Government Report

More Than Half of Public School Leaders Say Cell Phones Hurt Academic Performance

Feb 2025 🇺🇸 NCES

This National Center for Education Statistics (NCES/IES) press release reports findings from a national survey of U.S. public school leaders about cell phones in schools. More than half of surveyed school leaders say cell phone use by students hurts academic performance, and the same survey finds that fewer than half of public schools currently teach students about artificial intelligence, with only a minority having a written policy governing student AI use. NCES presents these as school-leader-reported survey findings, describing perceptions and existing school policy, not a controlled study of cause and effect. TechKids Foundation cites this survey to describe a policy and instruction gap — schools recognizing a problem with unmanaged device use while AI-literacy instruction and clear policy both lag behind — that after-school creator programs like TechKids Labs are positioned to help fill.

50%+

of public school leaders report that student cell phone use hurts academic performance.

47%

of public schools teach any students about AI.

31%

of public schools have a written policy for student AI use.

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CITATION

NCES/IES: More than Half of Public School Leaders Say Cell Phones Hurt Academic Performance, February 2025. https://nces.ed.gov/learn/press-release/more-half-public-school-leaders-say-cell-phones-hurt-academic-performance

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