How does the presence of mobile phones in schools impact student achievement?
This is an ongoing debate in many countries today. Some advocate for a complete ban, while others promote the use of mobile phones as a teaching tool in classrooms.
So, the question is: Should schools allow the use of mobile phones?
While views remain divided, some schools are starting to allow a restricted use of mobile phones. Most recently, New York Mayor de Blasio lifted a 10-year-ban on phones on school premises, with the chancellor of schools stating that it would reduce inequality.
As researchers studying the economics of education, we conducted a study to find out what impact banning mobile phones has had on student test scores in subsequent years.
We found that not only did student achievement improve, but also that low-achieving and at-risk students gained the most. We found the impact of banning phones for these students equivalent to an additional hour a week in school, or to increasing the school year by five days.
Increased Student Performance
We studied mobile phone bans in England, as mobile phones are very popular there among teenagers. The research involved surveying schools in four cities in England (Birmingham, London, Leicester, and Manchester) about their mobile phone policies since 2001 and combining it with student achievement data from externally marked national exams.
After schools banned mobile phones, test scores of students aged 16 increased by 6.4 percent of a standard deviation, which means that it added the equivalent of five days to the school year.
While our study was based in the U.K., where, by 2012, 90.3 percent of teenagers owned a mobile phone, these results are likely to be significant even here in the United States, where 73 percent of teenagers own a mobile phone.
It is important to note that these gains are prominent among the lowest achievers, and changing policy to allow phones in schools has the potential to exacerbate learning inequalities.
