"How do you get teenagers to put their phones away for hours at a time? That is the question many schools are trying to solve as bans on cellphones sweep the U.S. more than 30 states so far now restrict their use during the school day. One of those states is Kentucky, where all public school classes must now be cellphone free. Districts can set their own policies to achieve that goal."
"Before the restrictions, "we didn't even know the majority of the kids were learning, because they weren't responding [in class]," says Hollie Smith, now in her second year as the school's executive principal. "They were just doing things on their phones." Smith says she can see the changes throughout the school: "Kids know the expectations now." For one thing, there's more discourse, she says."
"Even though she finds the initial results positive and encouraging, Smith is under no illusion about what the students think: "I think they absolutely hate it. Their phone is their lives it's their world." The big question, though, here and at thousands of schools around the country, is: Are these bans working? In talking with educators and students at this school, there seems to be agreement reluctant agreement from some students that it is working. Just not exactly in the way the policy intends"
More than 30 states restrict phone use during the school day. Kentucky requires all public school classes to be cellphone free, with districts setting policies. Some districts collect phones at the start of class; others allow phone use only during lunch. Jefferson County enacted a bell-to-bell ban. At a Louisville magnet school, teachers observed that students previously were not responding in class and used phones instead. After the ban, students follow expectations, classroom discourse has increased, and cafeteria conversations are louder. Many students resent losing phone access. Early results show mixed alignment with policy goals.
Read at www.npr.org
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