Iowa's school phone crackdown enters year two
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Iowa students are beginning their second school year under a state law that requires public schools to restrict cellphone use during classroom instruction — but new research suggests such rules have mixed results.
Why it matters: Iowa's law affects daily classroom routines for hundreds of thousands of students, making the real-world payoff of cellphone restrictions increasingly important.
State of play: Schools that require students to lock away their phones during class have seen phone use decline substantially, according to the study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research in April.
- Student well-being also appears to improve the longer the rules remain in place.
By the numbers: Roughly two-thirds of states have enacted policies limiting student phone access, per the study.
- Nearly 5,000 schools use lockable phone pouches, according to the study.
Friction point: Nationally, average effects on test scores were "consistently close to zero," researchers found.
- And they found "little evidence" that those policies affect attendance, attention in class or perceived online bullying.
Zoom in: Early Iowa results are promising.
- Des Moines' North High reported attendance up 7% last fall, while teachers reported more student interaction after its stricter cellphone policy took effect.
- Iowa City schools reported average weekly device-related disciplinary referrals fell about 31%.
Flashback: A's and B's increased 31%, F's fell 6%, out-of-school suspensions dropped nearly 60% and attendance rose 4% under Hoover's pilot project in the 2024-25 school year.
The bottom line: Cellphone bans benefit students — even if they don't directly translate into higher test scores.