Alyssa Burrage and Luke Pinion join Derek to talk about their districts' experiences with designing and rolling out personal communications devices policies over the last several years. What gave rise to the need, how did it all go, what have been the effects so far, and what advice might they have for others?

In this episode, Derek reviews the research literature on the effects of implementing a personal-devices policy in schools; and then Rob joins the conversation to talk the things that staff, students, and parents want a phone ban to achieve -- and they're not the same!

If you're interested in surveying your stakeholders, reach out!

Below is a brief bibliography of the studies references in the episode.

• Abrahamsson, S. (2024). Smartphone bans, student outcomes, and mental health. NHH Dept. of Economics Discussion Paper No. 01. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4735240

• Adams, M. (2019). Threading the Cyber-Needle: protecting children by banning smartphones in school while still embracing technology. U. Pac. L. Rev., 51, 245. (https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1243&context=uoplawreview)

• Beland, L. P., & Murphy, R. (2016). Ill communication: technology, distraction & student performance. Labour Economics, 41, 61-76. (https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/62574/1/dp1350.pdf)

• Böttger, T., & Zierer, K. (2024). To ban or not to ban? A rapid review on the impact of smartphone bans in schools on social well-being and academic performance. Education Sciences, 14(8), 906. (https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/14/8/906)

• Campbell, M., Edwards, E. J., Pennell, D., Poed, S., Lister, V., Gillett-Swan, J., ... & Nguyen, T. A. (2024). Evidence for and against banning mobile phones in schools: A scoping review. Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools, 34(3), 242-265. (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/20556365241270394)

• Doffing, E. (2018). Effective Technology Policies: How To Create And Implement An Effective Policy For Personal Devices In Secondary Schools.

• Dontre, A. J. (2021). The influence of technology on academic distraction: A review. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, 3(3), 379-390.

• Figlio, D. N., & Özek, U. (2025). The Impact of Cellphone Bans in Schools on Student Outcomes: Evidence from Florida (No. w34388). National Bureau of Economic Research. (https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w34388/w34388.pdf)

• Kessel, D., Hardardottir, H. L., & Tyrefors, B. (2020). The impact of banning mobile phones in Swedish secondary schools. Economics of Education Review, 77, 102009. (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm?abstractid=3617386)

• King, D. L., Radunz, M., Galanis, C. R., Quinney, B., & Wade, T. (2024). “Phones off while school's on”: Evaluating problematic phone use and the social, wellbeing, and academic effects of banning phones in schools. Journal of Behavioral Addictions, 13(4), 913-922. (https://akjournals.com/downloadpdf/view/journals/2006/13/4/article-p913.pdf)

• McCoy, B. R. (2020). Gen Z and digital distractions in the classroom: Student classroom use of digital devices for non-class related purposes. (https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1118&context=journalismfacpub)

• Rahali, M., Kidron, B., & Livingstone, S. (2024). Smartphone policies in schools: What does the evidence say?. (https://eprints.lse.ac.uk/125554/1/Smartphone_policies_in_schools_Rahali_et_al_2024_002_.pdf)

• Selwyn, N., & Aagaard, J. (2021). Banning mobile phones from classrooms—An opportunity to advance understandings of technology addiction, distraction and cyberbullying. British journal of educational technology, 52(1), 8-19. (https://pure.au.dk/portal/files/285092954/Banning_mobile_phones_from_classrooms_accepted_manuscript_2020.pdf)

• Toth, D. M. (2022). Ohio principals with students in grades 6 through 12 and their perceptions and procedures on student cell phone use within their schools. Youngstown State University. (https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send?accession=ysu1646989570155478&disposition=inline)

Tammy Champa sits down with Derek to talk about her experience with transforming school climate in Hastings, Minnesota.