Locally, educators at Rehobeth Middle School say they are seeing major changes.
REHOBETH, Ala. - As the school year draws near a close, it will mark the first under Alabama’s Focus Act , an official ban on cell phones in the classroom.
Last year, Gov. Kay Ivey signed the Focus Act into law, officially banning cell phones from the classroom months before the 2025-2026 school year. For years, teachers have felt the adverse effects of cell phones in the classroom.
“I think they started off as a great tool, a resource, but they became more of a problem as the years have gone by,” said O’Shawn McClendon, principal at Rehobeth Middle School. “By and part, I think everyone kind of bought into it. They understand that, ‘Hey, if it’s big enough to become a law, cell phones must really be a problem. ’”Locally, educators at Rehobeth Middle School say they are seeing major changes, especially helping teachers.
“Teachers don’t have to constantly send kids up to the front office and say, ‘Hey, put your phones away,’ write in referrals,” McClendon said. “How that is translated this year into success has been that the time spent writing the kid up, sending the kid up to see myself or the assistant principal, it’s now more time on task. ” The study found minimal improvement in academic achievement, but for the middle school, McClendon said the improvement has been significant.
“From an academic point of view, we’ve seen, literally, on our formative schools and our assessments, we’ve seen double in some of the areas in gain,” he said. “It did just what it was intended to do. The teachers are focused, and the kids are focused. ” McClendon credits teachers at the middle school for making the implementation process easier for students while still upholding the ban.
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