NEW YORK — As the first year of a ban on cellphones in New York schools comes to an end, a new survey on Monday showed the policy was broadly popular among educators and beneficial for students.
The survey of 585 teachers and principals statewide found 80% said the ban has “delivered positive results for their school,” according to the governor’s office. About 76% reported welcome changes in student behavior and engagement, such as their ability to follow directions or participate in class discussions.
“When I think about everything I’ve done in almost five years as governor, the initiative that was hard-fought but worth the pursuit of it, that has had the most immediate impact … has to be this,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday at J.H.S. 383 Phillipa Schuyler in Brooklyn.
The majority of teachers and principals, 80%, said the cellphone ban helped foster social connections among students, and 60% reported a decline in bullying both in person and online. Close to half of survey-takers were based in New York City.
Monday’s questionnaire was the second issued this year by the governor’s office. Early results in December found a similar percentage of teachers viewed the ban positively and believed the transition was smooth.
New York’s “bell-to-bell” cellphone ban — from students’ arrival until school dismissal — went into effect last September. While some students have found ways to get around the rules, teens and teachers say the policy has ushered in a cultural shift, where anecdotally students have turned to digital cameras, board games and other forms of entertainment beyond their cellphones.
“The focus is back on class, the focus is back on human interaction,” said Mark Rampersant, the city’s school safety chief, who oversees school climate initiatives. “We are seeing kids talk to each other as they transition in the hallways. We’re seeing them interact with each other in cafeterias in ways that we haven’t seen in years.”
It remains to be seen if those improvements translate into higher test scores, though Hochul was optimistic. State test score data is typically released over the summer.
“That is a result we expect to see at some point — I don’t know that it follows at the end of the very first year,” Hochul said. “Students are paying attention, meaning they’re absorbing more, they’re learning more, and they’re going to perform better on tests.”
Since the phone ban was put in place, a larger backlash to education technology has been building in New York schools, fueled in part by the arrival of generative artificial intelligence in the classroom and new questions about if the COVID-19 pandemic’s acceleration of learning on screens was good for children.
Hochul said she doesn’t have an answer “right now” on AI or screens, but that she would want to meet with students, teachers and parents statewide before coming up with any policies. In “early” grades, she said some schools are already keeping kids off personal devices.
“My gut tells me that’s the way to go,” the governor said.