CELLPHONES are still absent from most US schools but new data shows them steadily gaining acceptance as administrators bow to parents’ wishes to keep tabs on their kids and teachers find ways to work them into lessons.
The percentage of K-12 (primary and secondary education) public schools that prohibited cellphone use was about 66 percent in 2015-16, down from more than 90 percent in 2009-10, according to data from a survey conducted by the National Centre for Education Statistics. Among high schools, the shift over the same period was especially striking _ dropping from 80 percent with bans to 35 percent.