compared to the month before and was 25 percent higher compared to the same month in the school year right before the ban,” they wrote. “These heightened suspension rates persisted throughout the rest of the school year and returned to pre-ban levels in the second year.”
They continued, “Interestingly, we observe significantly improved student test scores in the second year of the ban (about 2-3 percentiles higher than the year before the ban) when suspensions revert to pre-ban levels.”
The study also noted a decline in unexcused absences, which researchers say may have contributed to the higher academic performance.
The effects were less noticeable in elementary schools, where fewer students have cellphones, but more pronounced among middle and high school students who were previously more likely to use devices during the school day.
Overall, the findings suggest that while cellphone bans can cause short-term disruptions, they may ultimately foster a more focused, engaged and academically productive learning environment.