Cellphone use in schools in the USA
It’s increasingly understood that smartphones are distracting and disruptive for teachers and students in schools. According to the Common Sense Media Smartphone research report, smartphone use as schools is widespread with 97% of students surveyed saying they use their phone during the school day.
What are the rules on phones in schools in the USA
During 2023 and 2024 a number of States have introduced restrictions on the use of cellphones in schools. Indiana and Florida came first and California and New York are also taking steps to reduce cellphone use. In July 2024 Pennsylvania Senate passed a bill to encourage school districts to ban students’ phone use during the day.
What are schools doing currently to reduce the problem?
It is not a new concern. Schools have had policies in place to minimise phone use for years including phones having to be in bags or left at the front of the classroom and switched off during class. Phone lockers or pouches have been introduced in some schools requiring students to leave their phone in their locker for the day.
Many schools report that their policies are well received and adhered to. They may also have greater flexibility for senior students allowing use of phones in between classes and in study rooms but not in front of younger students.
What do parents think?
There has been significant support for cellphone free schools from some parents but there are others who use their child’s smartphone as a way of staying in close touch with during the school day. This has been identified as a trend that has increased significantly since the Covid-19 pandemic. Teachers have reported that parents expect to be able to contact their child during the day despite knowing that the school has a cellphone ban during classroom time. Finding a way to allow students to keep their phones on them but ensure they are complying with a phone-free classroom by keeping them switched off during lessons could be a way of keeping parents on-side whilst navigating a policy solution that works for teachers, students and parents.
The locker or pouch approach
Providing mobile phone lockers for schools has both cost and physical logistics issues. The cost of lockers can be in the region of $30 per pupil. In a large high school with 800+ pupils that’s an outlay of $24,000.
Cellphone pouches like Yondr have also been trialled, and the cost is usually passed on to parents at $25-30 in the first year with ongoing annual fees and replacement costs. The outcomes have been mixed with some schools reporting a successful implementation and others concluding that they are not a long term solution after students found their way around the technology.
Both costly approaches require a significant level of trust that pupils will do as they are asked and place their phone in the locker or pouch.
So what’s the alternative?
The Scout™ is a small handheld device developed to provide an easy-to-use monitoring and auditing tool for schools to detect mobile phones in classrooms and exam conditions.
In a recent test in a specialist sixth form in the UK, our team demonstrated the Scout™’s capabilities. The policy at the school is for phones to be placed in lockers at the beginning of the day and retrieved at the end. The head teacher was confident that the students were abiding by the rules.
In the first small classroom of 12 pupils, we discovered one phone within a couple of minutes. This led to another student volunteering their phone for fear of sanctions. In the second classroom a similar outcome and in the third classroom of 24 students, 8 phones were detected.
Cost comparison – Scout™ vs lockers or pouches
The Scout costs $1199 which is equivalent to providing lockers for just 50 students. If a school has spent $24,000 on lockers, then it is key that this policy is verified and audited as having the effect the school is seeking.
Alternatively, if no investment in lockers has been made, the Scout allows for a “phones in bags and switched off” policy to be tested and verified frequently at just 3.333% of the outlay of lockers and no cost to parents.
How does the Scout™ work?
The Scout is a small handheld device that can scan for any form of data signal transmitted when a cellphone or similar device is switched on. Even when it’s not being used the phone will give off a signal that can be found by the Scout. Scanning can be done in the area of a single classroom or a quick change of settings will allow you to check for phones across a wider area such as an exam hall.
This simple device works brilliantly in schools to support distraction free learning, empowering our teachers and children to get the best out of their classroom time.