Today, The New York Times highlights new research from Thomas Dee and coauthors on the impact of cell phone bans in American schools; Michael Auslin relates the Revolutionary War history and movements of the Declaration of Independence; and Rishi Sunak shows how current global conflicts demonstrate the value of Ukraine as an economic and security partner for Western nations.
Education Policy and Technology
The New York Times today covers new research from Senior Fellow Thomas Dee and colleagues that examined whether new cell phone restrictions in US schools boosts test scores. Dee and coauthors found the impact is not an immediate gain. Dee and a team of researchers compared 43,000 middle and high schools across the nation that did or did not enact strict phone policies between 2023 and 2025. Looking specifically at schools that brought in lockable “pouches” that allowed kids to maintain possession their phones but not use them during class hours, Dee and coauthors discovered little impact on test scores. “In the first year after adoption, disciplinary incidents increase and student
subjective well-being falls, consistent with short-term disruption,” Dee and coauthors wrote. Per the Times article, Dee said “he considered the study an ‘encouraging’ early report on strict cellphone bans. He warned against abandoning a broadly supported policy because test scores did not immediately go up, or because implementation presented disciplinary challenges.”
Read more about how cell phone bans alter the classroom experience. [Subscription required.]
US History
In a new column for Hoover’s Military History in the News, Research Fellow Michael Auslin traces the story of the Declaration of Independence during and after the Revolutionary War. This “harrowing past,” the eminent historian of the Declaration writes, is “far removed from Independence Day celebrations and the reverential treatment which it has received throughout much of our history.” In the summer of 1776, Auslin says, a calfskin parchment edition of the Declaration “became America’s first top secret document, for the names of the Signers were kept from the British and the public.” As the war progressed, the document undertook an extensive journey around non-British-held regions. The full story of the drafting of the Declaration, the dramatic vote to adopt it, and its printing and signing during the Revolutionary War is told in Auslin’s new book National Treasure: How the Declaration of Independence Made America, the first complete history of America’s founding document, which is released this week.
Which East Coast cities provided a temporary home to the Declaration in the 18th century?
International Affairs
Writing for The Times (UK), Distinguished Visiting Fellow Rishi Sunak reviews the economic, agricultural, and military potential of Ukraine as that nation continues to repel Russian assaults. Russia “is now losing as many men in a month as it did in [its] whole Afghan war, and its casualties in the past few months have been the worst of the conflict,” Sunak writes. He identifies Ukrainian “ingenuity” in technological innovation as a critical driver of its battlefield success and a prime reason why Ukraine can serve Western nations as “a valuable partner.” Beyond defense, the former UK prime minister finds that Ukraine “combines an educated and entrepreneurial population with significant natural resources.” If postwar Ukraine can attract sufficient international investment and sustain “confidence in the rule of law,” Sunak concludes, it has a high chance of realizing growth and prosperity.
See how Ukraine’s per capita GDP stacks up currently against Poland and Japan.
History of the Afghanistan War
Dozens of accounts from those who lived and fought through the 20-year war against the Taliban have now been compiled by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives and the Hoover Afghanistan Research & Relief Team (HART) in a new oral history project. Led by Halima Kazem, Stanford professor and Hoover oral historian, the project contains filmed statements from leaders of the American and NATO campaign between 2001 and 2021, including Senior Fellow Lt. Gen. (ret.) H.R. McMaster; retired generals Stanley McChrystal and David Petraeus; and senior members of the former Afghan government, including Habiba Sarabi, the first female governor of an Afghan province. Speaking about the importance of the oral history project, McMaster said “it can be heartbreaking” to think back to the losses sustained during the period of US withdrawal and the humiliation for coalition nations and Afghans. “But I think it’s important, because what you really need when you come out of a traumatic experience is a community of people to share those experiences with. It can be cathartic, and it can be therapeutic.”
Learn more about the stories of those whose experiences are captured in the new Afghanistan oral history project.
Law, Policy, and Artificial Intelligence
“American antidiscrimination law has long rested on three pillars: intent, formal classification, and impact,” notes Senior Fellow Ralph Richard Banks in a newsletter from the Stanford Center for Racial Justice. “In recent years,” Banks continues, “the federal courts and executive branch have accorded primacy to the intent and formal classification standards, while minimizing the relevance of impact.” But with changes to many institutions underway given the capabilities of AI, Banks argues that “the idea of impact will move to the fore.” The Stanford law professor suggests that “technological, economic and social” shifts will warrant “a rethinking of legal norms and frameworks.” Acknowledging uncertainty about the future of antidiscrimination law, he concludes, “The regulatory structures of the past will be increasingly ill-fitted to our AI future.”
Discover what Banks sees as requirements for AI governance.
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