by Kathy MooreThe 74
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If the hope is that mobile phone classrooms will bring about a better world for learning, it hasn’t quite materialized—at least not yet. Scholars from Stanford and Duke universities were joined by the universities of Michigan and Pennsylvania The largest study to date School cellphones banned using data compiled from secure pouch maker Yondr.
The study included 4,600 schools and, as my colleague Greg Toppo reported this week, found that attendance, attention and bullying were largely unaffected by locking phones, while academic achievement gains were minimal. But other school climate factors rose and fell in significant ways — discipline worsened, then improved, and student well-being declined before rebounding.
Restrictions or bans on cellphones have been adopted by at least 37 states and the District of Columbia. Not surprisingly, teachers and parents are generally in favor, while students are largely against.
Stanford economist Thomas Dee acknowledged that the results could be seen as quiet and somewhat disappointing, but said more time is needed to measure the impact. The researchers studied three groups of schools, which banned phones in 2022, 2023 and 2024.
“I strongly believe that getting students off their phones, restoring their focus in the classroom within school, is an important precursor to realizing their academic potential,” he said.
Although not part of this study, a related data point is being made by proponents of the cellphone ban: After taking away students’ phones, the Dallas Independent School District A 24% increase was reported Book checkouts in school libraries rose from 872,430 in the first seven months of last school year to 1 million in the same period this year.
in the news
Ban on AI Companions for Child Advancement on Capitol Hill: A Senate bill that would prevent artificial intelligence companions from communicating with children and teenagers received unanimous approval from the Senate Judiciary Committee on April 30 and now awaits Senate floor action. AI chatbots and subject chatbot creators will also require age verification of all users if their tools describe or involve sexually explicit content or promote or encourage physical or sexual violence against anyone under 18, with potential criminal fines of up to $100,000 per offense. K-12 Dive
The National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union, is facing allegations that it created a hostile work environment and discriminated against Jewish members. Under the law, the Louis de Brandeis Center for Human Rights filed a complaint with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging harassment of Jewish members at the union’s House of Representatives meeting last July. The complaint alleges they were mobbed and yelled at during a debate over severing ties with the Anti-Defamation League and faced other forms of discrimination. The Union refuses to tolerate anti-Semitism. | 74
That’s about ChatGPT research. It has been withdrawn. Citing “inconsistencies” in the analysis and a lack of confidence in the conclusions, British-German publisher Springer Nature retracted a study that claimed OpenAI’s ChatGPT could have a positive impact on student learning. The unusual move came nearly a year after publication and after the study had accumulated hundreds of citations and plenty of social media hits. | Ars Technica
The Vermont Principals Association has awarded $566,000 to a Christian school that was barred from participating in state sports in 2023 after refusing to compete against a girls’ basketball team that included a transgender player. The money settled a lawsuit brought by Mid Vermont Christian School and two of its families. They were represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, several “out-of-state conservative legal groups (who) have a growing presence in Vermont courts” litigating education and other cases. | Vtdigger
A state audit has found several weaknesses in how New York City public schools protect the data privacy of its 900,000 students. It points to major gaps in state-required data protection policies and weaknesses in how student information is tracked, protected and managed. The nation’s largest school district has experienced several data breaches in recent years, including through third-party vendors such as Illuminate and PowerSchool. | chockbeet
While TikTok and Instagram scrutinize, YouTube rules in schools. A Kansas mom logged into her seventh-grade school’s Google account last year to find she had accessed more than 13,000 YouTube videos during two months of school. Schools’ overreliance on the Google-owned platform for educational content has opened the door to infinite video scrolling by students on their school-issued devices. | The Wall Street Journal
Connecticut lawmakers approved the state’s first homeschool regulations over objections from Republicans and organized homeschooling families, who see the law as an attack on their parental rights. The rules require all families to submit an annual form stating how their children will be educated and prohibit anyone from removing a child from school to homeschool if they are on the state child abuse or neglect registry or under investigation by child protective services. Two homeschool students have died in the state in the past six months. | City Mirror
Algorithmic school to gel pipeline: With little transparency or oversight, the technology is being used to identify youth as a public safety risk and determine who will be monitored, arrested and imprisoned. But the youth were not passive in the face of this system. They have been the most effective organizers against them. And they won. | search
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