HOSA - Spain Research Paper

This paper examines the impact of a school mobile phone ban in two autonomous regions in academic performance and bullying incidences.

When did the phone ban begin?

2015

Which two regions banned phones in school?

Galicia and Castilla La Mancha

Math and Science scores were evaluated in what assessment

PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment)

How many years of improvement in maths did Galicia show?

0.6-0.8

How many years of improvement in sciences did Galicia show?

0.72

Two goals of governments trying to administer a phone ban

to improve academic performance and to reduce bullying

Galicia ranking for real income per capita

9/17

CLM ranking for real income per capita

14/17

How old are students taking the PISA exam

15

What years were the PISA assessments given

2006, 2009, 2012, 2015, and 2018

What years did CLM not participate

2006 and 2012

Bullying metric

officially reported cases per 10,000

Age intervals

6-11 (under 12), 12-14, and 15-17

Bullying Information was requested by

Spanish police forces and made public by the Spanish Ministry of Education in 2018.

What percent of bullying is represented by cyberbullying

20%

Placebo age group

under 12

PISA math improvement in points

+10

PISA science improvement in points

+12

Percentage of secondary schools that allowed students to use mobile devices with educational purposes during 2016/2017

Galicia - 33%, CLM - 36%, and national average - 34%

Between which years was bullying data collected?

2012-2017

Which regions did not report bullying data

Cataluña and País Vasco

3 covariates

Percentage of children over 10 owning a mobile phone, Public real spending on education, and Households' per capita real disposable income

Galicia quartile for household income

3rd

CLM quartile for household income

4th

Galicia quartile for education spending

1st

CLM quartile for education spending

4th

Galicia quartile for phone usage percentage

2nd

CLM quartile for phone usage percentage

2nd

PISA mean and standard deviation

mean = 500, SD = 100

PISA 2018 math trend

stable

PISA 2018 science trend

diminished 5 points

ratio of bullying for under 12:12-17

1:10

What is the synthetic control method?

Combined data from other regions synthetically creates a weighted combination control group for Galicia to compare the trend of phone ban Galicia to a synthetic non phone ban Galicia. - synthetic group modeled off of pre ban Galicia.

What is the difference in differences method?

Compares the difference between the improvement in school pre vs post ban. It takes a snapshot of two times. (post ban - pre ban Galicia) - (post ban - pre ban CLM)

SCM synthetic math Galicia

Navarra (41.2%), Canarias (21.6%), La Rioja (14.4%), Extremadura (12.8%) and Cataluña (10%)

SCM synthetic science Galicia

Castilla-León (79%), Islas Baleares (17%) Cataluña (3%) and Madrid (1%)

Bullying reduction in students 12-14 in Galicia

15%

Bullying reduction in students 12-14 in CLM

18%

Bullying reduction in students 15-17 in Galicia

18%

Bullying reduction in students 15-17 in CLM

9.5%