Ill Communication: Technology, Distraction & Student Performance

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Could banning cell phone use at school be a low-cost measure toward reducing educational inequality? A study from the London School of Economics indicates that this may be the case.

“Over 90% of teenagers owned a cell phone during this period in England; therefore, any ban is likely to affect the vast majority of students.”

Because there is limited consensus around the effects of policies that limit screen use at school, the need for such restrictions is not reflected in national government policy. Researchers estimated these effects by generating a unique dataset: first, a survey of high schools in four English cities was used to track each school’s history of device policy implementation. Then, administrative data from the National Pupil Database, was used to track the academic performance of all students since 2001 with periods of time in which cellphones were either allowed to any extent, or banned entirely.

“Students in the lowest quartile of prior achievement gained 14.23% of a standard deviation, whilst students in the top quartile are neither positively nor negatively affected by a phone ban.”

After comparing the gains in test scores across and within schools before and after cell phone bans were introduced, it was found that, in aggregate, the implementation of a cell phone ban yielded small gains (6.41% of a standard deviation) in test scores when compared with  schools that did not restrict cell phone use. However, analysis of prior achievement for this sample indicated that the marginal effect size was primarily driven by the highest achieving students, who may be better suited to focus at school regardless of device policy.

“Even if a student does not own a phone themselves their presence in the classroom may cause distraction.”

In contrast, students of lowest prior achievement benefited the most from a cell phone ban: compared to the absence of a positive or negative impact for students in the top quartile of prior achievement, students in the lowest quartile gained 14.23% of a standard deviation. This suggests that the most underachieving and/or disadvantaged students are most likely to benefit from policies that limit cell phone access within the classroom.

A positive relationship was identified between the introduction of a cell phone ban and student test scores of 5.67% of a standard deviation.

Louis-Philippe Beland & Richard Murphy, Ill Communication: Technology, Distraction & Student Performance. Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics and Political Science, 2015.