Phone restrictions in schools have mixed results, according to a study by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Why it matters: Missouri and Kansas students are already living under strict phone bans, but the research says the bans may not deliver the academic boost some supporters hoped for.
State of play: A 2025 Missouri law requires schools to ban phones for the entire school day, and metro districts just finished year one.
Kansas' 2026 ban is one of the strictest in the country, one of only four states specifying phones can't be accessible to students at all during school.
As of this year, roughly two-thirds of states have enacted legislation limiting student phone access, per the study.
What they found: Schools that require students to lock away their phones during class have seen phone use decline substantially, according to the study shared by the National Bureau of Economic Research in April.
Student well-being also appears to improve the longer the rules remain in place.
Yes, but: "For academic achievement, average effects on test scores are consistently close to zero," the researchers wrote.
And they found "little evidence" that those policies affect attendance, attention in class or perceived online bullying.
The bottom line: Cellphone bans may still benefit students, even if they don't directly translate into higher test scores.
