Romney Provisions to Understand Impact of Smartphones in the Classroom Unanimously Approved by HELP Committee

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) today offered two amendments aimed at better understanding the impact of smartphones in the classroom to the Advancing Research in Education Act (AREA) during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee mark-up. Both amendments were unanimously approved by the Committee and were added to AREA, which subsequently passed out of HELP by an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 20-1. Romney’s amendments coincide with efforts by Utah Governor Spencer Cox to reduce the harmful effects of social media on children and prevent cellphone use by students in the classroom for non-educational purposes.

Romney’s first amendment to AREA would direct the Statistics Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics to collect data on school, local educational agency, and state policies pertaining to student smartphone use, including policies that prohibit smartphone use by students. The second Romney amendment would direct the Research Commissioner of the National Center for Education Research to assess how student use of smartphones during instructional hours has affected academic achievement or youth mental health and also assess school, local educational agency, and state policies pertaining to student smartphone use, including policies that prohibit smartphone use by students. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) cosponsored both amendments.

“The negative impacts of social media on the well-being of our children are becoming more and more evident. Nearly 60 percent of students self-reported that they are using their phones for non-education purposes during class instruction—commonly for texting and checking social media,” said Senator Romney. “Curbing the non-educational use of smartphones in the classroom may not only help raise students’ GPAs and increase their focus, but also help improve the mental health of our students. I’m pleased to see my amendments unanimously approved by Committee—it’s imperative that policymakers have access to evidence-based information before implementing changes to help our students improve their health and academics.”

Background:

The Advancing Research in Education Act (AREA) reauthorizes and makes changes to the Education Sciences Reform Act (ESRA), the Educational Technical Assistance Act, and the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) Authorization Act. ESRA was enacted in 2002 and expired in 2008. While ESRA has not been reauthorized since, it has received continued funding through annual appropriations legislation. ESRA authorizes the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) which is the statistics, research, and evaluation arm of the U.S. Department of Education. The bill also reauthorizes the Educational Technical Assistance Act, which provides technical assistance to educators Regional Education Laboratory and Comprehensive Centers.

In 2020, the National Center for Education Statistics found that 76 percent of U.S. schools had varying degrees of cellphone bans in place. Certain states also have laws or are working on crafting laws to prohibit cellphone use in schools, including Florida, Ohio, Colorado, Maryland, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and California.