As more states move to restrict cellphone use during the school day, many educators say the most noticeable changes are not showing up on standardized tests — they are happening in hallways, classrooms and conversations among students.
Across schools that have adopted bell-to-bell cellphone restrictions, teachers and administrators report calmer learning environments, stronger student engagement and more face-to-face interaction among students, according to ABC News.
Researchers are still studying whether those changes will lead to long-term academic gains. But many school leaders say the cultural shifts alone have made the policies worthwhile.
“We’re seeing what I think many educators would expect,” Shavar Jeffries, CEO of the KIPP Foundation, told ABC News.
The KIPP Foundation, which supports a national network of public charter schools, has encouraged its high schools to adopt bell-to-bell cellphone restrictions. According to Jeffries, removing phones from the school day has helped students focus on learning while allowing teachers to spend less time managing distractions.
“When our phones aren’t competing for our students’ attention, our classrooms are calmer, students are more focused,” Jeffries told ABC News. “Teachers spend less time policing devices, and they spend more time teaching.”
The growing movement toward phone-free schools comes amid increasing concerns about the role smartphones play in learning, attention and student well-being.
According to an April report from the National Bureau of Economic Research, roughly two-thirds of states have adopted some form of cellphone restriction in schools, while additional legislation was under consideration in states including Pennsylvania ahead of the 2026-27 school year.
School districts continue to join the trend. Denver Public Schools recently approved a bell-to-bell cellphone ban affecting nearly 90,000 students following a unanimous vote by the district’s Board of Education, according to local ABC affiliate Denver7.
In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul recently highlighted results from the first year of the state’s cellphone ban, which took effect in September 2025. According to a statewide educator survey promoted by Hochul, teachers reported fewer classroom distractions, stronger student engagement and improved social connections among students.
Additional reporting by New York ABC station WABC-TV found that many of the nearly 600 educators surveyed said students were participating more in classroom discussions and spending more time interacting face-to-face with their peers.
Jeffries said KIPP schools have experienced similar results.
“We also see that the impact of these cellphone bans goes beyond instruction,” Jeffries told ABC News. “Our students are reporting stronger connections with their classmates and more face-to-face conversations. Teachers report deeper classroom discussions. Our counselors report fewer conflicts and less bullying connected to social media.”
“Across the board, we’re really seeing some significant benefits,” he added.
Research Points to Behavioral Changes
While educators describe meaningful changes inside classrooms, researchers say measurable academic gains may take longer to emerge.
The April National Bureau of Economic Research report, authored by researchers from Stanford University, Duke University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Michigan, analyzed data from more than 40,000 schools.
Researchers found that strict cellphone bans significantly reduced student phone use during the school day. According to the report, phone use during class dropped by roughly 80% in schools using lockable phone pouches.
At the same time, the report found little immediate impact on standardized test scores, attendance or bullying rates. Researchers also observed an initial increase in disciplinary incidents and a temporary decline in student well-being as schools adjusted to the new rules, though those effects eased over time.
For Jeffries, those findings are not surprising.
“I think it’s very hard to isolate the various factors associated with increased academic proficiency or test scores and attribute them solely to a cellphone ban,” he told ABC News.
“Academic results really come from strong teaching, strong curriculum, attendance, a strong education-focused culture and support for teachers and students.”
Still, Jeffries believes cellphone-free environments can help create conditions that support learning.
“A cellphone-free environment is very conducive to those factors,” he said. “Having an environment in which teachers and students can focus on instruction and learning absolutely facilitates academic gains.”
Some localized studies have produced more encouraging academic results.
A study published in May by the journal Education Next found that students in one Florida school district posted higher test scores two years after an all-day cellphone ban was implemented. The study also reported a reduction in unexcused absences, with researchers suggesting improved attendance may help explain some of the academic gains, particularly among middle and high school students.
Not Everyone Is Convinced
Despite growing support for cellphone restrictions, some parents and advocates remain skeptical.
Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Union, told ABC News that technology is an unavoidable part of modern life and that current evidence has not clearly linked cellphone bans to improved academic performance.
“I think it is incredibly naive to think that we are going to pull screens out of the classroom and have this ostrich-head-in-the-sand moment where suddenly our kids are going to graduate from K-12 education prepared to interact in society,” Rodrigues told ABC News.
“It doesn’t make any sense,” she added.
Public opinion also remains divided.
According to a June 2025 Pew Research Center survey cited by ABC News, nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults support banning cellphone use during class. By contrast, a separate Pew survey found that only 17% of teenagers support all-day cellphone restrictions.
Still, educators who support the policies point to changes they say are difficult to ignore.
Jeffries highlighted KIPP Nashville Collegiate High School as one example. According to figures he shared with ABC News, chronic absenteeism at the school dropped from 36% to 10% after cellphone-free requirements were introduced. Average daily attendance increased, and the school also experienced academic improvements.
Jeffries said many parents who initially worried about being unable to reach their children during emergencies eventually came to support the restrictions.
“We found most of our parents are actually very supportive of banning phones during the school day because they are wrestling with how to reduce cellphone use for their children outside of school,” Jeffries told ABC News.
As researchers continue studying the long-term effects of school cellphone bans, many educators say they are already seeing changes that are harder to measure but easy to recognize: students spending more time talking face-to-face, participating in classroom discussions and building stronger connections with classmates.
For schools searching for ways to reduce distractions and encourage engagement, those outcomes may prove just as meaningful as any improvement reflected in test scores.
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