Dominican school demonstrates classrooms are better without cell phones

In September 2019, students at The Community for Learning (TCFL) in the Dominican Republic began a new policy requiring them to secure their mobile phones in numbered, magnetically locked fabric pouches. Students were required to keep these locked devices in their possession throughout the school day.

The initiative was implemented to demonstrate the impact of a phone-free environment on the classroom experience. The school's experiment sought to evaluate whether restricting mobile device access during school hours leads to improved educational outcomes.