‘Close to zero’: Schools are spending tens of millions banning phones from classrooms, but test scores aren’t improving

Phones are disappearing from classrooms. There’s no longer a soundscape of notifications during lessons, no more hidden glances at messages and DMs. No longer does the slacker in the back of class scroll endlessly on Tik Tok. At least 37 states, as well as Washington D.C., have banned phones and other electronic devices. It costs a hefty amount to do so. New York City public schools have allocated $29 million on phone pouches to hold devices during the day. Los Angeles schools spent $5.2 million. Other major metros are throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars to take phones out of the classroom. And while that push gains steam, researchers at Stanford University, Duke University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Pennsylvania just conducted the most comprehensive study of phone bans since schools started enforcing them, and the results are mixed. The study, a working paper published in the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), found that out of data from 4,600 schools, bans have produced virtually no net change to test scores. They’ve also not moved the needle on bullying, classroom attendance, and self-reported attention rates, many of the conditions the bans were meant to improve. “We do see slightly positive effects in high schools, and slightly even smaller effects, and negative in middle schools,” Duke professor and study co-author E. Jason Baron, told Fortune, speaking of the impact on test scores. “But again they’re basically close to zero, both of them.” Meanwhile, high schoolers’ math and reading scores have continued plummeting, reaching historic lows in 2024 even as phone bans have grown in popularity. Computer use in schools may be hurting student test scores Of course, there are other factors that may contribute to this decline. While phones have disappeared from the classroom, other devices have moved in. Computers are now a staple of the American educational experience; most students are handed one to complete