May 18, 2015 06:01 PM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

New research suggests that banning cell phones in school may give students "an extra week's education over the course of an academic year," BBC News reported.

Researchers at the University of Texas found that test scores increased by 6 percent in schools that have banned mobile phones. Low-achieving students benefited the most from the ban, with test scores increasing by 14 percent.

"New technologies are typically thought of as improving productivity, however this is not always the case," Richard Murphy, an assistant professor of economics, said in a statement. "When technology is multipurpose, such as cellphones, it can be both distracting and disruptive."

For the study, researchers compared student exam records and mobile phone policies from 2001 to 2013.

They also found that the ban greatly benefitted special education needs students and those eligible for free school meals, improving exam scores 10 and 12 percent points of a standard deviation respectively.

However, researchers found that strict cellphone policies had little effect on both high-achieving students and 14-year-olds, suggesting that high achievers are less distracted by mobile phones and younger teens own and use phones less often.

"The results suggest that low-achieving students are more likely to be distracted by the presence of mobile phones, while high achievers can focus in the classroom regardless of the mobile phone policy," researchers told CNN.

According to Murphy, banning mobile phones would be a low-cost way for schools to reduce educational inequality.

"However, these findings do not discount the possibility that mobile phones could be a useful learning tool if their use is properly structured. Regardless, these results show that the presence of cellphones in schools cannot be ignored," he said.

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