Initial analysis of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) suggests that mobile phone bans might help with reducing student distraction in school. However, our examination of student outcomes and phone bans has revealed an inverse relationship: the more a country bans phones, the lower their PISA score. When controlling for gender, school behaviour and socio-economic status, phone bans are still negatively associated with PISA results in OECD countries. This blog post examines the relationship between achievement scores on PISA tests and mobile phone bans in schools.