Syntes: Figlio & Özek (2025) — Florida cellphone ban: second-year test-score gains (working paper)

Källa: Figlio, D., & Özek, U. (2025). The Impact of Cellphone Bans in Schools on Student Outcomes: Evidence from Florida. NBER Working Paper 34388 / EdWorkingPaper 25-1315. https://doi.org/10.3386/w34388 — working paper, not peer reviewed when used (2026-10-09).

Verified numbers (full EdWorkingPaper PDF, 20 Oct 2025 version, read 2026-10-09)

• Setting: Florida statewide ban of wireless devices during instructional time (HB 379, 2023); one large urban county district (LUSD, top-10 US) enforced an all-day backpack/purse rule (including lunch and transitions), with disciplinary referrals after a short grace period.
• Design: DiD / event study comparing schools in the top vs bottom tercile of pre-ban student smartphone activity (Advan unique visits 9am–1pm on school days minus teacher workdays, per 100 enrolled). Both groups are under the ban, so estimates are a lower bound.
• Discipline: first-year suspensions up ~12% overall (~20% in-school); ~30% in-school for Black students; mostly faded in year 2 (elementary fell; middle/high still elevated on some measures).
• Test scores (Table 3, nationally-normed percentiles, averaged across subjects): year 1 overall +0.283 (ns); year 2 +0.622 (p < .05). Middle and high schools year 2 +0.905. White students +0.965 both years; male year 2 +0.819. Appendix Table 1 (spring/end-of-year only): year 2 overall +1.083; male +1.421; middle/high +1.333.
• Absences (Table 4): unexcused absences (excl. suspensions) down ~0.5 pp (~5–10% of comparison mean), concentrated in middle/high; exploratory mediation ≈ half of middle/high test-score gains.
• Authors: first US causal evidence on a state/district policy-weight ban; design understates effects because low-activity schools are also treated.

Role for C6

Supports / survive-and-log (2026-10-09): genuine kill-condition test (field DiD of free-er access vs stricter restriction on learning outcomes). Kill fails because scores rose in year 2, especially middle/high and spring tests. Strengthens the claim’s “gains in some settings” clause (Florida district). Not a weaken. Working paper: recheck when published. Distinct from Allcott (national pouches, average null) and from Shi (Chile classroom-level null).