Well, who would’ve thought? You pull a student away from a screen and now they’re more engaged than ever. Welcome to this week’s TGIF Time-saver. This week’s top headline: smartphone bans actually work!
Teachers’ views on smartphone bans
A new survey of more than 1,100 middle and high school teachers by Study.com offers candid feedback on how K12 smartphone bans are shaping up. The researchers outline four things teachers are saying:
- Improvements to classroom management (68% of teachers)
- Increased student engagement (76% of teachers)
- Enhanced student safety (70% of teachers)
- Strict policies work better: Teachers in schools with flexible policies lose more instruction time policing smartphones
Teachers who work in schools with more lenient smartphone policies, for instance, are 21% more likely to lose more than an hour of learning time each week. “I’m always teaching to divided attention,” said one high school teacher in Prince William County, Virginia, “There’s one eye on me, and one eye on the phone.”
“When we tell them to put it away, it’s not like they’re defiant,” they add. “They do put them away. But then you see them leaning over, trying to look into their backpack and read their messages, or they have to go to the bathroom to go read their messages.”
Click here to view the full survey.
Views of K12 improve from record low
Last year, Gallup asked Americans to rate the quality of K12 education, and the results were grim. Following 2023’s record-low perceptions of education, we’re seeing signs of improvement.
Forty-three percent of Americans say they’re satisfied with the quality of K12 education, 7% higher than last year’s recording. Meanwhile, 55% of respondents said they’re “completely” or “somewhat dissatisfied.”
On another note, school safety continues to grow in importance for parents. Forty-four percent of K12 parents say they’re concerned about their child’s safety up from last year’s 38%.
Take a look at the full survey here.
The state of student engagement
Our final top-of-mind research item for you this week is LEGO Education’s latest “State of Classroom Engagement Report,” a global survey of more than 6,000 administrators, teachers, parents and students that uncovers “what engages, inspires and builds confidence in students and educators.”
Here are the key takeaways from the report:
- Students aren’t engaged
The researchers note that student engagement is lower than we want it to be. Only 31% of U.S. administrators describe their students as engaged, compared to 33% of teachers and 35% of parents.
Many attribute this lack of engagement to student absenteeism. Forty-seven percent of administrators believe absenteeism and enrollment declines are related to disengagement.
2. Engagement improves academic outcomes
Engagement should not be restricted to “Fun Fridays” or extracurriculars. The more engaged a student is with the material, the better their academic performance. Educators should start by posing a question or challenge for students to solve that promotes open-ended creativity and collaboration.
3. Improving student engagement improves retention
Roughly 80% of teachers say they’d be happier with their job if their students were more engaged, the report confirms. However, they also say they’re starting to feel the weight of not having enough support from administrators.
“There is a clear opportunity to provide better tools and approaches that support teachers in meeting diverse student needs,” the survey reads.
Whether it’s a pilot or a district-wide rollout, districts should have a comprehensive plan that includes support and ongoing professional learning.
4. Purposeful play is the key to increased engagement
Across nearly every grade level, working with classmates is students’ favorite way to learn. Furthermore, 89% of students say they enjoy learning through interactive experiences.
While incorporating play into the classroom can feel daunting, it’s a legitimate and effective way to boost performance outcomes, the researchers contend. Here are four tips for implementation:
- Let students take the lead
- Embrace the messiness of play
- Make it relevant to each classroom and community
- Give permission to play
New from DA
As always, be sure to check out District Adminsitration’s latest coverage, including a timely webinar with Jonathan Haidt, the author of The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness. He shared with attendees how smartphones significantly disrupted the play-based child and how schools can take collective action to restore this lost framework.
You can access the webinar recording anytime by clicking here.
Podcast: How to empower teachers to excite students about STEM
Jeremy Anderson walks us through how the National Math + Science Initiative connects districts with state and federal programs to close opportunity gaps and increase college access through advanced STEM education.
