College classroom phone bans improve learning and student engagement

 

in this Policy Article, Alp Sungu and colleagues report on a large-scale randomized controlled trial evaluating the impacts of classroom phone restrictions on student outcomes in India. The findings show that restricting phone use can support learning, particularly among lower-performing students. Amidst growing concerns about smartphones’ effects on learning, mental health, and peer relationships, phone bans are being increasingly adopted in schools worldwide. However, large-scale experimental evidence supporting whether these bans improve learning or social outcomes is lacking. To address this gap, Sungu et al. performed a randomized controlled trial involving 16,683 students across 10 higher education institutions in Odisha, India – a state where smartphone ownership and use among youth aged 15 to 29 exceeds 70%. The authors measured academic performance, attitudes toward phone restrictions, well-being, motivation, digital use, and online harassment.

 

The findings show that banning smartphones in class improved academic performance, particularly among lower-performing students and first-year undergraduates. Effects were minimal among higher-performing, postgraduate, and STEM students. Removing phones also reduced disparities in GPA, suggesting that restrictions may help close gaps in learning outcomes. Importantly, attendance rates did not change, indicating that the improvement was likely driven by greater attention and more productive classroom dynamics, rather than students simply attending class more often. Students who experienced classroom phone bans became more supportive of the restrictions and more likely to view them as beneficial, while showing less preference for unrestricted phone use. Classroom observations also found less disruptive behavior and fewer off-topic conversations, along with greater teacher engagement. According to Sungu et al., these findings suggest that students may become more receptive to phone restrictions after experiencing a more focused, phone-free classroom environment. 

Nearly 1 in 3 new nurse practitioners educated at for-profit schools

  For-profit schools appear to be playing an outsized role in training the nation’s expanding nurse practitioner workforce, according to a study that found nearly one-third of newly licensed nurse practitioners in four states were educated at for-profit programs in 2024, up from just 2.4% in 2010.

“That is enormous growth, especially since nurse practitioners are such a big workforce to begin with,” said senior study author Dr. Michael Barnett, a professor of health services, policy and practice at the Brown University School of Public Health.

The study, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, examined 117,156 nurse practitioners licensed in California, Florida, Iowa and Texas from 2010 to 2024. (The researchers note that these are large states that represent different geographic areas of the country.)

While all four states saw an increase in the share of for-profit-trained nurse practitioners, they were most prevalent among new licensees in California at 40.9%, followed by Florida at 35.1%, Texas at 21.1% and Iowa at 14.8%.

The number of advanced nurse practitioners is projected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics to grow by 35% over the next 10 years — far outpacing physicians, whose numbers are expected to grow by just 3% during the same period.

Also on the rise is the number of for-profit nurse-practitioner training programs themselves, which increased 400% between 2007 and 2016 alone.

“There has been an explosion in the nurse practitioner workforce that is drawing more and more schools into the fray to provide training,” Barnett said. “One of the newer entrants are for-profit schools, which have a checkered past in the U.S.”

The rising number of nurse practitioners graduating from for-profit programs prompts concerns among the study’s authors about the quality of care resulting from for-profit education, especially as prior evidence shows that for-profit nursing education was a significant predictor of lower pass rates of National Council Licensure Examinations.

“For-profit nursing programs have drawn regulatory scrutiny, FTC settlements and many lawsuits in the past,” Barnett said. “We don’t have enough hard data yet to make decisions about the impact of for-profit nursing programs, but there isn’t much transparency to judge at the moment.”

For Barnett, the next important steps include disclosure of licensure exam pass rates and other student statistics from all nurse training programs so the public can better judge the programs’ merits. He added that researchers should look at the outcomes for patients treated by nurse practitioners with different training backgrounds to understand where or if there is a significant difference in quality of care.

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Journal

Annals of Internal Medicine

DOI

10.7326/ANNALS-26-01211

Athletes may have mental health, wellbeing problems w/demands of training, education, work

 No matter how much young athletes love their sport, they remain vulnerable to mental health and wellbeing problems if they don’t balance the demands of training with education, work, leisure and rest.

New research led by Flinders University exposes risks during the ‘vulnerable transition window’ for young athletes (17-24 years old) who face heavy dual-career demands, with 84.6% holding outside employment and 61.5% studying alongside intense training schedules.

“When a passion once pursued for fun begins to consume every waking hour, young athletes face heightened risks for poor mental health and wellbeing, both now and in the future,” says Flinders University PhD candidate Jamie Wilson, lead author of a new article published in the Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy.

“The elite pathway of a young athlete is packed with soaring highs and brutal lows, but the real secret to sustainable success could lie in the life they build outside of sport.”

The new study exposes the steep personal cost behind athletic glory, arguing that ‘occupational balance’ – which is how athletes distribute their time across sport, education, work, leisure and rest – is a powerful force that shapes their mental health.

Female athletes and those who participate in individuals sports often face greater risks to their mental health, the researchers say.

Key contributing factors to poor mental health and wellbeing include:

EXCESSIVE time requirements for sport and training.
OFTEN needing to relocate and move away from important stable relationships.
FEELING ‘objectified’ as a commodity and relying on support systems tied to performance.
‘SUPERHUMAN’ expectations that can create profound obstacles to seeking help.

“Supporting young athletes beyond sport is not a distraction from victory, it is the vital foundation for developing healthier, stronger and more resilient athletes,” adds Flinders University co-author Professor Ivanka Prichard.

“Interestingly, young athletes who pursue sport for personal enjoyment and a love for the game, rather than in response to external pressure, seem more likely to be persistent and be psychologically healthier, supported by their commitment and enthusiasm.”

Young adults and teenagers, designated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as a ‘neglected population’, need more support to maintain and build long-term wellbeing and resilience.

As global sporting events turn the world’s focus towards peak performance, this research delivers an essential message: true athletic excellence and long-term wellbeing require a balanced life.

The article – ‘Balancing act: An occupational lens on the process of becoming an elite athlete’ (2026) by Jamie Wilson, Ivanka Prichard, Jasmine Petersen (Flinders and Adelaide University) and Brad Stenner (Adelaide University) – has been published in the Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy. DOI: 10. 1007/s44474-026-00006-2. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44474-026-00006-2.

Mapping the national kindergarten entry assessment landscape

Full report

  Kindergarten entry assessment (KEAs), also known as kindergarten readiness assessments (KRAs), are tools designed to provide a snapshot of a child's developmental status at school entry (Ackerman, 2018; Jensen et al., 2021; Yun et al., 2021). These assessments are administered at or near the start of kindergarten and are designed to evaluate whether students are prepared for school and whether schools are equipped to serve their entering kindergarten class (Ackerman, 2018; Bernstein et al., 2019; Feeney, 2016; Jensen et al., 2021). While the intended purpose of KEAs is clear, how well they accomplish these goals is up for debate. 

Prior work has documented key limitations of KEAs, including the potential for inconsistency across raters (Joseph et al., 2019), low discrimination across items or domains (Rock & Pollack, 2002; Goldstein et al., 2017), and limited instructional value because they only capture a single point in time (Hur et al., 2026; U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2024; Yun et al., 2021)1 . 

Finally, the information is useful only if it is used, which requires training teachers not only to administer the assessment but to use what it shows (Ackerman, 2018); few teachers individualize instruction on the basis of assessment results (Hur et al., 2026). 

Federal policy has served as a major driver of the expansion of these assessments since the 1990 National Education Goals Panel first brought national attention to school readiness (Powers, 2012; Abo-Zena & New, 2012). A significant catalyst for this growth was the 2011 Race to the Top-Early Learning Challenge, which required states to implement statewide assessments as a condition for funding (Ackerman, 2018; Kiguel et al., 2024; Yun et al., 2021; Feeney, 2016; Weisenfeld et al., 2020). 

While these federal grant programs defined essential domains and timing, states retain autonomy over the specific assessment design, the domains assessed, the items included, and the implementation approach (Ackerman, 2018).

How schools used Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds

 A new study explores how Indiana elementary and middle schools used Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds to address learning loss related to the COVID‑19 pandemic. In collaboration with the Indiana Department of Education, the Regional Educational Laboratory Midwest examined the ESSER-funded strategies that schools adopted and which strategies were associated with stronger learning recovery and student growth in English language arts and math. The study also explored the approaches schools with high recovery and no recovery used to implement the strategies they adopted. The study linked survey data on the ESSER‑funded strategies to recovery levels and student growth percentiles and included interviews with school and district administrators to better understand implementation approaches. 

Key findings include the following: 

• Schools with no recovery from COVID-19 pandemic learning loss adopted many of the same ESSER‑funded recovery strategies as schools with high recovery. Regardless of recovery level, schools most commonly reported adding tutoring programs (78 percent), investing in technologies to support instruction (71 percent), hiring new staff (60 percent), and expanding mental health services (58 percent). 

• Schools that expanded mental health services or hired additional staff showed greater student growth in math in the 2022/23 school year than other schools. Average student growth in math was approximately 2 percentile points higher in schools that expanded mental health services and approximately 2 percentile points higher in schools that hired new staff. No differences in academic growth were observed for English language arts. 

• In interviews, administrators in schools with high recovery frequently reported using approaches to implement tutoring, online courses, or extended learning programs that incorporated these strategies into schoolwide systems. These administrators described incorporating data on strategy use into progress monitoring systems, aligning strategy content with the regular school‑day curriculum, and providing teachers with professional learning opportunities related to the strategies. 

Read the full report and technical appendix on the Institute for Educational Sciences website. 

Permanent Daily Savings Time: less sleep, lower productivity, worse educational outcomes

  A new analysis published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal)  https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.261089 argues that eliminating the clock change is only half the decision: governments must also decide whether to adopt permanent standard time or permanent daylight saving time. Both choices have trade-offs. Permanent daylight saving time keeps evenings lighter, which may support recreation, social activity, commuting, and some economic activity.

But it also pushes sunrise an hour later, leaving more people waking, travelling to school, and commuting to work, in darkness during the winter. Permanent standard time preserves more morning light and better aligns clock time with human circadian biology, although evenings become darker earlier.

“Ending the clock change solves one problem, but it creates another decision: which time should we live on year-round?” says lead author Dr. Raymond Lam, professor of psychiatry at the University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, BC. “The health evidence points to standard time, largely because morning light matters for our body clocks, sleep, and mood.”

Weighing the trade-offs

Major sleep and chronobiology organizations recommend permanent standard time. The authors note that morning light helps synchronize the body’s circadian clock, while evening light delays it. Permanent daylight saving time, therefore, works against circadian alignment during winter by reducing morning light while extending evening light.

“Our biological clocks need morning light to stay synchronized with the 24-hour day,” says Dr. Ralph Mistlberger, professor of psychology at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC. “Permanent daylight saving time moves that light an hour later just when winter mornings are already darkest.”

The effects may be especially important for mood and sleep. An estimated 1% to 3% of people experience seasonal affective disorder (SAD), while as many as 15% experience milder seasonal changes in mood, sleep, appetite, and energy. The authors also point to geographic studies showing that people living farther west within a time zone — where sunrise occurs later by the clock — experience several adverse health outcomes.

Children and adolescents may be particularly vulnerable because puberty naturally shifts sleep timing later while school still starts early. Other potentially affected groups include shift and early-start workers, public transit users, pedestrians and cyclists, and people living in rural or lower-income communities with poorer lighting and transportation infrastructure.

The authors acknowledge that permanent daylight saving time has advantages. Longer evening light may make it easier to exercise, socialize, or shop after work and school.

“The attraction of permanent daylight saving time is easy to understand. People like more light after work and school,” says Dr. Patrick Baylis, associate professor at the Vancouver School of Economics at UBC. “But those evening benefits have to be weighed against evidence linking later solar time with less sleep, lower productivity, and worse educational outcomes.”

International experience also provides cautionary examples. The United States adopted permanent daylight saving time during the 1974 energy crisis but reversed the policy within a year amid opposition to dark winter mornings and concerns about children travelling to school before sunrise. Russia adopted permanent daylight saving time in 2011 and reversed it in 2014 after public dissatisfaction. Chile similarly reversed a national move to permanent daylight saving time after its 2015 experiment.

The authors of the Analysis emphasize that whichever policy governments choose, its effects should be monitored. Under permanent daylight saving time, possible measures include safer roads and pedestrian infrastructure, later or more flexible school and work start times, increased morning light exposure in schools and workplaces, and monitoring of sleep, mood, injuries, and other health outcomes. Permanent standard time would require fewer measures, mainly addressing earlier evening darkness in winter and earlier dawn in summer.

“Time policy is a public health policy,” says Dr. Alexandra Choi, medical health officer with Vancouver Coastal Health. “If governments choose permanent daylight saving time, they should plan for the consequences before the first winter — from safer morning travel and flexible start times to monitoring sleep, mental health, and injuries.”

DOI

10.1503/cmaj.261089 

How Heavily Are PhD Students Offloading Their Scientific Writing to AI?

Large language models are diffusing rapidly into science, raising concerns that delegating research writing to AI may undermine the development of expertise that scientific training is supposed to build. 

This study measures AI-generated writing in the dissertations of a near-census of US STEM PhD graduates from 2019 to 2026 and link graduates to their subsequent employment. AI writing is absent before 2023, present in 29% of dissertations filed in 2026, and rapidly growing. Use is more common among students from non-English-speaking countries and at lower-ranked programs. 

Among graduates in the same program and cohort, those whose dissertations contain AI writing are less likely to enter academic research careers and more likely to enter non-tenure-track roles or industry, with this pattern strongest among US-origin students. At the same time as AI may increase research productivity, it thus appears to also be displacing a potentially important portion of the work through which scientific expertise is developed.