In this article regarding the new Michigan law regarding cellphone use in schools, Brian Jacob offers insights from related research.
"For most districts, the law won't require much change in policy, but perhaps in enforcement, said Brian Jacob, the lead researcher on an ongoing study of cell phone uses in Michigan's schools at the University of Michigan Youth Policy Lab. Teachers will no longer have the option to be more lax about a school's no-phone policy, or to offer students time on their phone if they finish their work early.
Detroit is going a step further than the law requires, implementing what's known as a "bell-to-bell" policy that students should be without their phones not just during learning time, but throughout the entire school day.
Many districts have passed cellphone policies with just days or weeks left to go until classes begin.
Nearly 95% of Michigan school districts had a districtwide policy about cellphones, but were split 50/50 on whether phones were banned all day or just during class time, according to researchers at the University of Michigan's Youth Policy Lab.
Most districts, Jacob said, have had rules about students not using their phones during instructional time that would meet the requirements of the state law. That doesn't mean they are always effective, though, he added.
"Many of them are what I would consider pretty weak policies, meaning that the enforcement is left largely up to teachers or kind of school staff," Jacob said.
Having the backing of a state law may help, he said, but it could still be up to teachers to do the enforcing.
Jacob also warned that banning phones is not a silver bullet to academic success. Researchers aren't yet sure why, he said, but so far, banning phones has not yet led to increased academic performance. It likely needs to be paired with other initiatives to see that impact, he said. Banning phones, for example, is not enough to overcome a weak curriculum, even if it leads to students, Jacob said.
Still, he said, there's no good argument for students having phones in class that are not directly connected to a lesson being taught at that moment.
"It's hard for me to make any positive case that ... students should have access to their phones during class time," Jacob said. 'Like in my default, if I were a decision maker, like, I would start from a perspective of no, of course you shouldn't.' "
Read the full article by Jennifer Pignolet in The Detroit News
