Schools report success with Arkansas' phone-free law
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Northwest Arkansas school officials say the start of the first school year with a statewide cellphone use ban is going smoothly.
The big picture: School leaders weren't sure how students would respond to the new ban, which restricts using cellphones and devices like smartwatches, but they've overwhelmingly adapted well, Rogers Heritage High School principal Chip Greenwell told Axios.
- Teachers say the students are "working together more, talking to each other and looking each other in the eyes," he said.
State of play: The school spent the first week of the semester communicating to parents and students that the district's policy is required by state law and is intended to increase classroom engagement. The most common question parents had was how they could reach their children during an emergency, and the school has assured parents they can contact the office if they need to reach their child.
- Greenwell called the ban "almost a non-issue" and said that in a school with about 2,000 students, just a handful have had repeated warnings or device confiscations.
Likewise, Har-Ber High School in Springdale has had fewer than 1% of its students receive infractions related to device use, principal Paul Griep said in an email.
- "Teachers are seeing greater focus and engagement during lessons, and students are participating more actively in classroom discussions," he wrote. "Outside the classroom, we're also seeing students interact more with one another — talking, laughing and being more present in the moment. Hallways are livelier, and lunch periods feel more connected."
What they're saying: "Implementing this law has been a seamless process for our students and teachers. Our high schools, junior high and middle schools have been cell phone-free for some time before this legislation," Bentonville Public Schools spokesperson Leslee Wright told Axios in a statement.
Flashback: Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders introduced the "Bell to Bell No Cell Act" during this spring's legislative session, calling unrestricted access to smartphones and social media the reason for the rise in mental illness in young people over the past decade. It passed with little opposition and with bipartisan support. Arkansas schools began taking part in a pilot program to ban cellphone usage in fall 2024.
- The law includes exceptions for emergencies and in cases where the device is allowed per a student's education plan regarding their disability.
Zoom out: Cellphone usage bans in schools are gaining momentum nationwide, partly in an effort to combat COVID-era learning loss.
The intrigue: National survey data from the Walton Family Foundation and Gallup shared exclusively with Axios shows attitudes toward phones in schools have shifted drastically in the space of a single generation as educators grapple with distractions and teens' well-being, Axios' April Rubin writes.
- About three-fourths of parents said they support restrictions on phone use, although they favor allowing students to keep phones in their possession.
By the numbers: Gen Alpha (people born from 2010-24) is growing up with more restrictions than Gen Z, as 79% of Gen Z adults said they were allowed to use their phones between classes when they were students, compared to 41% of middle schoolers and 61% of high schoolers now.
- 40% of current middle school students said they can use their phones during free time in class, which is 25 percentage points lower than when Gen Z adults were in school.