WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Education has just released a new resource to help states, school districts, and schools adopt policies for student use of cell phones and other personal devices on campus.
Titled Planning Together: A Playbook for Student Personal Device Policies, the new guide “offers a model process that education leaders can use to design policies for use of cell phones and other personal devices in schools alongside educators, students, parents, and caregivers,” according to a statement from the department. It provides a set of step-by-step practices for building shared understanding of the needs and concerns surrounding cell phones in a school community, and recommendations for addressing them through clear and consistent policies.
“I believe the decision to implement restrictions aimed at improving student performance must be made at the state and local level, where parents and educators are closer to the students, not in Washington, D.C.,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel A. Cardona, Ed.D. “However, we can share different approaches we have seen in the nation from different communities reflecting different perspectives. What I know is this: Within each state’s guardrails, every elementary, middle, and high school should have a clear, consistent, and research-informed policy to guide the use of cell phones in schools. And that policy should reflect the insights and the engagement of educators, parents, and students.”
Related Article: Which States Have Banned Cell Phones in Schools?
The publication of this playbook follows the implementation of a wide variety of bans or restrictions on mobile phone usage on K-12 campuses by states, cities, counties, and school districts. Currently, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, South Carolina, and California have enacted legislation regarding cell phones in schools.
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2 General Types of Policies on Cell Phone Use in Schools
Generally, policies concerning a restriction on the use of personal devices during the school day are either:
- Full-day restrictions prohibiting the use of devices during the school day, including during instructional time, lunch or free periods, and passing times; or
- Schedule-based restrictions prohibiting device use at certain times during the school day (e.g., during instruction) while permitting limited use at other times, such as during breaks, lunch periods, or when otherwise specifically authorized.
In school districts or schools that don’t adopt either approach, decisions around the presence or use of a personal device are typically left to the discretion of the individual teacher or other staff members as to whether the device is interfering with learning or having some other negative impact.
Playbook Offers Many Examples of School Personal Device Policies
The playbook provides numerous examples of how schools are restricting cell phones.
Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) in Maryland is one of the districts highlighted in the resource as an example of a district with schedule-based restrictions.
- Students may possess personal mobile devices (PMDs) on MCPS property and at MCPS-sponsored activities but may not turn them on until the end of the school day for independent use
- Students riding to or from school or school-sponsored activities on MCPS or chartered buses may use PMDs as long as use does not impact the safe operation of the bus and complies with MCPS regulations
- Students are responsible for ensuring their devices are turned off and out of sight during times of unauthorized use and must ensure they are managed securely at all times.
Rosedale Union School District in California was cited as an example of a district with a full-day restriction policy. Rosedale USD requires student cell phones remain turned off and put away during school hours, during passing periods and lunch time.
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The Department of Education’s new resource recommends that before any policy is implemented, a team comprised of a wide range of diverse stakeholders, including students, parents and teachers, should be involved in the creation of the policy so that it will be embraced by as many stakeholders as possible.
Once the policy is implemented, it should be effectively enforced. The device policies should also be paired with an emphasis on digital citizenship at school and at home.
