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cellphone policy

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In the News

Did School Cellphone Bans Work? New Study Finds Mixed Results.

May 4, 2026 New York Times
Banning cellphones was supposed to improve many of the problems ailing American education, including distraction, bullying, declining test scores and absenteeism. The idea attracted rare, bipartisan support, and over the past three years, two-thir...
Journal Article

The Effects of School Phone Bans: National Evidence from Lockable Pouches

May 4, 2026
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Hunt Alcott, E. Jason Baron, Thomas Dee, Angela L. Duckworth, Matthew Gentzkow, Brian Jacob
Schools across the U.S. have sharply restricted student use of phones during the school day. We evaluate one type of restriction—lockable phone pouches—using nationwide data combining large-scale surveys, GPS pings, standardized test scores, and scho...

Michigan School Cellphone Policy Study

Youth Policy Lab has partnered with colleagues at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention to examine the impact of school cellphone policies in Michigan. This study aims to identify variability in district cellphone policies; understand the barriers to and facilitators of implementation; and estimate their impact on indicators of community violence, including fights in school, school discipline, and police incidents; as well as a range of mental health, wellbeing, and academic outcomes. While school cellphone restrictions may improve y...

National School Cellphone Policy Study

Youth Policy Lab is conducting a three-year national study of the impacts of school cellphone policies on academic outcomes and student wellbeing. This initiative was launched at a pivotal moment as districts are rapidly implementing cellphone restrictions. One component of this project involves partnering with Yondr, a company that makes cellphone-blocking pouches for schools, to understand how these pouches affect academic achievement, school engagement, behavioral incidents, chronic absenteeism, and socio-emotional measures.A second component involves partnering with Monitoring the Future (...