Does Banning Phones in School Improve Grades? What the Research Shows

Short answer: sometimes, modestly, and mostly when the ban is actually followed. The best-known study, from England, found real gains concentrated among lower-achieving students. A Florida district saw a small gain in the second year of its ban. But the largest U.S. study so far, of schools that locked phones in pouches, found average test-score effects close to zero. Here is what each study found, what it didn’t, and what it means for your school.

The Key Studies

London School of Economics (Beland and Murphy, 2015)

The most-cited study surveyed high schools in four English cities (Birmingham, Leicester, London and Manchester) about when they introduced phone bans, and matched the answers to national exam records. 91 schools responded. It found:

• • Test scores rose by 6.41% of a standard deviation after a ban.
• • Students with the lowest prior achievement gained the most, 14.23% of a standard deviation; the highest achievers were neither helped nor hurt.
• • Where headteachers said the ban was weakly followed, there was no significant gain.

The data run from 2001 through the early 2010s, before smartphones were as central to teen life as they are now, and the study measures exam results, not classroom grades.

Florida (Figlio and Özek, 2025)

Florida’s 2023 law bars student phone use during instructional time unless a teacher allows it. Studying one of the country’s ten largest districts, with records for more than 130,000 students, the researchers found that suspensions rose after enforcement began, especially for Black students, then returned to pre-ban levels in the second year. Test scores improved modestly in the first year and by 1.1 percentile points in the second, with larger effects in middle and high schools, and unexcused absences fell (research brief).

National U.S. study of pouches (Allcott and others, 2026)

The largest U.S. study so far used data from Yondr, the pouch maker, to compare schools that adopted lockable pouches with similar schools that didn’t. Pouches substantially reduced phone use, measured by GPS pings and teacher reports. But average test-score effects were close to zero: modestly positive in high school math, slightly negative in middle school. Discipline incidents rose in the first year and then faded, and student well-being dipped before recovering. It looks at up to three years after adoption, and it is a working paper that has not yet been peer reviewed.

Norway (Abrahamsson, 2026)

Using administrative data and a survey of middle schools’ phone policies, this study found that bans had no average effect on education or mental health, but that this masked differences between boys and girls: bans reduced girls’ use of psychological health care, lowered bullying for both, and improved girls’ GPAs and track placement, especially among girls from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Why a Phone Ban Could Help Learning

• • Interrupted attention. UNESCO cites research finding it can take students up to 20 minutes to refocus after a distraction, and recommends allowing technology in school only when it clearly supports learning (UNESCO).
• • Distraction spreads. In a simulated university lecture, students who could see a classmate multitasking on a laptop scored 17% lower on comprehension (Sana, Weston and Cepeda, 2013).
• • The phone’s mere presence, contested. A 2017 study found people did worse on tests of available cognitive capacity with their phone on the desk than in another room (Ward et al., via UT News), but a 2022 pre-registered replication found no difference (Ruiz Pardo and Minda).
• • Teachers see it. 72% of U.S. high school teachers call phone distraction a major problem in their classroom (Pew Research Center).
• • It shows up on exams. In a Rutgers course where electronic devices were allowed in some lectures and not others, students scored about 5% lower, half a letter grade, on final-exam questions from the lectures where devices were allowed, and students who didn’t use a device scored lower too (Glass and Kang, 2018).

The Catch: The Ban Has to Be Followed

Every study points the same way on one thing: a ban only matters if students follow it. In England, weakly followed bans showed no significant gain. In the U.S., more than half of teens at schools that restrict phones during class say they don’t follow the rules (USC survey via The 74). And even well-enforced bans in the national pouch study didn’t move average scores, which suggests removing phones is one input to learning, not a substitute for teaching.

Enforcement options run from teacher-enforced rules to lockers, pouches and phone-lock apps. We make one of those apps, LockedIn, so weigh our view accordingly; our enforcement guide compares them all.

The Bottom Line

Phone bans that students actually follow can raise achievement modestly, with the biggest gains for students who struggle most in England and for girls in Norway. But the largest U.S. study found average effects near zero, and first-year discipline often rises. Set expectations with your board accordingly: the clearest early wins are less phone use and, in educators’ own reports, better focus; test-score gains, if they come, are small and take time. For bullying, mental health and the rest of the evidence, see do phone bans in schools work; more numbers are in our phone-free school statistics.

Sources

1. London School of Economics, Centre for Economic Performance, Ill Communication: Technology, Distraction & Student Performance (Beland and Murphy, Discussion Paper 1350, PDF) (May 2015)
2. National Bureau of Economic Research, The Impact of Cellphone Bans in Schools on Student Outcomes: Evidence from Florida (Working Paper 34388, Figlio and Özek) (2025)
3. EdWorkingPapers, The Impact of Cellphone Bans in Schools on Student Outcomes: Evidence from Florida, research brief (PDF) (2025)
4. National Bureau of Economic Research, The Effects of School Phone Bans: National Evidence from Lockable Pouches (Working Paper 35132, Allcott, Baron, Dee, Duckworth, Gentzkow and Jacob) (April 2026, revised Sept. 2026)
5. Science, Phones impede learning: Evidence from a massive phone-free classroom experiment (Sungu, Choudhury and Bjerre-Nielsen) (Oct. 8, 2026)
6. Journal of Human Resources, Smartphone Bans, Student Outcomes and Mental Health (Abrahamsson) (published online March 11, 2026)
7. UNESCO, Smartphones in school? Only when they clearly support learning (July 26, 2023, updated Jan. 24, 2025)
8. Computers & Education, Laptop multitasking hinders classroom learning for both users and nearby peers (Sana, Weston and Cepeda) (2013)
9. Educational Psychology, Dividing attention in the classroom reduces exam performance (Glass and Kang) (2018)
10. UT News, University of Texas at Austin, The Mere Presence of Your Smartphone Reduces Brain Power, Study Shows (Ward et al.) (June 26, 2017)
11. Acta Psychologica, Reexamining the “brain drain” effect: A replication of Ward et al. (2017) (Ruiz Pardo and Minda) (2022)
12. Pew Research Center, 72% of U.S. high school teachers say cellphone distraction is a major problem in the classroom (June 12, 2024)
13. The 74, Study: 98% of Teens Attend Schools Limiting Cellphones, but Most Still Use Them (USC Understanding America Study) (Jan. 28, 2026)

Researched and written by the LockedIn team (co-founders Brian Ohebshalom and Noah Fakheri). Sources checked October 12, 2026; the Science trial added October 23, 2026. Spot an error? Email hello@lockedinapp.co.