Kick Mobile Phones Out of Class

Of all the places where a mobile phone does not belong -- at the dinner table, near a steering wheel, in the hands of a president before 8 a.m. -- close to the top of the list is in the classroom. In the last five years, however, many large school districts in the U.S. have lifted their restrictions on smartphones. They'll come to regret it.

Research shows that mere proximity to smartphones contributes to sloppy work, reduced concentration and lower problem-solving capacity. (Phones also facilitate cheating.) College students who don't bring their mobile phones to class score a full grade higher than those who do. A study of 91 high schools in the U.K. found that students in schools that imposed strict limits on mobile phones saw test scores improve by 6.4 percent of a standard deviation -- and improvement was highest among low-achievers.