Gov. Josh Stein on Monday outlined his education priorities ahead of this year鈥檚 short legislative session, including raising teacher compensation and adding additional school support personnel to meet students鈥� nonacademic needs.

鈥淚f we truly believe that kids are the future of this state, then we have to make the job of educating them more attractive,鈥� he said to a room of education leaders at nonprofit annual meeting.

Stein highlighted education items in his $1.4 billion , released earlier in March, including 5.8% average raises for teachers, funds to restore master鈥檚 pay for more than 1,000 teachers, and a 2.5% raise for principals. Beginning teachers would receive a 13% pay raise in the plan.

The state legislature starts its short session in April. It has not passed a new comprehensive budget since 2023. Stein鈥檚 proposal says it includes 鈥渃ritical funding needs that cannot wait until next fiscal year.鈥�

He said teacher pay raises are needed to raise student outcomes, pointing out that the state鈥檚 average teacher salary ranks 48th in the nation, with its per-pupil spending ranked at 47th in the nation. Those rankings from the Reason Foundation using data from 2023.

鈥淭eachers drive student success,鈥� Stein said Monday. 鈥淭hey are the No. 1 in-school factor of student achievement. We know this, but we have not passed a meaningful raise for our teachers in years.鈥�

Schools also need more support personnel, he said, like social workers, nurses, psychologists, and nurses to meet students鈥� nonacademic needs.

Stein celebrated recent wins, including the state鈥檚 highest four-year , highest on AP exams, and (CTE) courses.

He praised the state鈥檚 move to train teachers in 鈥渢he science of reading,鈥� or a body of research on how students learn to read. All pre-K to fifth grade teachers completed , a professional development program funded by revamping its long-time efforts to improve reading proficiency.

He also highlighted , the , 鈥� a teacher apprenticeship program 鈥� and passed by legislators and signed by Stein last year.

Local innovations like a Perquimans County program exposing high schoolers to hands-on teaching experience, he said, have much to teach the state.

鈥淲e have to take inspiration from and match our teachers鈥� tenacity and our principals鈥� passion,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f we believe that our kids are our future, investing in kids is the best we can do.鈥�

Stein pointed to the , which he created with  and , as an example of bipartisan partnership.

鈥淧ublic education is not a Democratic policy,鈥� Stein said. 鈥淧ublic education is not a Republican policy. It is a North Carolina policy. It affects every child in this state. There are so many areas like the cellphone ban, where we can and we must work together for the benefit of our public school kids.鈥�

Stein also urged the General Assembly to reconsider its tax policy, adding that upcoming federal cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), have changed the state鈥檚 financial pressures.

鈥淭he No. 1 item on the chopping block when cuts have to made will be our K-12 schools,鈥� Stein said. 鈥淪o your voice matters in these debates. I urge you to use it.鈥�

The Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM) projected a budget gap between $2.5 and $4 billion between fiscal years 2027-28 and 2032-33 between the state鈥檚 revenues and the funding levels needed to continue its current services, adjusted for inflation and population growth. Current law has in place if revenue targets are met, including a 3.49% personal rate in 2027. The corporate rate is set to drop to 2% in 2027 and to 0% by 2030.

On Tuesday, state鈥檚 nonpartisan Consensus Forecasting Group (CFG) , showing that while there is an expected increase in the General Fund, there is a $360 million decrease in revenue expected in Fiscal Year (FY) 2026-27.

Stein said the loss of state revenue, along with federal funding cuts, will make the state unable to maintain its current funding levels, much less invest in new education efforts.

鈥淔ew ideas to enhance public education come with zero cost,鈥� he said, estimating a $3.5 billion funding gap in the next two years. 鈥淭ypically, they come with some cost, which is why, as a state, we must get our fiscal house in order.鈥�

He said much of the state鈥檚 overall success, like its rankings as and , is the result of education investments 鈥渙ver the course of many decades.鈥�

鈥淲e are bearing the fruit of an orchard that was planted a long time ago,鈥� he said, 鈥渂ut today we risk hollowing out the institutions that have helped to create our success.鈥�

This first appeared on and is republished here under a .

Charles Longshore distinctly remembers the tipping point that led his Alabama middle school to ban cell phones, two years before the state adopted its own ban.

Longshore, then the assistant principal at Dothan Preparatory Academy, had gotten wind that two girls planned to fight in the courtyard between classes and pulled them into the office about 10 minutes before the scheduled rumble. That prevented the fight, but it didn鈥檛 stop hundreds of other students from racing to the courtyard hoping to watch a spectacle advertised through texts and chats, with their own phones out ready to record it.

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Stories like these 鈥� along with countless less dramatic moments of distraction and disengagement 鈥� have made cell phone bans a rare point of bipartisan agreement on education policy. Twenty-six states now have . Two-thirds of principals said their school had a bell-to-bell ban in a .

But so far there hasn鈥檛 been much concrete evidence about the impacts of school cell phone bans.

鈥淭he policy action is just happening at a level that far surpasses the available evidence,鈥� said David Figlio, an economics professor at the University of Rochester. 鈥淭he available evidence is largely people鈥檚 hunches.鈥�

Figlio and Umut 脰zek, a senior economist at RAND Corp., a research organization, set out to address that gap. Their study, , analyzes data from a large, county-level urban school district in Florida, which was the first state to adopt a cell phone ban.

The study found modest improvements in test scores in the second year of the ban, after an increase in suspensions in the first year.

The Florida school district had adopted a bell-to-bell ban, more restrictive than the state law, which requires that students not use their phones during instructional time. Students violating the ban had their phones confiscated but got them back at the end of the school day. Students could also face discipline, including suspension, for violating the ban.

Florida students take standardized tests three times a year, and schools report discipline and attendance daily, giving researchers a lot of information to work with.

Using data about cell phone usage coming from each school building, the researchers first identified schools where students used cell phones at higher and lower levels before the ban, which went into effect in 2023. Middle schools had higher cell phone use than high schools before and after the ban.

Researchers then used data from the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years to compare changes in schools with the highest cell phone use before the ban and those with the lowest.

This study design, known as difference within difference, allows researchers to draw stronger conclusions about causality.

In the second year of the ban, average test scores on the higher-stakes spring test went up by 1.1 percentiles more in the schools where students previously used their phones a lot, compared with low-activity schools. The results were more significant for middle and high school students, and boys seemed to benefit more than girls.

But the gains came with tradeoffs. Suspensions went up in the first year of the ban, the study found, especially for Black boys.

And white students saw greater test score growth than Black students.

鈥淏lack students seem to be accruing fewer of the benefits of the cell phone ban and more of the disciplinary costs,鈥� Figlio said.

The study can鈥檛 answer why Black students 鈥� who often face disproportionate discipline 鈥� were suspended more often. The increase largely went away in the second year of the ban. Still, Figlio said, the finding calls for schools to be thoughtful about how they approach enforcement.

The study didn鈥檛 directly measure school climate 鈥� the kind of improvement Longshore and other principals often notice most after they adopt a ban 鈥� but researchers did track unexcused absences and students changing schools, potential proxies for how content or safe students feel at school.

Both metrics improved after the cell phone ban was in effect. In fact, the study found that the improvements in attendance contributed to about half the increase in student test scores after the ban.

Figlio called the test score increases 鈥渕eaningful but not game-changing.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 not transforming test scores,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut we鈥檙e observing palpable improvement. We鈥檙e observing kids attending school more.鈥�

Test score declines blamed on cell phones

American students鈥� scores on and have been trending down for the past decade, well before COVID disruptions. Researchers are not entirely sure why, but one theory is that the rise of cell phone and social media use among children has had deleterious cognitive and social effects.

鈥淲e lack direct evidence of a causal link between smartphones and learning, but I鈥檓 convinced that this technology is a key driver of youth mental health challenges, a distraction from learning, both inside and outside of schools, and a deterrent to reading,鈥� Harvard education professor Martin West told the .

Because social media wasn鈥檛 introduced to children through a randomized controlled trial, it鈥檚 hard to isolate the effects, West said at the hearing. Cell phone bans provide an opportunity to study what happens when social media is removed from the school environment.

But West urged policymakers and parents to address social media use outside of school as well. A study published in JAMA earlier this month found that than those who used little or no social media.

Figlio said he鈥檚 prepared to say that cell phones are a driver of test score declines, but there鈥檚 not enough evidence to say whether they鈥檙e the primary driver.

Longshore, whose school was not involved in the study and who had not read the study when he spoke to Chalkbeat, said state test scores didn鈥檛 change significantly after the school started requiring students to leave their phones in a lockbox all day. The school maintained its trajectory of slow but steady growth.

But far fewer students failed their classes, he said. Longshore referred roughly 80 students to summer school the year before the ban. This past summer, it was just 20.

Longshore, who left Dothan at the end of last school year to take a principal job in another district, didn鈥檛 suspend students who violated the ban. Instead, after the first offense, the school would hold onto the phone until a parent could pick it up. At a high-poverty school where many parents work multiple jobs, students might go days without their phones 鈥� and the parent usually made sure the child didn鈥檛 bring it to school again.

With chronic absenteeism already high, Longshore said the last thing he wanted was more students out of class as a result of the ban.

And in fact, discipline at the school improved significantly. There was less drama, Longshore said, and far fewer fights. The lunchroom got loud again with students talking to their classmates.

Future research on cell phone bans could dig into school climate surveys or examine academic or discipline data in different school contexts, Figlio said. The question of impact is 鈥渘ot asked and answered,鈥� he said.

鈥淚 care a lot about test scores, but I care even more about kids鈥� life outcomes 鈥� graduating high school, attending college, workforce participation,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hese are things we won鈥檛 know for a while.鈥�

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at .听

In Florida, in elementary and middle schools, from bell to bell, recently sailed through the state Legislature.

Gov. Ron聽聽on May 30, 2025. The same bill calls for high schools in six Florida districts to adopt the ban during the upcoming school year and produce a report on its effectiveness by Dec. 1, 2026.

But in the debate over whether phones in K-12 schools 鈥� and 鈥� .

We are experts in and who in Florida in November and December 2024 to learn how they鈥檙e using digital media and the role tech plays in their lives at home and at school. Their responses were insightful 鈥� and occasionally surprising.

Adults generally cite four reasons to ban phone use during school: to improve kids鈥� mental health, to strengthen academic outcomes, to reduce and to help limit kids鈥� overall screen time.

But as our survey shows, it may be a bit much to expect a cellphone ban to accomplish all of that.

What do kids want?

Some of the questions in our survey shine light on kids鈥� feelings toward banning cellphones 鈥� even though we didn鈥檛 ask that question directly.

We asked them if they feel relief when they鈥檙e in a situation where they can鈥檛 use their smartphone, and 31% said yes.

Additionally, 34% of kids agreed with the statement that social media causes more harm than good.

And kids were 1.5 to 2 times more likely to agree with those statements if they attended schools where phones are banned or confiscated for most of the school day, with use only permitted at certain times. That group covered 70% of the students we surveyed because many individual schools or in Florida have already limited students鈥� cellphone use.

How students use cellphones matters

Some 鈥減ower users鈥� of cellphone apps could likely use a break from them.

Twenty percent of children we surveyed said 鈥� that is, notifications from apps that pop up on the phone鈥檚 screen 鈥� are never turned off. These notifications are likely coming from the most popular apps kids reported using, like YouTube, TikTok and Instagram.

This 20% of children was roughly three times more likely to report experiencing anxiety than kids who rarely or never have their notifications on.

They were also nearly five times more likely to report earning mostly D鈥檚 and F鈥檚 in school than kids whose notifications are always or sometimes off.

Our survey results also suggest phone bans would likely have positive effects on grades and mental health among some of the heaviest screen users. For example, 22% of kids reported using their favorite app for six or more hours per day. These students were three times more likely to report earning mostly D鈥檚 and F鈥檚 in school than kids who spend an hour or less on their favorite app each day.

They also were six times more likely than hour-or-less users to report severe depression symptoms. These insights remained even after ruling out numerous other possible explanations for the difference 鈥� like age, household income, gender, parent鈥檚 education, race and ethnicity.

Banning students鈥� access to phones at school means these kids would not receive notifications for at least that seven-hour period and have fewer hours in the day to use apps.

Phones and mental health

However, other data we collected suggests that bans aren鈥檛 a universal benefit for all children.

Seventeen percent of kids who attend schools that ban or confiscate phones report severe depression symptoms, compared with just 4% among kids who keep their phones with them during the school day.

This finding held even after we ruled out other potential explanations for what we were seeing, such as the type of school students attend and other demographic factors.

We are not suggesting that our survey shows phone bans cause mental health problems.

It is possible, for instance, that the schools where kids already were struggling with their mental health simply happened to be the ones that have banned phones. Also, our survey didn鈥檛 ask kids how long phones have been banned at their schools. If the bans just launched, there may be positive effects on mental health or grades yet to come.

In order to get a better sense of the bans鈥� effects on mental health, we would need to examine mental health indicators before and after phone bans.

To get a long-term view on this question, we are planning to do a nationwide survey of digital media use and mental health, starting with 11- to 13-year-olds and tracking them into adulthood.

Even with the limitations of our data from this survey, however, we can conclude that banning phones in schools is unlikely to be an immediate solution to mental health problems of kids ages 11-13.

Grades up, cyberbullying down

Students at schools where phones are barred or confiscated didn鈥檛 report earning higher grades than children at schools where kids keep their phones.

This finding held for students at both private and public schools, and even after ruling out other possible explanations like differences in gender and household income, since .

There are limits to our findings here: Grades are not a perfect measure of learning, and they鈥檙e not standardized across schools. It鈥檚 possible that kids at phone-free schools are in fact learning more than those at schools where kids carry their phones around during school hours 鈥� even if they earn the same grades.

We asked kids how often in the past three months they鈥檇 experienced mistreatment online 鈥� like being called hurtful names or having lies or rumors spread about them. Kids at schools where phone use is limited during school hours actually reported enduring more cyberbullying than children at schools with less restrictive policies. This result persisted even after we considered smartphone ownership and numerous demographics as possible explanations.

We are not necessarily saying that cellphone bans cause an increase in cyberbullying. What could be at play here is that at schools where cyberbullying has been particularly bad, phones have been banned or are confiscated, and online bullying still occurs.

But based on our survey results, it does not appear that school phone bans prevent cyberbullying.

Overall, our findings suggest that banning phones in schools may not be an easy fix for students鈥� mental health problems, poor academic performance or cyberbullying.

That said, kids might benefit from phone-free schools in ways that we have not explored, like increased attention spans or reduced eyestrain.

This article is republished from under a Creative Commons license. Read the .

On the surface, it seems like a simple solution: remove the distraction, and students will focus. But as someone who has spent decades in public education at the K-12 and college level, I see a far more complex issue at play.

Distraction in the classroom is not just about phones鈥攊t鈥檚 about engagement. The truth is, many students aren鈥檛 glued to their screens because they鈥檙e addicted. They鈥檙e disengaged. 

If a student finds their coursework relevant, meaningful, and motivating, they won鈥檛 be on their phone. The best teachers 鈥� the ones who truly engage their students 鈥攄on鈥檛 have phone problems in their classrooms.

One of my greatest concerns with this ban is that it applies a one-size-fits-all solution to a diverse population. Schools are not factories; every student is different, and every learning environment is unique. There are schools in New York that have embraced technology in innovative ways 鈥� using phones to enhance instruction, conduct research, and facilitate real-world learning. This policy could strip those schools of a valuable tool rather than supporting effective teaching practices.

We should be asking: What are the schools that don鈥檛 struggle with phone distractions doing right? What can we learn from their engagement strategies? Instead, we鈥檙e resorting to blanket restrictions that fail to address the root of the problem.

The idea that taking away phones will somehow fix students’ mental health struggles is both misguided and oversimplified. Mental health is about relationships, support, and the ability to feel safe and heard. Strong school communities provide students with counseling, peer support, and environments where they can openly discuss their challenges. A policy that removes phones without addressing these fundamental issues is unlikely to yield the results its proponents hope for.

In fact, when I asked students in my college classrooms what they would say to Gov. Hochul or other leaders about this policy, their top concern was safety. The announcement came shortly after the Nashville school shooting, and they told me: 鈥淯ntil schools are truly safe, we need our phones.鈥�

For many students, phones aren鈥檛 just a social tool; they鈥檙e a lifeline in uncertain situations.

Others brought up an interesting point: Some students use their phones in class to double-check their answers before speaking up. In classrooms where participation can feel intimidating, a phone can be a confidence booster 鈥� allowing students to verify information before contributing to discussions.

And then, of course, there鈥檚 the practical reality that students will always find a way around bans. My students laughed when I brought up the idea of strict enforcement and shared all the creative ways they already sneak phones into classrooms. Simply banning devices won鈥檛 eliminate the behavior 鈥� it will just push it underground.

The bottom line is this: Students in highly engaging classrooms aren鈥檛 on their phones. They are immersed in project-based learning, tackling real-world problems, conducting research, and developing solutions. They are in environments where they feel seen, where their voices matter, and where their education is relevant to their lives.

We need to focus on these types of classrooms. Let鈥檚 study what the most effective teachers are doing and bring those practices into more schools. Let鈥檚 invest in instructional design that excites students rather than assuming that taking away a device will force engagement.

A cellphone ban is an easy policy to announce, but a much harder one to enforce. And more importantly, it doesn鈥檛 solve the real issue. If we want students off their phones, we need to give them a reason to put them down鈥攏ot by force, but by making their education something they want to engage in.

Pushing back against Gov. Kathy Hochul鈥檚 from 鈥渂ell-to-bell鈥� in schools, New York lawmakers want to give districts more flexibility in setting their policies 鈥� and guarantee that students will not face suspensions due to cellphone violations.

The proposed changes came Tuesday as Senate Democrats unveiled their response to Gov. Kathy Hochul鈥檚 , which would send $37.4 billion to schools across the state 鈥� a nearly $1.7 billion increase from the prior year鈥檚 budget. The governor鈥檚 budget proposal includes a $13.5 million plan to help school districts implement smartphone bans, amid growing concerns over their impact on student learning and mental health.

Under the governor鈥檚 proposal, students would be required to disconnect from their devices from 鈥渂ell to bell,鈥� including during classes, lunch, and in the hallways. School districts would have discretion over how to ensure compliance, but all would be required to identify at least one method through which students can store their devices during the school day.

However, lawmakers in the state Senate are seeking changes to the proposed legislation that would give districts leeway to allow students to use their devices 鈥渄uring non-instruction time.鈥� Lawmakers also want districts to be required to consult local representatives and families, as well as be prohibited from suspending students over violations of the cellphone policy.

State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said lawmakers agreed with Hochul that 鈥済etting cellphones out of the hands of our children is a benefit to everyone.鈥�

鈥淲e鈥檝e heard from superintendents who want a little bit of flexibility, so we have injected that into the conversation,鈥� Stewart-Cousins added during a Tuesday press conference. 鈥淏ut there is no doubt that we know that students will be better off if their phones are not with them and they鈥檙e able to concentrate on their lessons.鈥�

The proposed changes to Hochul鈥檚 cellphone policy came as part of the Senate鈥檚 鈥� its rebuttal to the governor鈥檚 executive budget. (The state did not address the issue).

Senate lawmakers also proposed changes to that would see additional dollars sent to schools across the state 鈥� up $680 million from Hochul鈥檚 Foundation Aid proposal. Those changes would drive additional money to city schools, with lawmakers proposing an update to how the formula accounts for regional costs in the Hudson Valley and New York City.

Despite concerns from the Senate, Hochul said Tuesday she remained committed to pushing for a 鈥渂ell-to-bell鈥� cellphone restriction.

鈥淚鈥檝e not had time to digest every part of what the one-houses show, but I鈥檓 committed to fighting for bell-to-bell,鈥� she said. 鈥淭his is what the experts say, this is what the parents want, this is what the teachers want. I mean, our teachers are saying鈥� if a student has it banned during a class, then they have it during recess, and then they come back, the next teacher has to be the enforcer.鈥�

In New York City, principals currently can set their own cellphone policies during school hours. Among those with restrictions in place, some schools collect devices at the start of the day, while others store them in cubbies or locking pouches. And though the city鈥檚 Education Department seemed poised to implement a systemwide policy last year, it stalled after intervention by Mayor Eric Adams.

When schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos testified at a budget hearing in Albany earlier this year, she urged lawmakers to allocate more funding to implement a statewide school cellphone ban, arguing $13.5 million was insufficient to cover statewide costs.

鈥淩oughly 800 of our schools have already signed up to do this work,鈥� she told lawmakers in January. 鈥淲hat we don鈥檛 want to tell them is, 鈥楥ontinue to self-fund while we pay for other schools to get on the bus.鈥欌��

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

Sixteen tables, two seats to a table, all in rows, face front 鈥渂ecause that’s where the instruction is coming from,鈥� he said.

About the only technology in the room: small handheld whiteboards, dry-erase pens and small stacks of index cards. The walls are almost entirely bare. And phones are out of the question, stowed in backpacks before class.

It鈥檚 intentional, said Harvard, who teaches Advanced Placement Psychology at James Clemens High School in Madison, Ala., a suburb of Huntsville.

Over the past decade, he has become something of an expert in focus, memory, forgetting and distraction.

Harvard has put these principles into his first book, published last week, titled, appropriately, . 

Harvard hopes the book will offer practical advice to teachers on how to use the principles of cognitive science to create better learning environments.

The time is right for a new book about attention, said , a professor of English at the City University of New York and founding director of CUNY鈥檚 Futures Initiative. She said she鈥檚 excited to see Harvard鈥檚 work.

Davidson noted several indicators of rising inattention, from falling reading scores to the growth of media misinformation and the higher prevalence of young people who say they鈥檙e with traditional education. 

鈥淚 think people are really seeing that what it means to pay attention is important,鈥� said Davidson, who wrote 2011鈥檚 . 

Harvard mostly focuses on more intentional teaching methods that reduce distractions and help students manage the vast amount of content they鈥檙e called upon to remember 鈥�  often called 鈥�.鈥�

These ideas are decidedly not on tap in most teacher preparation programs, said Harvard, who earned his master鈥檚 degree in education in 2006. His coursework contained 鈥渘othing on cognition 鈥� there was nothing on the brain, nothing on how we learn.鈥�

鈥榃hy don鈥檛 I already know about this?鈥�

It wasn鈥檛 until 2016, a decade after graduate school, that Harvard happened upon the now-defunct Twitter account 鈥淭he Learning Scientists.鈥� In plain language, educational psychologists from around the world laid out the basics of cognitive science for educators. 

Harvard was gobsmacked. Instead of just shooting in the dark, he finally saw research on the effectiveness of various learning strategies. 

He found himself instantly hooked and soon for the group. That led to his own website, which eventually became the popular blog .

Nearly a decade later, he鈥檚 traveling the world, speaking at conferences about strategies that affect students鈥� ability to channel ideas into long-term memory. He鈥檚 lost count of how many times he鈥檚 had to inform audiences that 鈥� humans can鈥檛 consciously focus on more than one thing at a time.

Harvard subscribes to something he calls the 鈥淪AR method,鈥� an accessible way for students and teachers to think about memory. When they鈥檙e about to start a lesson, he tells students that memory follows a three-step process: Sense, Attend and Rehearse. 

鈥淵ou can hear your teacher,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou can see your teacher. You can see the board. You can sense it. But are you attending to it? Are you paying attention to it, or are there things getting in your way? Are you trying to multitask? Is the person sitting next to you talking?鈥�

Once a student attends to the material, the rehearsal happens. That鈥檚 perhaps the most important and tricky part. In the book, he likens it to an athlete鈥檚 ability to learn a new routine. If he or she doesn鈥檛 rehearse before the big game, he writes, 鈥渢hat would not be a good recipe for success on the playing field.鈥�

Rehearsing in the classroom can take the form of a multiple-choice quiz, a discussion or a project. The key is to access the material from memory and use it appropriately.

Accordingly, he begins many classes by simply asking students to review what came the day, the week or even the month before. Retrieving those memories, he said, makes them more likely to be there the next time the brain goes looking for them.

Another principle he employs is 鈥渨ait time.鈥� When most teachers ask a question, they鈥檒l settle for the first student with her hand up. But Harvard adds a step, ordering students to retrieve their handheld whiteboard. Before anyone can answer out loud, everyone must attempt an answer in writing.

鈥淣ow they’re committed to thinking,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey’re committed to writing something down. It seems like such a simple thing, but when you make the students do that, you give them time to think.鈥�

As they鈥檙e studying, he鈥檒l often give students a kind of slow-motion, three-stage assessment he calls 鈥淏rain-Book-Buddy鈥� to offer a more honest take on what they actually know.

In the first assessment, they answer a series of questions from memory. Then they fill in the answers they couldn鈥檛 remember with the help of their notes. In the final test, they can talk to classmates.

鈥淭hey end up getting all the right answers, but they’re also acutely aware of what they actually knew, what they knew with their notebook, and what they had to ask their buddies, their peers, about,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t’s an ongoing conversation of them thinking about their thinking.鈥�

鈥楢ttention Contagion鈥�

Lately Harvard has been evangelizing most eagerly about an emerging topic in cognitive science known as 鈥�.鈥� Only a handful of small-scale studies exist on the topic, but Harvard says the evidence is compelling.

In the research, students pose as attentive or non-attentive classmates, and researchers judge how well actual subjects attend to lessons in their presence 鈥� how many notes they take and their performance on post-lesson quizzes. The results suggest that seatmates鈥� behaviors have a profound effect: When a student is surrounded by inattentive peers, the behaviors are contagious. It works the other way as well: If a student is surrounded by peers who are visibly paying attention, they鈥檙e more attentive. 

had undergraduates watch a video lecture with a 鈥渃lassmate鈥� posing as someone who either seemed attentive 鈥� leaning forward and taking notes 鈥� or slouched, shifting his gaze, glancing at the clock and taking infrequent notes. Researchers found that being seated behind these classmates had a profound effect: Subjects sitting near attentive students took significantly more notes and rated themselves as being on task. They also scored more than five points higher on a multiple-choice quiz.

Other studies have replayed the dynamic, with similar results. The findings even hold true for students observing one another in a Zoom-like virtual environment, where all that鈥檚 visible is a student鈥檚 face staring into a webcam.

In other words, Harvard notes, attention and inattention can actually pass through the Internet.

He considers the findings especially resonant because the 鈥渃ontagion鈥� doesn鈥檛 come from obviously bad behavior like yelling, interrupting a teacher or staring at a phone. It鈥檚 stuff that he and most other teachers would typically let slide.

鈥淭hey’re just slouching in their chair,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey’re just not taking notes. They’re gazing out the window.鈥�

What the studies show is that attention operates by a kind of quiet osmosis, in some cases literally felt but not seen.

, the researcher who has pioneered this work, emphasized the 鈥渘on-distracting鈥� nature of the inattentiveness in his studies, noting that it鈥檚 鈥渄riven by more than just peer distraction.鈥� Peers can detect these inattentiveness cues, he told 社区黑料, even via tiny changes in the case of the online environment, suggesting that students 鈥減ay attention to their peers on webcam 鈥� even when the video thumbnails are quite small.鈥�

More data needed

In an email, Forrin cautioned that attention contagion 鈥漢as not yet been studied in real classrooms,鈥� only in laboratory settings with video lecturers. But he said he鈥檚 confident that attention and inattention 鈥渃an spread between students during lectures,鈥� and that this spread affects learning. Students 鈥渁re attuned to their peers’ motivation to learn鈥� and pay more attention when they infer that others have strong learning goals. They pay less attention when they sense weak or no goals. 

He suggested that teachers do their best to cultivate these goals in their students. They should also let students choose their own seats so they鈥檙e not consistently sitting near inattentive peers.

But he said more data are needed to determine whether these phenomena occur in real classrooms, especially with live teachers and different levels of student motivation.

Davidson, the CUNY scholar, said research on topics similar to attention contagion go back all the way to , who at the turn of the 20th century was studying the social aspects of 鈥渧ivid鈥� thoughts, distraction and focus. More recently, she noted, the psychologist Danie Kahneman, who helped establish what has become behavioral economics, studied .

And of course TV producers who pioneered the 鈥渃anned laughter鈥� of laugh tracks on early TV knew that suggestions of an engaged audience make viewers respond in kind. 

But perhaps the greatest experts in attention contagion, Davidson said, are stand-up comedians 鈥� she interviewed several for her 2011 book, and they told her that visibly bored audience members are 鈥渢he kiss of death鈥� in live performance. 鈥淧eople fall asleep in the front row, and pretty soon they’re falling asleep in the whole theater,鈥� she said.

Harvard, for his part, is convinced that attention contagion in the classroom is real 鈥� and he tells students about the research.

鈥淚t鈥檚 powerful for students to hear that simply being inattentive can distract someone else from learning,鈥� he said.

More broadly, he said, cognitive psychology has simplified his approach to teaching, allowing him to focus on proven strategies that are neither traditional nor progressive. 

The most cynical person, he said, would probably say his classroom is 鈥渢oo traditional. But I’m not thinking, ‘Do I want a traditional or a progressive classroom?’ When I designed it, I’m thinking, ‘How can I put my students in the best situation where they can pay attention to what they need to pay attention [to] and be distracted the least?’ That’s everything that I’m thinking about, and nothing else.鈥�

One thing is clear from the stories that populate this year鈥檚 list: Many of America鈥檚 schools are still grappling with the academic struggles that followed the pandemic 鈥� as well as the end of federal relief funds, which expired this fall. Student enrollments have yet to recover and many districts are facing 鈥� or will soon face 鈥� tough decisions about closures.

Meanwhile, some educators are testing innovative ways of teaching math, reading and science, hoping to gain back some of the academic ground lost since the COVID shutdowns. Technology is also playing a pivotal role in this post-pandemic world, with communities weighing the impact of cellphones and artificial intelligence on student learning and mental health.

November鈥檚 election 鈥� which featured debates over school choice, Christianity in public schools and the fate of the Department of Education 鈥� also made headlines here at 社区黑料. And, as calls for cracking down on immigration grew even louder, we dug deep into the hurdles facing immigrant students and schools. 

Here鈥檚 a roundup of our most memorable and impactful stories of the year:

Exclusive: Thousands of Schools at Risk of Closing Due to Enrollment Loss

By Linda Jacobson

Long before districts close schools, enrollment loss takes a toll on staff and families, from combined classes to the loss of afterschool programs. This exclusive analysis by Linda Jacobson, based on Brookings Institution research, found that more than 4,400 schools lost at least one-fifth of their students during the pandemic 鈥� more than double the number during the pre-COVID period. The detailed look shows how the crisis is playing out at the school level and which districts face tough decisions about closures and cuts. 

Unwelcome to America鈥�: Hundreds of U.S. High Schools Wrongfully Refused Entry to Older, Immigrant Student

By Jo Napolitano

社区黑料鈥檚 16-month-long undercover investigation of school enrollment practices for older immigrant students revealed rampant refusals of teens who had a legal right to attend, shutting a door critical to success in America. Senior reporter Jo Napolitano called 630 high schools in every state and D.C. to test whether they would enroll a 19-year-old Venezuelan newcomer who had limited English language skills and whose education was interrupted after ninth grade. 鈥淗ector Guerrero鈥� was turned down more than 300 times, including 204 denials in the 35 states and D.C., where high school attendance goes up to at least age 20. 社区黑料鈥檚 investigation revealed pervasive hostility and suspicion toward these students in a particularly xenophobic era and a deeply arbitrary process determining their access to K-12 education.

Interactive: Which School Districts Do the Best Job of Teaching Kids to Read?

By Chad Aldeman

It’s not news that low-income fourth graders are years behind their higher-income peers in reading. But poverty is not destiny, and some schools and districts hugely outperform expectations. Working with Eamonn Fitzmaurice, 社区黑料鈥檚 art and technology director, contributor Chad Aldeman set out to find districts that are beating the odds and successfully teaching kids to read. From Steubenville City, Ohio, to Worcester County, Maryland, and across the country, click on their interactive map to find the highfliers in your state. 

Whistleblower: L.A. Schools鈥� Chatbot Misused Student Data as Tech Company Crumbled

by Mark Keierleber

In early June, a former top software engineer at ed tech startup, AllHere, warned Los Angeles district officials and others about student data privacy risks associated with the company鈥檚 AI chatbot “Ed.” The LA Unified School District had agreed to pay AllHere $6 million for the chatbot and the spring rollout of Ed was highly publicized, with L.A. schools chief Alberto Carvalho calling the chatbot鈥檚 student knowledge powers 鈥渦nprecedented in American public education.鈥� But, as Mark Keierleber reported, red flags soon began to emerge. The company financially imploded and its founder Joanna Smith-Griffin left the company. In November, federal prosecutors indicted her, accusing of defrauding investors of $10 million.

America’s Most Popular Autism Therapy May Not Work 鈥� and May Cause Serious Harms

by Beth Hawkins

Today, a child鈥檚 new autism diagnosis is frequently followed by a referral to a variation of an intervention called applied behavior analysis, or ABA, and four decades of pressure from parents and advocates has created a sprawling treatment industry. Yet, even as providers and lobbyists jockey to strengthen ABA’s dominance, autistic adults and researchers increasingly say there鈥檚 alarmingly little proof it鈥檚 effective 鈥� and mounting evidence it鈥檚 traumatizing. In an exclusive investigation, Beth Hawkins spoke with families, teachers and scholars about the growing controversy surrounding autism鈥檚 鈥済old standard鈥� treatment. 

A Cautionary AI Tale: Why IBM鈥檚 Dazzling Watson Supercomputer Made a Lousy Tutor

by Greg Toppo

In 2011, IBM’s Watson supercomputer crushed Jeopardy! champions, raising hopes that it could help create a powerful tutoring system that would rival human teachers. But the visionary at the head of the effort watched as the project fizzled, the victim of AI’s inability to hold students鈥� attention. As new educational AI contenders like Khanmigo emerge, what lessons can they learn from the past? 社区黑料鈥檚 Greg Toppo took a look at how IBM鈥檚 failed effort tempers today鈥檚 shiny AI promises.

State-by-State, How Segregation Legally Continues 7 Decades Post Brown v. Board

by Marianna McMurdock

Seventy years after the Supreme Court outlawed separating public school children by race, Marianna McMurdock sought to answer a pivotal question: How are some of the most coveted public schools in the U.S. able to legally exclude all but the most privileged families? Last spring, she spoke with researchers at the nonprofits Available to All and Bellwether, which published a report that examined the troubling laws, loopholes and trends that are undermining the legacy of Brown v. Board in each state. The researchers called for urgent legal reform to offset the impact that one鈥檚 home address has on enrollment, particularly as many districts have started considering closures.

Being 鈥楤ad at Math鈥� Is a Pervasive Concept. Can it Be Banished From Schools?

by Jo Napolitano

Are you bad at math? If you are, it鈥檚 likely that self-fulfilling seed got planted early. Many math education leaders are trying to uproot that thinking, arguing that any student can master the subject with the right accommodations and tutoring. Changing the bad-at-math mindset in U.S. schools, however, will not be easy, others warn. 鈥淲e use math as a means to sort kids by who gets to be at the top and who gets to be at the bottom,鈥� one math equity advocate told Jo Napolitano. 

Hope Rises in Pine Bluff: Saving Schools in America’s Fastest-Shrinking City

by 社区黑料 Staff

Pine Bluff, Arkansas, earned the unwelcome distinction in the 2020 census of being America’s fastest-shrinking city, losing over 12% of its population in one decade. Amid this exodus of families, students and taxpayers, its school district had to navigate school closures, budget pressures and a state takeover. Throughout last winter, members of 社区黑料鈥檚 newsroom embedded in Pine Bluff to report on the region鈥檚 trajectory. Here are some of the powerful stories they came back with: 

Kids, Screen Time & Despair: An Expert in the Economics of Happiness Echoes Psychologists鈥� Warnings About Tech

By Kevin Mahnken

A prominent economist has joined the growing chorus of experts warning against the dangers posed to youth mental health by screens and social media, reported Kevin Mahnken. New papers released by Dartmouth College professor Danny Blanchflower, a leading expert in the burgeoning field of happiness economics, suggest that the huge increase in screen time over the last decade has made the young more likely to despair than the middle-aged. 

Why Is a Grading System Touted as More Accurate, Equitable So Hard to Implement?

By Amanda Geduld

As educators push for more transparency in grading policies post-pandemic, some are turning to standards-based grading. When done correctly, it separates academic mastery from behavior and more accurately reflects what students know. But misunderstandings of the model, a lack of proper training, and a rush to adopt it often leads to messy implementation. Associate professor Laura Link told Amanda Geduld that as schools look to fix learning gaps, 鈥渟tandards-based grading is one that seems like it can be a quickly adopted effort. But it could backfire 鈥� and does backfire 鈥� very easily.鈥�

Texas Seeks to Inject Bible Stories into Elementary School Reading Program

by Linda Jacobson

Last May, a sweeping redesign of Texas鈥� elementary school curriculum that used Bible stories to teach reading was unveiled. At the time, state education Commissioner Mike Morath described the changes as a shift toward a 鈥渃lassical model of education.鈥� But the revisions raised questions about potential religious indoctrination and bias. Nevertheless, in November, the Texas Board of Education approved the new curriculum in a close vote. Linda Jacobson followed the story closely.

The Political War Over the Department of Education Is Only Beginning

By Kevin Mahnken 

Fresh from their November victories, Republicans are already working to help President-elect Donald Trump achieve his promise of abolishing the U.S. Department of Education. But research suggests that, while perceptions of the agency are mixed, the public is unlikely to back a sweeping course of elimination. 鈥淪aying you鈥檒l get rid of it reads generically as being anti-education,鈥� one political scientist told Kevin Mahnken. 鈥淭hat strikes me as a very heavy albatross to hang around your neck come the midterms.” 

18 Years, $2 Billion: Inside New Orleans’ Biggest School Recovery Effort in History

By Beth Hawkins

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina destroyed 110 New Orleans schools. Displaced families could not return until there were classrooms to welcome their kids, but no one had ever tried to rebuild an entire school system. While many of the buildings were moldering even before the storm, federal funds couldn’t be used to build something better. Some of the schools had landmark status and were of great historical significance. Eighteen years and $2 billion later, Beth Hawkins took a look at seven schools that illustrate how the district accomplished the task.

As Ryan Walters鈥� Right-Wing Star Rose, Critics Say Oklahoma Ed Dept. Fell Apart

By Linda Jacobson

Oklahoma state education chief Republican Ryan Walters has acted as a one-man publicity machine, a performance that鈥檚 earned him venomous foes and ardent fans who follow him with a near-religious fervor. But one casualty of his approach might be a functioning state education bureaucracy. Even Republican lawmakers have grown impatient, calling for a probe into how Walters handles state and federal funds. As Rep. Tammy West, a GOP incumbent running for re-election, told reporter Linda Jacobson, 鈥淩egardless of party, citizens want transparency, accountability and communication.鈥�

AI 鈥楥ompanions鈥� Are Patient, Funny, Upbeat 鈥� and Probably Rewiring Kids Brains

By Greg Toppo

A college student relies on ChatGPT to help him make life decisions, including whether to break up with his girlfriend. Is this a future we feel good about? While AI bots and companions like ChatGPT, Replika and Snapchat鈥檚 MyAI, can offer support, comfort and advice, experts are beginning to warn of potential risks. 社区黑料鈥檚 Greg Toppo talks to researchers and policy experts about what we should be doing to help make them safer.

Indiana Looks to Swiss Experts to Create Thousands of Student Apprenticeships

By Patrick O鈥橠onnell

Indiana officials have turned to experts at the Swiss version of MIT for help in becoming a national career training leader by making apprenticeships available to thousands of high school students across the state. Indiana is the latest state to work with ETH Zurich 鈥� where Albert Einstein once studied 鈥� to develop ways to break down barriers between educators and businesses so that career training can be a large part of a reinvented high school experience, reported Patrick O鈥橠onnell. 

Investigation: Nearly 1,000 Native Children Died in Federal Boarding Schools

By Marianna McMurdock 

Nearly 1,000 Native American children died while forced to attend government-affiliated boarding schools, according to a report published last summer by the Interior Department. The children are buried in 74 unmarked and marked graves, reported Marianna McMurdock, as tribes assess repatriation of remains. Nearly 19,000 children were estimated to be kidnapped, often at gunpoint, and enrolled in the schools with the aim of assimilation. “We [were] never called by our name, we were all called by our numbers,鈥� said one survivor. 

The Nation鈥檚 Biggest Charter School System Is Under Fire in Los Angeles

By Ben Chapman 

The nation鈥檚 largest experiment with charter schools is no longer growing. These days, Los Angeles charter operators say they are just trying to survive. With tough new policies governing co-locations, falling enrollment, and a hostile district school board, charter leaders say they鈥檝e never faced stronger headwinds, reported Ben Chapman. With enrollment plummeting across the district, some charter networks have recently announced closures while others have stopped submitting proposals for new campuses. 鈥淣ow, particularly in L.A., our focus is not on growing,鈥� said Joanna Belcher, chief impact officer for KIPP SoCal. 

Florida Students Seize on Parental Rights to Stop Educators from Hitting Kids

By Mark Keierleber 

Late last year, Florida senior Brooklynn Daniels was called to the principal鈥檚 office and spanked with a wooden paddle 鈥渢hat was thick like a chapter book.鈥� Like in many enclaves that dot the Florida panhandle, Liberty County permits corporal punishment as a form of student discipline. But her flogging, the honors student said, went much further: She alleged sexual assault and filed a police report, reported Mark Keierleber. Daniels joined a student-led movement to change Florida law that has latched onto the GOP-led parental rights movement. 

Interactive: See How Student Achievement Gaps Are Growing in Your State

By Chad Aldeman

In 2012, then-President Barack Obama freed states from the accountability provisions of No Child Left Behind in exchange for reforms related to standards, assessments and teacher evaluations. That relaxing of school and district accountability pressures corresponded with a decline in student performance across the country that is still being felt 鈥� achievement gaps are growing across subjects and all across the country. To illustrate these alarming discrepancies, contributor Chad Aldeman and Eamonn Fitzmaurice, 社区黑料鈥檚 art and technology director, created an interactive tool that enables you to see what’s happening with student performance in your state.

Left Powerless: Non-English鈥揝peaking Parents Denied Vital Translation Services

by Amanda Geduld

Flouting federal laws, K-12 public schools routinely fail to provide qualified interpreters to non-English-speaking families. Parents must instead rely on Google translate, their own kid or a bilingual staff member who isn鈥檛 a trained interpreter for issues as simple as their child鈥檚 absence for a day or as complex and intimidating as a special education meeting or a school disciplinary hearing. The problem is pervasive and vastly underreported, experts told Amanda Geduld. School leaders say they are trying their best, but lack the money and staffing to meet the need. 

Failed West Virginia Microschool Fuels State Probe and Some Soul-Searching

By Linda Jacobson

The West Virginia treasurer鈥檚 investigation into a microschool, funded with education savings accounts, offers a glimpse into an emerging market that has mushroomed since the pandemic. When the program shut down after a few months, parents were left demanding their money back and scrambling to find other arrangements for their children. The example, experts say, shows that it takes more than good intentions to provide a quality education program. As one parent told Linda Jacobson, 鈥淚 should have seen the red flags.鈥�

In the Rush to Covid Recovery, Did We Forget About Our Youngest Learners?

by Lauren Camera

The country鈥檚 youngest elementary school students suffered steep academic setbacks in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic 鈥� just like students in older grades. But new research shows that they aren鈥檛 catching back up to pre-pandemic levels in reading and math the way older students are. And when it comes to math, many are falling even further behind. 鈥淲e were shocked when we first saw the data,鈥� Kristen Huff, vice president of assessment and research at Curriculum Associates, told Lauren Camera.

After years of trying to keep students from using their phones during the school day, Kihei Charter School has invested roughly $9,000 in what administrators hope will be a foolproof way to keep mobile devices out of classrooms. 

The Maui school purchased 300 pouches this year that magnetically lock when students place their phones inside, said Head of School Michael Stubbs. High school students put their phones in the pouches at the start of the day and can only open them in the afternoon using a special unlocking station teachers store in their rooms.

So far the effort appears to be working. Teachers are reporting fewer distractions in class this year and more social interactions among students, Stubbs said. The school also purchased games like Connect 4 and Jenga for students to play during their free time.

鈥淭here鈥檚 less isolation,鈥� he said.

Many schools in Hawaii are grappling with how to reduce students鈥� reliance on cell phones, citing concerns about unnecessary distractions in class and the toll social media can take on teenagers鈥� mental health.

 have passed laws restricting cell phone use during class time, and another 12 have introduced legislation to curb phone use on campuses. In Hawaii, guidelines from the  state that students can only use electronic devices with teacher approval.

Principals have the freedom to create policies around cell phone use and can empower teachers to decide how students use personal electronics during class. Often schools resort to confiscating phones and holding parent conferences when students repeatedly ignore their teacher鈥檚 rules.

In 2005, the Hawaii Board of Education debated banning cell phones in public schools statewide but opted not to after members voiced concern about students being able to access phones during an emergency. The board has not discussed any similar proposals since.

Teachers and administrators say restricting cell phone use during the day can reduce students鈥� attachment to their devices and help them develop healthier habits. But many agree that cell phone bans can only go so far, and schools and families need to do more to teach students how to use technology and social media responsibly when they are off-campus.  

鈥淧olicy can help,鈥� said Ilima Intermediate School teacher Sarah Milianta-Laffin. 鈥淏ut we also need to teach kids how to use these devices.鈥�  

Piloting New Cell Phone Policies

At Nanakuli High and Intermediate School, students started the year with a new rule: no phones out during class. Cell phone policies previously varied by classroom, said teacher Chloe Kitsu, who allowed students to keep their phones face down on their desks or use their devices once they finished assignments.

Kitsu initially worried that she would have to constantly remind students to put away their devices or ask administrators to come and confiscate phones from her classroom. But most students have respected the new rules so far, Kitsu said, especially since they are still allowed to use their phones during lunch and passing periods.

鈥淚 think if you told me one year ago that I wouldn鈥檛 have as many problems with cell phones and getting them to put it away, I don鈥檛 know if I would believe you,鈥� Kitsu said. 鈥淏ut really, I鈥檝e had nothing but positive experiences from it.鈥�

Even at the elementary school level, many students are comfortable using cell phones and sharing their devices with friends, said Kaiulani Elementary School Principal Bebi Davis. She makes students keep phones in their backpacks and will confiscate devices if kids repeatedly ignore their teachers鈥� warnings. 

Sometimes, parents and students are frustrated that they can鈥檛 text each other during the school day, Davis added, but she reassures families that they can communicate with their children by calling the front office.

Iolani School, a private school in Honolulu, is also strengthening its policies around cell phones for older students. For the first time this year, seventh through ninth graders are required to keep phones in their bags or lockers until the final bell, although students in grades 10 through 12 are still allowed to use their personal devices throughout the day.   

The school already made students in grades kindergarten through six put their phones away during the day, said Head of School Timothy Cottrell.

Cottrell said student mental health was one of the greatest factors driving the school鈥檚 new policy this year. Students often spend less time interacting with friends and more time comparing themselves to others while they鈥檙e on their phones and using social media, he added. 

 has found that excessive use of social media and cell phones can negatively affect students鈥� physical and mental health, contributing to sleep deprivation and poor self-esteem.

The school can鈥檛 regulate how students use their phones off-campus, but he hopes the new policy will help teens understand how they can use electronics while also prioritizing in-person interactions and physical activities in their daily lives. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 introducing moderation to help them have a healthy relationship with the device,鈥� Cottrell said.

Education May Be Needed More Than Bans

While many schools are cracking down on cell phone use, others are loosening cell phone restrictions in response to student feedback and staff frustration. 

In past years, students at Ilima Intermediate weren鈥檛 allowed to use their phones in common spaces like the library or cafeteria, said Milianta-Laffin. The school鈥檚 security team spent a lot of time confiscating phones, the teacher said, and some students were still checking notifications during class.

The school is now letting students use their phones during lunch and recess with the hope that they鈥檒l keep their devices away during class. 

The new policy has helped, but some kids still try to hide their phones behind their bags or under their desks during class, Milianta-Laffin said. Administrators will occasionally confiscate devices at teachers鈥� requests, but it鈥檚 hard to break students of a bad habit.

鈥淚t is a lot like Whac-A-Mole sometimes,鈥� Milianta-Laffin said. 

During a recent family event on cell phones at Punahou School, parents grappled with a series of questions about how to monitor social media use and set family rules around using phones at home.

Most parents supported the school鈥檚 decision this year to ban phone high schoolers from using their phones during class, said President Michael Latham. But the school is also working with families to teach kids about the impact of social media on their mental health and how to use their phones responsibly outside of campus, Latham added. 

鈥淓ven if you do an outright ban, you have no ability to control what happens once the school day is over,鈥� Latham said. 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 take the time to actually teach these social and emotional impacts and ways to regulate your own use and behavior, then I don鈥檛 think we鈥檙e serving the students very well.鈥�

Deborah Bond-Upson, president of and interim director of the Hui for Excellence in Education, said she would support a statewide policy preventing students from using cell phones during class time. But, she said, teachers would need more support to implement this ban, and schools need to pair these rules with more lessons about how students can use devices for learning, instead of harm. 

鈥淲e need to think smarter about technology,鈥� she said.

Civil Beat鈥檚 education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy.

Public school districts across Arkansas are expected to be able to lock up students鈥� cell phones during school hours, with the state Department of Education distributing $7 million to pay for pouches or lockers.

The Arkansas Legislative Council will take up the restricted reserve fund request Friday after the Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review subcommittee approved it Monday on a voice vote with some dissent.

鈥淭his initiative seeks to foster a phone-free environment, enabling an evaluation of its impact on student learning, engagement, and overall student health,鈥� Department of Education Chief Fiscal Officer Greg Rogers wrote to Department of Finance and Administration Secretary Jim Hudson requesting the funds.

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The phone restriction initiative is part of Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Education Secretary Jacob Oliva announced in July. The program will also provide grant funding for telehealth mental health services and support for locating mental health providers and navigating insurance matters, .

Cell phone policies at Arkansas schools vary among districts and individual classrooms. While some teachers collect phones at the start of instructional time, others allow students to access their devices after completing assignments.

The $7 million allocation is an estimate of the cost of the locking devices based on the number of students in the roughly 180 school districts that have applied to participate in the pilot program, said Courtney Salas-Ford, the education department鈥檚 chief of staff.

School districts rather than the state would be responsible for replacing the devices, but metal lockers and magnetically-sealed cloth pouches 鈥渉ave a very long life expectancy,鈥� Salas-Ford said.

The pouches from , a California-based company with the goal of creating 鈥減hone-free spaces,鈥� can be locked and unlocked by separate unlocking devices kept under the supervision of adults while students keep the pouches with them at all times. , the De Queen School District approved the use of the pouches for middle school and junior high students as part of its participation in the pilot program.

Sanders has repeatedly advocated for reducing social media use among teenagers, citing concerns about depression and suicide rates.

鈥淥ur country has been experimenting with unregulated smartphone use for more than a decade, and unfortunately the results have been absolutely devastating for our young people,鈥� Sanders said at at Bentonville鈥檚 Ardis Ann Middle School.

Bentonville West High School piloted a program last year that required cell phones to be silenced and stored during class. Bentonville School District Director of Communications Leslee Wright said in July that the initiative was a 鈥渞emarkable success,鈥� with 86% of staff reporting a positive impact. Administrators also recorded a 57% reduction in verbal or physical aggression offenses and a 51% reduction in drug-related offenses, she said.

YONDR CEO Graham Dugoni attended the press conference, which marked the start of the pilot program a month after it was announced.

鈥淥ne of the things he said that really stuck with me [is] this isn鈥檛 about taking anything away,鈥� Sanders said. 鈥淭his is about giving students the freedom to enjoy a phone-free education.鈥�

As part of the pilot program, the University of Arkansas鈥� Office for Education Policy will examine how students鈥� mental health may be impacted by reduced access to cell phones and social media. A smaller group of districts from the pilot program will participate in the UA study.

In May, Sanders sent a copy of Jonathan Haidt鈥檚 book, The Anxious Generation, to all state and territorial governors in America, as well as Arkansas legislators. According to the July press release, she expressed support for four main goals: no smartphones before high school, no social media before age 16, phone-free schools, and more outdoor play and childhood independence.

Proposals to reduce smartphone use have been gaining traction across the country, including in , , .

that Sanders championed would have been the first in the nation to require minors to receive parental permission before signing up for a social media account. A federal judge last August, hours before it was set to take effect.

Arkansas lawmakers might introduce legislation in January requiring all districts to lock up students鈥� phones during the school day, House Speaker Pro Tempore Jon Eubanks, R-Paris, said during Monday鈥檚 PEER meeting.

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Facetime calls. Blaring music. Video games.

鈥淵ou name it, it was happening鈥� during class at DeLaSalle High School, said Breona Ward, director of college and career progressions.

Students鈥� cellphone use got in the way of learning at the Kansas City charter school.

The difference Ward saw in her English classroom was 鈥渘ight and day鈥� after a crackdown on cellphones midway through the 2022-23 school year. With students鈥� phones locked up, she saw fewer power struggles, disruptions and social media-fueled conflicts.

Even students鈥� downtime was different, Ward said. Instead of having their heads bowed, eyes fixed on phones, they talked with one another and played board games.

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鈥淚t鈥檚 beautiful,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou see kids who normally aren鈥檛 talking to each other, they鈥檙e not in the same friend group, but they are growing bonds, and they鈥檙e actually communicating.鈥�

But 18 months after introducing a stricter cellphone policy, the Kansas City charter school is pondering how to ease up without reverting to the same old problems.

Students are advocating to use their phones in some circumstances, such as outside of class. Executive director Sean Stalling wants to encourage their initiative.

鈥淲hile I might not agree 100% with every change鈥� students have proposed, Stalling said, 鈥淚 will agree 100% that having the policy that鈥檚 co-created with students and school 鈥� will be easier to enforce and easier to implement.”

How the policy worked

DeLaSalle in early 2023.

The school 鈥� which specializes in working with students who were behind on credits or otherwise struggled at other high schools 鈥� urgently needed to get more out of classroom time. After all, they were still catching up from the pandemic.

Some research shows negative impacts on academic performance, mental health and exercise when students use cellphones in school.

Three-quarters of public schools nationally during the 2020-21 school year, but enforcement of those bans is wildly uneven. A of about 200 children ages 11 to 17 found 97% of them used cellphones in school.

Rather than just putting a cellphone ban in writing, DeLaSalle used magnetically sealed pouches made by and marketed for schools, events and workplaces. Students can carry the pouches with them, but they only open with a special unlocking station.

At least, that鈥檚 how it was supposed to work.

Students quickly discovered that the pouches are fallible, Principal Erin Wilmore said.

A Google search brings up advice on breaching the lock, sometimes without tell-tale damage.

Students鈥� attempts to skirt the policy have required the school to devote time to enforcement rather than relying on Yondr alone, Wilmore said.

As part of the morning routine, students go through bag checks and Wilmore or a vice principal examines every Yondr pouch. When they find a damaged pouch, they toss it.

In class, teachers who catch students using phones call administrators.

Students who violate the policy can have their phones confiscated during school, sometimes for days or weeks. Other than those consequences, the policy isn鈥檛 meant to be punitive.

鈥淲e do not want to suspend kids, restrict them and do things to them that could lead to them not being in school,鈥� Stalling said.

Students also got around the policy by bringing tablets 鈥� too big to fit in Yondr pouches 鈥� or Apple watches, Ward said. But in general, those devices have been less disruptive than phones. For example, it鈥檚 easier to see at a glance how a student is using a tablet.

Reactions and impact

Stalling said the policy left more time for teaching.

Students beat the scores of their Kansas City Public Schools neighborhood high school peers, on average, when they took their 2023 state English exams. DeLaSalle records also show they narrowed the gap on math scores. Final scores for 2024 aren鈥檛 available yet.

Stalling said it鈥檚 notable because many DeLaSalle students previously struggled in those neighborhood schools. It鈥檚 not clear how much of the improvement is a result of the cellphone policy.

Teachers generally supported launching the cellphone policy, Stalling said, with the exception of one who already had a policy that was working well.

Wilmore, the principal, said teachers generally appreciate the clarity and the attempt to reclaim instruction time. But they also say enforcement 鈥� hailing an administrator when a kid gets busted for using a phone 鈥� can pose its own distraction.

About 95% of parents also support the policy, Stalling said. Some even help enforce it.

鈥淲e have had parents call us to say, 鈥楬ey, my son just called me from the bathroom, and I know he鈥檚 not supposed to have his phone,鈥欌�� he said.

Some parents say they worry about safety and how they鈥檇 reach their child during a shooting or some other crisis, Ward said.

The school made exceptions for special circumstances such as students using phones to monitor medical conditions, expecting an important phone call from court or going through a family tragedy.

Students who go off campus for internships or college classes are generally allowed to keep their phones with them for safety reasons, Ward said.

She thinks phones pose their own risks. Social media drama 鈥渟pills over into real life here in the building,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ehavioral incidents have (gone) down significantly because they have less access to their phones.鈥�

Phone restrictions also prevent real-life teasing or conflict from being recorded, going viral and becoming a schoolwide incident, Stalling said.

Students, generally, aren鈥檛 so hot on the policy.

Administrators and students are negotiating potential changes, Stalling said. DeLaSalle will still keep phones out of class but could retire Yondr pouches 鈥� unless a student breaks the rules.

鈥淚nstructional time will still be sacred,鈥� Stalling said. But 鈥渟tudents have lunch, students have passing periods, students have out-of-the-building programs. And so there are times that the students would like to have access to their phone.鈥�

Ideas about tweaking the policy are worth listening to, Wilmore said. But she also likes what the strict version of the cellphone ban has done.

Students now understand, she said, 鈥渢hat we鈥檙e not going to let phones take away from the culture of learning. 鈥� It showed them an extremity. Now, it鈥檚 putting the ball back in their court if we revise the policy.鈥�

This first appeared on and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Girls, who have been shown to to the psychological harms of social media, spend even more time on the apps than boys (an average of 5.3 hours a day vs. 4.4 hours for boys) and the platforms consume more of teenagers鈥� lives as they move through high school: 4.1 hours a day on average for 13-year-olds compared to 5.8 hours for 17-year-olds. 

The data collected from 6,643 parents and 1,591 of their adolescent children between June and July also identified factors that can loosen social media鈥檚 grip: Teens who scored high on conscientiousness as it relates to self-control and regulation spent less time on the apps as did those living with parents who restricted their screen time. Those kids were on social media 1.8 hours less a day on average than their peers whose parents strongly disagreed with curtailing screen time. 

The survey was accompanied by a  by Gallup and the Institute for Family Studies looking more closely at how parenting and self-control can mediate the link between social media use and youth mental health. Both come some five months after the U.S. surgeon general warned that social media poses a profound risk to children and the same month that , saying it designed features to hook children and lied about its platforms鈥� safety.

Meta owns three of the seven social media apps examined in the Gallup survey 鈥� Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. YouTube and TikTok were by far the most popular platforms surveyed, with teen girls spending nearly two hours a day watching TikTok videos and boys doing the same on YouTube for slightly more than that.

社区黑料 spoke with Jonathan Rothwell, a principal economist at Gallup who authored the research, to alert parents and educators to five things they should know about social media鈥檚 impact on youth mental health.

1. There鈥檚 a direct link between parent involvement and teens鈥� social media use and mental health.

Though social media鈥檚 impact on teen mental health has been long explored, one notable and less-researched feature of this survey is the correlation between parental involvement and intervention in teen鈥檚 screen time and its impact on their mental health. Rothwell says not only is limiting social media usage beneficial, but any harm from the content absorbed also seems to be mitigated by a strong parent-child relationship.

The Gallup and Institute for Family Studies report explored the idea from other researchers that the issue of social media and declining mental health may be cyclical for young people, who are already experiencing poor mental health or have 鈥渓ow life satisfaction,鈥� and turn to social media as a form of escapism. But teens who reported having a stronger and more loving relationship with their parents used social media less frequently and overall reported having better mental health.

2. Video-centered social media platforms like TikTok and YouTube may pose a bigger threat to teens鈥� mental health than other social media apps.

Teens reported spending an average of 1.9 hours a day on YouTube and 1.5 hours on TikTok. Rothwell points to videos being their most obvious feature, one unlike that of other social media apps that have historically focused on text and photos. The distinction raises questions about their appeal and potential harm. Instagram and Facebook are now modeling their platforms after TikTok and YouTube with vertical video features, trying to capture some of the same audience allure.

Rothwell says it would require greater detailed analysis to determine whether it鈥檚 simply the never-ending loop design of these video-centered apps or whether it鈥檚 particular content in the videos themselves that is creating a large appeal among teens and having an impact on their mental health. 

3. Even with involved parents, teen body image issues persist.

The report found that teens who spend more than five hours a day on social media are nearly three times as likely to hold negative views of their appearance as those who spend less time online. These negative effects were only associated in the report with YouTube and TikTok, likely because of the higher frequency with which teens use those apps versus Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

鈥淓ven when we saw that that sort of strong parenting relationship mitigates and maybe even eliminates the overall mental health problems, we did find that this other measure related to the teens鈥� body image continued to be negative, even in the context of a loving relationship with their parents,鈥� Rothwell said. 鈥淭hat makes me think that there could be something about these videos that makes people feel bad about who they are and what their body looks like.鈥�

4. Reducing the quantity of time spent on social media versus the quality of time may be more beneficial.

Because there鈥檚 no way for parents to ensure what teens may come across online at all times, Rothwell believes that reducing the amount of time spent on social media rather than trying to curate content creators or types of posts is the safer strategy. And because apps have refined their platforms to prioritize showing users people they don鈥檛 follow, there鈥檚 an added risk of coming across content that may contribute to declining mental health.

鈥淲ith any of these sites, there’s just no guarantee that unless you’re there with your kid, watching the videos together, that you’re going to be able to prevent exposure to harmful content.鈥�

5. Parents and educators have the opportunity to foster a healthier relationship between teens and their social media use.

Rothwell says that much like the cultural norms that exist with teaching healthy lifestyle habits, such as not overeating, healthy social media practices should also be implemented at home and in school.

鈥淓veryone who interacts with teenagers needs to do a better job of teaching them that it鈥檚 wasting their time and wasting their opportunities [and] to do something healthier, whether it’s education- or exercise-related or spending time with friends,鈥� Rothwell said. 鈥淓ven if the content was totally harmless, the probability that they’re going to be learning something useful from that content is very low.鈥�