A growing share of school district recruiters say having a policy in place to manage student cellphone use during school hours can have a positive impact on teacher recruitment, according to a survey conducted last fall by the EdWeek Research Center.
Nearly a third of district officials responsible for recruiting and retaining teachers—29%—said that such a policy is now a helpful recruiting tactic. That’s up from 20% in a similar survey conducted in 2024.
More than half of recruiters, 59%, reported that their district has a student cellphone policy, but that it has not had an impact—either positive or negative—on recruitment, according to the 2025 survey. That’s compared with 68% in the 2024 survey.
The surveys did not ask recruiters to explain the restrictions in their student cellphone policies.
But over the past year, many districts have moved to limit student cellphone use during school hours in some way, in part because of changes to state laws.
At least 37 states and the District of Columbia require school districts to ban or restrict students’ use of cellphones in schools, according to an Education Week tally. Some other states are either incentivizing or recommending local districts enact their own bans or restrictive policies.
“I know firsthand from talking with prospective candidates that they have said the phone ban lowers stress for everyone,” said Chimere Stephens, a senior director of recruitment for the New York City public schools, the nation’s largest district. “Teachers tell me all the time that they spend significantly less instructional time managing behavior when phones are removed and more time teaching.”
Teachers with fewer disciplinary headaches are more likely to persist in the profession, he added.
“Classroom disruption, rather than pay alone, is at the top of the list for burnout and resignations from candidates I chat with—especially among first-year teachers,” said Stephens, a 2023 Education Week Leader To Learn From.
Alex Moseman, the executive director of talent acquisition for the Knox County school district in Tennessee, had a similar take.
“When you listen to what teachers want, a lot of it boils down to the ability to focus on teaching during the day,” said Moseman, a 2026 Education Week Leader To Learn From. “I think any policy that supports teachers and schools with maintaining a focused learning environment certainly supports the recruitment and retention of educators.”
The EdWeek Research Center survey of 270 school district recruiters was conducted from Oct. 29 to Dec. 11, 2025.
Data analysis for this article was provided by the EdWeek Research Center. Learn more about the center’s work.
