Florida Phone Ban Test Scores: The Attendance Effect

Florida phone ban test scores did go up, in one district, eventually. In a large urban district that banned phones from first bell to last starting in 2023–24, scores held flat for a year and then rose about 3.5 percentiles by the end of year two. The surprise in the study, by economists David Figlio and Umut Özek, is how much of that gain seems to run through attendance. Unexcused absences fell in both years, and the drop in middle and high schools was large enough to explain nearly half of the score improvement. The less comfortable finding is the cost: suspensions jumped 25% in the first year, with the sharpest rise for Black students. Here is what the study did, what it found, and what it can and can’t tell your family.

Key Takeaways

• In one of the 10 largest US districts, a bell-to-bell ban cut high school phone visits by more than 80%, from 46 to 10 daily visits per 100 students.
• Test scores were flat in year one and up about 3.5 percentiles by the end of year two, compared with the last pre-ban test.
• Schools with the highest pre-ban phone use gained most: about 1.1 percentiles more than low-use schools on spring tests.
• Unexcused absences fell 5% to 10%, mainly in middle and high school, enough to explain nearly half of the test gain.
• Suspensions rose 25% in year one, and in-school suspensions for Black students at high-use schools rose about 30%. Both returned to pre-ban levels in year two.

What Florida Did, and What This District Did

Florida became the first US state to restrict student phone use statewide in May 2023, when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 379, part of a package known as the “Teachers’ Bill of Rights.” It banned phones, smartwatches and earbuds during instructional time unless a teacher directed their use, and let districts add stricter rules. A 2025 Florida law later required bell-to-bell bans in elementary and middle schools.

The district Figlio and Özek studied went further from the start. It is one of the nation’s 10 largest; the authors do not name it. Its rule required phones, earbuds and smartwatches to be silenced and put away in students’ bags for the entire school day, including lunch and passing periods. Students with documented health needs could use devices to monitor their condition, and devices could come out in a schoolwide emergency.

Enforcement began after Labor Day 2023, following a short grace period. A violation meant confiscation until the end of the day, and students could also be disciplined, including with suspension. The 74’s reporting adds that a few schools used Yondr pouches, but Figlio said those were “not the dominant form of enforcement.”

How the Researchers Measured the Effect

The Florida phone ban test scores study is a three-year analysis: one year before the ban (2022–23) and two years under it (2023–24 and 2024–25). It combines student-level test scores in grades 3 through 10, discipline records and absences with an outside measure of phone use.

That outside measure is the clever part. The researchers bought smartphone location data from Advan, a firm that tracks foot traffic. For each school building, they counted unique phone “visits” between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. on school days. Then they subtracted the visits on teacher in-service days, when staff were present but students were not. What’s left is a reasonable estimate of student phone activity.

They used it in two ways:

1. Before and after. How did scores, discipline and absences change relative to the last pre-ban month?
2. High-use versus low-use schools. They sorted schools into thirds by pre-ban student phone activity and compared the top third with the bottom third. If the ban drives the changes, schools with more phone use to remove should change more. This comparison is what supports a causal reading.

Florida tests students three times a year (fall, winter and spring), so the authors could watch scores move within each school year rather than waiting for an annual snapshot.

What the Study Found on Florida Phone Ban Test Scores

Phone use fell sharply

In high schools, daily phone visits fell from 46 per 100 students to 10, a drop of more than 80%. In middle schools, they fell by half, from 62 to 31, then another 23% in year two to 24. High school use ticked up slightly in year two, to 13 per 100. Elementary schools started low.

Discipline spiked, then normalized

Once enforcement began, the suspension rate rose 25% compared with the same month a year earlier and stayed high for the rest of year one. At schools with high pre-ban phone use, in-school suspensions for Black students rose about 30%, while rates for white and Hispanic students held steady. There was no significant effect on out-of-school suspensions. In year two, discipline returned to pre-ban levels. Figlio told The 74 that this was a “dark lining” to a “silver cloud.”

Scores held, then rose

Scores stayed stable through year one and improved modestly in year two. The authors summarize it as “about 3.5 percentiles” above the spring before the ban; elsewhere in the same article they describe it as “about 4 percentiles.” In the high-use versus low-use comparison on spring tests, the ban raised scores by 1.1 percentiles overall, 1.2 for Black students, 1.4 for white students, 1.4 for male students, and 1.3 for middle and high schoolers. They found no significant effect for female students or for elementary schools.

Attendance improved, and it explains a lot

Unexcused absence days fell 5% to 10%, mostly in middle and high schools. Elementary attendance didn’t change. The authors write that the effect on unexcused absences in middle and high schools “is large enough to explain nearly half of the positive effect on student test scores.” They add a caveat: absences may also be standing in for other, unmeasured changes in school climate.

The Florida Results in Numbers

Measure	Before ban	Year 1	Year 2
High school phone visits (per 100 students, 9am–1pm)	46	10	13
Middle school phone visits (per 100 students)	62	31	24
Suspension rate	Baseline	+25%; Black students’ in-school suspensions +30% at high-use schools	Back to pre-ban levels
Test scores (nationally normed percentiles)	Baseline (spring 2023)	Stable	About +3.5 percentiles
High-use vs. low-use schools (spring tests)	—	—	+1.1 percentiles overall; no significant effect for girls or elementary
Unexcused absences	Baseline	Down	Down 5–10% (middle and high school)

Why Attendance Might Be the Mechanism

Here is the chain the data suggest, step by step:

1. Phones leave the school day, including lunch and hallways.
2. School feels different. Students talk more, and the social pull of school shifts from the phone back to the people in the building.
3. Students skip less. Fewer unexcused absences mean more days of instruction.
4. More days of instruction compound into higher scores, which is why the gain shows up in year two and not year one.

Steps 1, 3 and 4 are measured in this study. Step 2 is an inference; the authors call attendance a proxy for “student engagement and school climate” and say a future version will look at classroom climate directly. It is also possible that something else changed at the same time.

This attendance story is also where Florida differs from the national picture. The national NBER study of about 4,600 pouch schools found “little evidence of effects on attendance” and average test effects close to zero. Possible reasons include Florida’s stricter all-day rule, its confiscation-based enforcement, the specific district, or the different comparison design. One district can’t settle the question. For the national picture, see the NBER phone ban study.

What Florida Families and Others Can Take From This

Treat year one as an investment year

The study’s shape is clear: costs come first, gains come second. If your district just started a ban, plan for a bumpy year and judge results in year two. More on that timing is in why phone bans haven’t raised test scores yet.

Watch attendance, not just grades

If attendance is part of the mechanism, it is also your earliest signal. Is your child less likely to fake a stomachache on Monday? Does school seem more appealing? Those changes would show up before a report card does.

Ask how your school handles violations, especially for some students

The 30% rise in in-school suspensions for Black students at high-use schools is a finding districts should take seriously. Ask whether your school uses warnings and end-of-day return first, and whether it tracks who is being disciplined. Illinois responded to the same concern by barring suspensions for phone violations alone in its 2026 law.

Don’t expect equal effects for every child

The high-use comparison found no significant effect for girls or elementary students. A Norwegian study found the opposite pattern for girls. The fair takeaway is that effects vary by setting and student, and a district average won’t tell you what happens for your child.

What not to do

Don’t read “3.5 percentiles” as a promise. It is one district, it is a modest change (roughly moving a student from the 50th to the 53rd or 54th percentile), and the national study found much less. And don’t dismiss the suspension spike as a temporary inconvenience. For a child who was suspended, it was lost school.

What to Watch For Over the Next 3 Months

• Week 4: Is your child adjusting to the rule, or picking up discipline referrals? A few weeks of friction is expected. Repeated referrals are not something to wait out.
• Month 2 red flags: More missed school days than last year, or a child who suddenly dreads school. That runs against the pattern Florida found and is worth a conversation with the school.
• Month 3 self-check: Compare this fall’s absences with last fall’s. If they fell, that is the early signal Figlio and Özek’s data point to.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did Florida’s phone ban raise test scores?

In one large district studied by Figlio and Özek, yes, modestly. Scores were flat in year one and up about 3.5 percentiles by the end of year two. Schools with the most phone use before the ban gained most. A national study of other schools found average effects close to zero, so results vary.

How does attendance connect to the phone ban?

Unexcused absences fell 5% to 10% in middle and high schools after the ban. The researchers estimate that drop was large enough to explain nearly half of the score gain. They suggest school became more engaging, though absences may also reflect other climate changes they didn’t measure.

Why did suspensions rise after Florida’s ban?

Enforcing a new rule produces more violations at first. The suspension rate rose 25% in year one, with in-school suspensions for Black students at high-use schools up about 30%. Discipline returned to pre-ban levels in year two. The authors urge districts to plan for a smoother, more equitable rollout.

Which Florida district was studied?

The authors describe it as one of the nation’s 10 largest districts and a large urban district, but don’t name it. Its rule required phones, earbuds and smartwatches to be put away in bags all day, enforced by confiscation and possible discipline.

Does Florida ban phones in all schools now?

Florida’s 2023 law banned phones during instructional time statewide. According to Figlio and Özek, a 2025 Florida law instituted bell-to-bell bans in elementary and middle schools. High school rules can vary by district, so check your district’s code of conduct.

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About the author

Ricky Flores is the founder of HiWave Makers and an electrical engineer with 15+ years of experience building consumer technology at Apple, Samsung, and Texas Instruments. He writes about how kids learn to build, think, and create in a tech-saturated world. Read more at hiwavemakers.com.

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Sources

1. Figlio, D. N., & Özek, U. (2026). “Can Banning Cellphones Save Student Learning? Evidence from Florida.” Education Next, 26(2), published online May 12, 2026. https://www.educationnext.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/ednext_26_2_research_figlio_ozek.pdf
2. Toppo, G. (2026). “Florida Study: Cellphone Bans Promote Academic Gains … After a Year or So.” The 74, May 12, 2026. https://www.the74million.org/article/florida-study-cellphone-bans-promote-academic-gains-after-a-year-or-so/
3. Allcott, H., Baron, E. J., Dee, T., Duckworth, A. L., Gentzkow, M., & Jacob, B. (2026). “The Effects of School Phone Bans: National Evidence from Lockable Pouches.” NBER Working Paper 35132. https://www.nber.org/papers/w35132
4. Abrahamsson, S. (2024). “Smartphone Bans, Student Outcomes and Mental Health.” SSRN working paper. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4735240
5. Capitol News Illinois. (2026). “Pritzker signs school cellphone ban to avoid student distractions.” July 28, 2026. https://capitolnewsillinois.com/news/pritzker-signs-school-cellphone-ban-to-avoid-student-distractions/
6. Pew Research Center. (2024). “72% of U.S. high school teachers say cellphone distraction is a major problem in the classroom.” https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/06/12/72-percent-of-us-high-school-teachers-say-cellphone-distraction-is-a-major-problem-in-the-classroom/
7. UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report. (2023, updated 2025). “Smartphones in school? Only when they clearly support learning.” https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/smartphones-school-only-when-they-clearly-support-learning